Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Jul 25 2022

Crop Progress - Monday, July 25, 2022

State	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Year Average
North Dakota
Blooming	15	1	14	20
Texas
Harvested	24	20	25	24

Crop Conditions - Monday, July 25, 2022

State	Timeframe	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
North Dakota	This week	0	1	21	73	5
	Last week	0	0	14	80	6
Minnesota	This week	0	0	15	78	7
	Last week	0	0	16	79	5
Colorado	This week	0	3	60	36	1
	Last week	3	8	61	23	5

Examine crop for rust

It’s time to start scouting for sunflower rust. Rust is most often found on the lower under-side of leaves. The pustules are cinnamon-red and readily recognizable. Yield loss can occur, and control measures should be considered when rust reaches approximately 1% severity on the upper four leaves and the plant is in the vegetative stages until it reaches the R6 stage. An infestation on the upper leaves at R6 or later will not likely have a negative yield affect. Fortunately, rust can be managed with well-timed fungicide applications. To learn more about rust, visit Rust (Puccinia helianthi) (sunflowernsa.com)

Scout for insects

Red sunflower seed weevils (RSSW) are emerging in SD near Pierre. RSSW should not be far behind in ND sunflowers. Start scouting as soon as sunflowers begin to show florets around the outer perimeter of the sunflower head (R5.1). Trap captures of Banded sunflower moth (BSM) were only captured in Cass and Foster Counties. Trap catches for BSM are increasing. Arthuri sunflower moth was captured in Cass County, only one moth. Sunflower head moth was captured in Cass and Cavalier Counties last week, only one moth per trap per week at each site. IPM maps of insect pests and diseases are posted on https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/ndipm

Markets

Last week USDA issued its initial outlook for 2022 sunflower production and usage for the 2022/23 marketing year. Total sunflower planted acreage is expected to be higher than farmers indicated in March. Largely driven by increased oil-type sunflower acreage, total sunflower area is estimated to be 1.67 million acres after accounting for 19,000 fewer acres of confection sunflower. A 31 percent increase in oil-type plantings accounts for 1.54 million acres of the higher acreage total, with increases in North and South Dakota leading the way. Farmers in five of the eight major sunflower-producing states increased acreage by 25 percent or more. USDA reduced confection sunflower production by 27 million pounds and increased oil-type sunflower production by 455 million pounds resulting in a total 2022/23 sunflower production estimate this month of 2.77 billion pounds which would represent an increase of 46 percent from last year’s drought reduced production. Given the increased supply of oil-type sunflower, USDA anticipates 2022/23 crush volumes and sunflower oil production to increase appreciably. The extra supply of sunflower oil is expected to be consumed domestically. Currently weather conditions are mostly favorable for crop development in the Dakotas and Minnesota. Mid-August through September is the critical time frame for sunflowers so there is still quite a way to go before the crop is in the bin. In October, USDA will provide an updated estimate for oil and non-oil sunflower production.

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