On the road with Pro Farmer Crop Tour

The scurs and the Weather Eye didn’t get the memo from Mother Nature about doling out more rainfall. Will we have more of the same or will communication improve? Starting on Thursday, mostly sunny with a slight chance of p.m. showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the low 60’s. Mostly sunny on Friday with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the mid-60’s. Mostly sunny on Saturday with highs in the mid-80’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Sunday, partly sunny with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Sunny on Monday with highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the mid-60’s. Tuesday, sunny with highs in the upper 80’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Mostly sunny on Wednesday with highs in the mid-80’s and lows in the low 60’s. On August 25th the sun will rise at 6:30 a.m. CDT and will set at 8 p.m. CDT. The normal high for August 25th is 78 and the normal low is 58. The scurs may rethink their earlier decision to turn off the AC after last week.

 

Corn and soybean progress across the area is about on schedule with GDU’s running only about 2% ahead of normal at the SROC as of last week. One starts to be concerned that, without temperatures continuing to run at least normal, we could be in for trouble should it decide to freeze early. It would especially not bode well for some of the replanted corn and soybeans that didn’t drown out the second time. Some dimples were noted on some of the earlier planted earlier maturing corn hybrids last week. That means roughly one month to maturity if temperatures are reasonably normal. With some of the later maturing hybrids, tack another week to 10 days onto that. Soybeans are showing some similar tendencies with some earlier planted earlier maturing varieties reaching or being very nearly R6, with seed filling the pod cavity on one of the four uppermost nodes with a fully developed leaf. Those are roughly three weeks to a month from full maturity.

 

Soybeans aphids have reared their ugly little heads once again in area fields. However, it’s not the slam dunk to treat them even when at threshold when they first arrived on the scene. Unlike those years when we’d see yield responses of 15 to 20 bushel per acre, we’ve had abundant August rainfall over most of the area. Soybeans are well into the R5 stage of maturity with some reaching R6. Once they get to R6, all bets are off as far as seeing a return on investment under these conditions. There’s also ample evidence of the beneficial insects ramping up in response to higher aphid levels. Along with that, there are aphids showing signs of having been infected by pathogenic fungi. Evidence is also mounting that the synthetic pyrethroids have lost some of their effectiveness. Patchy control indicates overuse and abuse of this class of insecticides has likely come home to roost.

 

Since this writing is coming from the road on the Pro Farmer Crop Tour, the windshield survey thus far has revealed just about what I would’ve expected. Both corn and soybeans are for the most part level, appearing as level as a tabletop. It’s a far cry from what those of us in south central and southwest MN have been looking at. There, waviness, holes and nitrogen deficiency are far and few between. While there has been evidence of some recent heavy rainfall in places, the crop appears fine. It’s also taking up a lot of moisture daily, so surface moisture for a short duration is unlikely to affect the outcome much at this point. We shall see when we’re done yield sampling if what we see is truly what we get. At this point there’s no reason to believe this crop isn’t as good as advertised. If it is, it should come as no surprise.

 

Some leftover prior week’s observations: Just as we are around home, water levels in the area north of the Quetico region in Canada were well above earlier spring levels. Also like home, the forests and other vegetation were lush and green even though they started the season out on the dry side as one local pointed out. They’ve made up for lost time quickly. The winter had been similar to ours with very little snow. The area lakes and streams depend on it most years to help maintain water levels. Watching the radar as storms moved over the area over the course of the summer, it appeared there was abundant rainfall falling. Looking at the greenery, there’s no doubt that the radar wasn’t lying. This should also help the woodland creatures as they head into winter. The food stocks should be abundant for those hibernating and those that don’t.

 

Poppy’s people schedule has met a bit of a snag. With State Fair and Crop Tour on, she has to be boarded for a few days while we get through it. We feel bad that we can’t have her with us 24/7, but sometimes that’s the way it has to be. She seems to rebound quickly from these episodes though. Being people friendly makes it easier as those who care for her are apt to want to play. She’s more than game. Extra attention once we’re back home as a peace offering is graciously accepted as evidenced by the numerous zoomies. Poppy will also stick like glue to us even in the backyard, especially as we head towards the garden. There are string beans to be eaten.

 

See you next week…real good then.