1. How cold did it get? 1 2. Freeze-damaged corn 3 3. Carbon credit program expands into western Kansas 6

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1 Number 78 April 9, How cold did it get? 1 2. Freeze-damaged corn 3 3. Carbon credit program expands into western Kansas 6 1. How cold did it get? The first week of April saw temperatures go from record highs in the 80 s to record lows in the teens. All nine divisions of Kansas averaged between 11 and 14 degrees cooler than normal. The following are the official low temperatures during the week of April 4-9, These temperatures are taken 5 feet above the ground. Temperatures closer to the soil surface may be either warmer (where warmth from the soil radiated upward) or cooler (where pockets of cold air settled in low spots) than these reported lows. Soil temperatures stayed above freezing at all locations where soil temperature was recorded. North Central / Northeast Kansas Low Temperatures Manhattan Belleville Beloit Clay Center Concordia Washington Southeast Kansas Low Temperatures Chanute Columbus 24 23

2 Parsons South Central Kansas Low Temperatures Hutchinson Newton Pratt Southwest Kansas Low Temperatures Dodge City Elkhart Garden City West Central Kansas Low Temperatures Leoti Sharon Springs Tribune Another factor that can be important in determining freeze injury to plants is the number of hours that temperatures were below 20 (at the 5-foot level). Number of hours at or below 20 degrees Station April 7 April 8 Chanute 0 0 Dodge City 0 0 Elkhart 0 0 Goodland 4 0 Hays 2 0 Hill City 5 0 Hutchinson 3 4 Lawrence 3 8 Liberal 0 0 Manhattan 1 7 St. Joseph, MO 4 4 Salina 2 0 Tribune 2 0 Winfield 0 0

3 -- Mary Knapp, State Climatologist 2. Freeze-damaged corn In parts of eastern Kansas, especially southeast, some fields of corn were emerged already at the time of the early April hard freezes. The growing point of corn is below ground until the 6-leaf stage, so typically, a spring freeze just burns back the leaves and the growing point survives. But low temperatures were cold enough last week to possibly kill the young plants in some cases. We have observed some corn approaching the V1 stage (one leaf collar visible, 2 to 3 tall) from northeast Kansas that appears to have been injured all the way down past the crown. This means that the growing point is likely dead and the corn plant will not recover. A spring freeze normally does not kill the entire seedling. But this year, that could happen in places. Symptoms to look for: Dig up seedling plants and look for discoloration of the coleoptile (leafy tissue that first emerges), crown (base of the coleoptile where secondary roots develop), or mesocotyl (the part of the stem between the crown and the seed). A healthy coleoptile and crown should be light green or nearly white below the soil surface. The mesocotyl is typically white. If the tissue has been killed by a freeze it will be darker or almost black in color and collapsed. The following pictures illustrate the type of freeze damage that has essentially killed the corn seedlings. The crowns are discolored and dark and will not be able to generate new leaves.

4 Coleoptile Soil Surface Crown Extent of frozen tissue Mesocotyl

5 Soil Surface Crown Extent of frozen tissue How should producers decide whether to replant? There are two main scenarios. * Large areas of the field die out. This is probably the most difficult decision to make. Corn cannot tiller out and compensate for bare areas in the field, and weeds can quickly become a problem in those areas. So there s no question that replanting is necessary. But should you just replant the bare areas, or kill out the entire field and replant? If you just replant the bare areas, the corn in those areas will never catch up to the rest of the field, or yield as well. If you kill out the entire field and replant, on the other hand, that can get quite expensive. * Most or all of the field is dead. This is a much simpler decision. After a week of warm temperatures following the hard freeze, if the plants are not regrowing, they are probably dead. In this case, the field will have to be replanted. -- Kraig Roozeboom, Crop Production and Cropping Systems Specialist kraig@ksu.edu -- Gary Kilgore, Southeast Area Crops and Soils Specialist gkilgore@ksu.edu

6 3. Carbon credit program expands into western Kansas The Carbon Credit pilot project offered by the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) has recently expanded its enrollment area into all of central and western Kansas. Previously, only the eastern half of Kansas was eligible for carbon credits for both conservation tillage and new grass plantings. Most of western Kansas was eligible only for new grass plantings. And southcentral Kansas counties were eligible for neither. The new enrollment criteria are included in the map below. A. Eastern Kansas counties are now eligible for a carbon credit of 0.6 metric tons of CO 2 per acre per year for conservation tillage for the years General eligibility criteria and practices for the region include but are not limited to the following: * Enrolled acres may be planted in soybeans no more 50 percent of the enrolled years; * Continuous cotton and soybeans are eligible only if there is a cover crop; * Eligible implements include: no-till drill, no-till and strip-till planters, rolling harrows, low disturbance liquid manure injectors, anhydrous ammonia applicator, manure knife applicator, sub-soil ripper with at least 24-inch shank spacing. * Ineligible implements include: field cultivators, tandem disk, offset disk, chisel plow, moldboard plow. * Histosol soils in Land Resource Region T are not eligible; * In general if the implement would require that a leveling or smoothing activity follow, it would likely result in too much soil disturbance * Fallowed acres are not eligible in this region. * No Exchange Soil Offsets will be issued in years in which residue removal occurs. * Residue burning is not allowed. B. In central Kansas, producers are eligible for a carbon credit of 0.4 metric tons of CO 2 per acre per year for conservation tillage on dryland acres, and 0.6 metric tons of CO 2 per acre per year for conservation tillage on irrigated acres for the years General eligibility criteria and practices for the region include but are not limited to the following: * Irrigated acreage eligible for enrollment provided that the acreage began irrigation prior to March 26, Exchange Soil Offsets will be issued to eligible irrigated acres at a rate of 0.6 metric tons per acre per year. * Enrolled acres may be planted in soybeans no more 50 percent of the enrolled years; * Continuous cotton and soybeans are eligible only if there is a cover crop; * Histosol soils in Land Resource Region T are not eligible;

7 * Eligible implements include: no-till drill, no-till and strip-till planters, rolling harrows, low disturbance liquid manure injectors, anhydrous ammonia applicator, manure knife applicator, sub-soil ripper with at least 24-inch shank spacing. * Ineligible implements include: field cultivators, tandem disk, offset disk, chisel plow, moldboard plow. * In general if the implement would require that a leveling or smoothing activity follow, it would likely result in too much soil disturbance * Fallowed acres are not eligible in this region. * No Exchange Soil Offsets will be issued in years in which residue removal occurs. * Residue burning is not allowed. C. In western Kansas, producers are eligible for a carbon credit of 0.2 metric tons of CO 2 per acre per year for conservation tillage on dryland acres, and 0.6 metric tons of CO 2 per acre per year for conservation tillage on irrigated acres for the years General eligibility criteria and practices for the region include but are not limited to the following: * Irrigated acreage is eligible for enrollment provided that the acreage began irrigation prior to March 26, Exchange Soil Offsets will be issued to eligible irrigated acres at a rate of 0.6 metric tons per acre per year. * Enrolled acres may be planted in soybeans no more 50 percent of the enrolled years; * Continuous cotton and soybeans are eligible only if there is a cover crop; * Eligible implements include: no-till drill, no-till and strip-till planters, rolling harrows, low disturbance liquid manure injectors, anhydrous ammonia applicator, manure knife applicator, sub-soil ripper with at least 24-inch shank spacing. * Ineligible implements include: field cultivators, tandem disk, offset disk, chisel plow, moldboard plow. * In general if the implement would require that a leveling or smoothing activity follow, it would likely result in too much soil disturbance * Fallowed acres are not eligible in this region. * No Exchange Soil Offsets will be issued in years in which residue removal occurs. * Residue burning is not allowed.

8 Other changes to the CCX carbon credit program: * CCX will no longer accept new contract enrollments that utilize ridge-till. Current contracts based on ridge-till practices will be honored through the current contract period which ends December 31, The credit rate for existing ridge-till contracts will remain at 0.5 tons CO 2 per acre per year. Any current ridge-till enrollee who desires to terminate the Soil Offset Contract with the Iowa Farm Bureau at this time may do so without penalty or credit recovery. * CCX will no longer issue carbon credits on row crop land that has the crop residue removed (silage, straw baling, straw burning, corn stalk baling, etc.). This does not apply to alfalfa or grass hay, or grass pasturing. Land on which the residue is removed will receive zero "0" credit for the year in which the residue is removed. Residue removal does not nullify prior credits and will not trigger a credit recapture. It just results in a zero "0" credit rate on the affected land for that year. Any current contract enrollee who signed a contract with the understanding that residue could be removed and who desires to terminate the Soil Offset Contract with the Iowa Farm Bureau at this time may do so without penalty or credit recovery. * New credit rates for grass plantings are expected in the near future. There are many details and stipulations involved in this program, and producers should review the contract closely. Producers can sign a contract for the CCX program through either the Iowa Farm Bureau or National Farmers Union.

9 In the Iowa Farm Bureau s program, producers can sign up for Pool 5 from now through June 30, This signup includes the expanded enrollment area under the new criteria explained above. Producers interested in the Pool 5 phase of this carbon credit pilot project can find a complete description of the program and a copy of the XSO (Exchange Soil Offset) sales contract at: For more information, contact David Miller, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, , or damiller@ifbf.org The National Farmers Union is also currently accepting new contracts for the expanded enrollment acres in the CCX program. The criteria of the NFU carbon credit program are the same as those of the Iowa Farm Bureau s. The deadline for signing a carbon offset contract with the NFU is August 15, Details of the program and a copy of the contract can be found at: For more information, contact Donn Teske, Kansas Farmers Union, , or e- mail: dteske@bluevalley.net. Current prices on the CCX for carbon credits are currently averaging about $3.50 per metric ton of CO 2 equivalent. The aggregators (Iowa Farm Bureau and National Farmers Union) determine when the credits are sold on the market, and take a small percentage of this for overhead. The CCX program also offers offset credits for methane and forestry plantings. Complete details of the CCX offset programs and current prices can be found at: -- Steve Watson, Agronomy e-update Editor swatson@ksu.edu These e-updates are a regular weekly item from K-State Extension Agronomy. All of the Research and Extension faculty in Agronomy will be involved as sources from time to time. If you have any questions or suggestions for topics you'd like to have us address in this weekly update, contact Jim Shroyer, Research and Extension Crop Production Specialist and State Extension Agronomy Leader jshroyer@ksu.edu