By Jochum Wiersma
The first spring wheat and oats have already been seeded, although winter will officially with us one more day according to the calendar. Is it too early to already be thinking spring and seeding small grains? Federal crop insurance guidelines stipulate that small grains are insurable when planted on or after March 21. And although this may be part of your decision process, mother nature doesn't keep a Julian calendar. So can we already seed small grains successfully? In 2012 I write a post that describes the requirements to get small grains established successfully and quantifies some of the risks of planting early. I have provided link to it here.
Bottom-line: The weather forecast for the remainder of the month is trending just slightly above average for both daytime highs and well as nighttime lows. If the frost has come out at least 12 inches and the soil temperatures are reaching 40 degrees F for most of the day, I think spring wheat and oats can be seeded successfully at this time.