As temperatures are forecast to climb into the mid to upper 90s all week, the prolonged heat is hard on people, pets — and plants. Angie Rieck Hinz, a field agronomist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, says farmers will be watching for signs of crop stress, though she says her region of north-central Iowa is in decent shape.
Rieck Hinz says much of the corn crop in her area is between R-1 and R-3, from silking to the milk stage.
She says the soybeans in north-central Iowa are doing well this summer, though she’s seen a few diseases on the plants, things like bacterial blight and frog-eye leaf spot.
Forecasters say the heat wave will likely last through Friday, and perhaps right into the weekend, with a few outside chances for scattered showers.
