Hot crops

You might not find our few dog days of summer so enjoyable...but some farmers are hoping and pray...  More »

You might not find our few dog days of summer so enjoyable...but some farmers are hoping and praying for some heat. Ag Reporter andamp;lt;a href=andamp;quot;http://www.kxnet.com/t/sarah-gustinandamp;quot; class=andamp;quot;kxInlineLinkandamp;quot;andamp;gt;Sarah Gustinandamp;lt;/aandamp;gt; explains why some like it hot. (John Sandandamp;lt;a href=andamp;quot;http://www.kxnet.com/t/bakken-oil-formationandamp;quot; class=andamp;quot;kxInlineLinkandamp;quot;andamp;gt;Bakkenandamp;lt;/aandamp;gt; / NSA) andamp;quot;We need the heat and we are looking for a good two weeks of above normal temperatures would be just fabulous right now.andamp;quot; This summer has been a little too cool for comfort. (John Sandbakken / NSA) andamp;quot;It's critical right now for the crop. We just need as much heat units as we can get. I know we are considerably behind. This is a really critical time when the plant is blooming and it is pollinating. It will be setting the seeds And just the whole development, it is a real, real critical time for our crop.andamp;quot; Sunflowers should start blooming during the 1st two weeks of August. If you have driven by a sunflower field lately it's not hard to see we are a little behind. Sanbakken says currently 19 percent of our state's crop has bloomed compared to the normal 70 percent at this time. (ElRoy Haadem / Burleigh Ext. Agent) Sunflower require a certain volume of heat to mature and the growing degree days in some cases are 200 or 300 below average. What it is, is a base temperature that you utlize plus what it is above that. Without the growing degree days maturity is going to be later, and if they don't mature and we get some of those hard frosts you may find that the center portion of those sunflowers, if they are not mature will not fill.andamp;quot; (John Sanbakken / NSA) andamp;quot;Every little bit helps. What really helps is if it doesn't cool down too much in the evening. if it can stay above 60 degrees, maybe even mid 60s. The crop will still develop even though it is dark outside. It needs the heat so we can stay really warm durning the day and not cool down too much at night, that still does help.andamp;quot; The big question now for producers is when will jack frost arrive? There are nearly 1-million sunflower acres that need to bloom and mature before any chilling temperatures hit. (John Sanbakken / NSA) andamp;quot;We are going to need the heat units to finish off the crop, it is going to be very critical. We will be able to tell alot more in the next couple of weeks.andamp;quot; In andamp;lt;a href=andamp;quot;http://www.kxnet.com/t/bismarck-ndandamp;quot; class=andamp;quot;kxInlineLinkandamp;quot;andamp;gt;Bismarckandamp;lt;/aandamp;gt; for KX News, I am Sarah Gustin.andamp;quot; One postive to our cool summer is Haadem says the weather has been ideal for small grains. But he says the warm weather will help dry the grain down for harvest.  « Less