I'm pretty sure that in the next 10 to 20 years, 2012 is going to come up in a lot of agricultural conversations.
I was alive in 1988, I just wasn't scouting fields then (and I'm not going to tell you how old I was). So this extreme dry weather is a little new to me. A few things that I have learned so far this summer:
1) Watching the radar is like watching a pot to boil. It was perhaps not a good idea for me to get a smart phone this year as when there is some rain on the map, I am checking the radar every ten minutes.
2) Spider mites will feed on any crop, not just soy beans. I have found them in Kidney Beans this year and have been told that they can be found in corn too. I have also learned a scouting tip this year, the first place that you will see spider mites entering the field is beside mowed ditches. I knew that there was a good reason why I wasn't cutting the ditches this year (other than it's been too brutally hot to do it).
3) Nitrates can accumulate in not only silage corn but also some weeds like Pigweed and Lambsquarters. Please everyone who is filling silo this year, be careful if you are chopping stressed corn. It is a safe be to say that nitrates will be in the plant for 7-10 days after a rainfall event on stressed corn. That is not to say that after 10 days you can ignore it, please be cautious of silo gas!
4) To check for pollination before the corn in blistered (10 days after pollination) , do the shake test. carefully peel back the husk and gently shake the cob. If the silks are loose, they have been pollinated. If they are still attached, they have not yet been pollinated. The pollen does not have to fall directly on the end of the silk, there are some openings along the silk that it can get in. This is important as this year, some of the silks are getting singed on the ends by the hot weather.
5) Another one on silks. Long silks are not actually a good thing. Once pollinated, the silk will stop growing. If it is not pollinated, the silk will keep growing, trying to find pollen.
6) Aphids do not like high temperatures. We have all been bracing ourselves for the invasion of the soybean aphids but so far it is all calm on that front. Why? Well the theory is that with the high temperatures that we have been having, the aphids are not able to increase their numbers. I guess there is a silver lining to this muggy, hot cloud.
7) Soybeans are plastic. As in, they are very flexible. Although we have not received our good drenching yet, to the south and near KW, they have and the soys that were shutdown due to drought have started to flower again and an are producing a great top cluster of pods.
7) Finally, the markets are more turbulent than ever. As I write this blog, soybeans are down limit and corn and wheat are not so great either. Yes the markets have been on a roll with every crop report that comes from the midwest but I really don't think that now is the time to be focused on hitting the very top of the market. Evaluate your crop, sell carefully, be happy with your price, and don't let this boat sail by as you wait for the bigger one that may not show up.
Here's hoping that by the time I write my next blog entry we all get that million dollar rain we are in so much need of.
