Planting season is hitting its full stride for the next couple of weeks.

Landus Cooperative Field Agronomist Zach Minnihan says this past February was one of the warmest on record and that helped to get field prep work done sooner and allowed for ammonia to last longer before the planting season started. However, Minnihan warns that rootworm will be an issue in the early stages of the corn growth.

“It’s a larva that will feed on the roots of a corn plant. So to prevent that is to make sure that we have the proper hybrids in place for corn-on-corn or a rotation acre.”

He says rootworm is caused by having warmer temperatures and because February was so warm, that’s why Minnihan believes the insect will be an issue.

“They are hatched from eggs and they are based on how much heat we accrued. Basically they hatch around 700 growing degree units and we’ve already accumulated around 370. So we’re about we’re about 160 or 170 ahead of a normal pace.”

Minnihan anticipates the planting season to be done within the next month.