Its Crop Watcher time again !

Todd Easton Coles County April 30 2010: What a difference a year makes and after 2009 that can only be a positive note. Things are looking real good across Coles County so far. Corn planting for the most part started during or right after the weekend after Easter and progressed rapidly to around 95 percent completed ahead of the gentle 1.5 inches of rain we received over the last weekend. About half of the planted corn has just entered into the early V1 stage and stands are looking exceptionally good. With the way most fields went from muddy to ideal planting soils in just a few days many acres skipped the usual pre plant anhydrous applications and will be depending on side dress applications this year. Most producers held off on soybean planting but a few early birds put some out ahead of the rain but with the rain fall being scattered and slow it looks like they should be ok and probably be up before long. As of Thursday fields were still to wet for much work to progress with the exception of some spraying where the winds were not too gusty and if the weekend forecast pans out we may get an extended break. Well no two years are the same and after reviewing Grandpa’s journal from last year we agreed that will be a good thing. Best wishes to all in this new season and please always remember Safety First!

Corn Planted in April ?

Well it was Monday the 12th we were planning on putting anhydrous on but when I got to the farm that morning and saw the other three over in the field scratching their heads I thought crap they're thinking again. Conditions looked perfect for planting so the paln changed so we decided to take a small chance and let ALL of the anhydrous go on post planting and get the corn in the ground. So far the plan looks like it worked the corn is in the ground just ahead of the perfect bunch rain showers and we have a small start on the side dressing. What corn is up already is looking great and weather permitting beans should be in the ground in the next few weeks. One observation made by area farmers is that after the last two years farmers have learned how to get over acres faster than ever before putting in around 90 percent of the corn crop in the ground in ten days or less. Looks like we will have to pick corn in August if we want to use the dryers this year.