Crop Watcher 06/10/11

Todd Easton Coles County June 10 2011: It has been a hot week in Coles County which has kicked crop development into high gear. A small shower Sunday Morning that only delivered just over a tenth of an inch of rain barely slowed down sprayers and side dress applicators which are all getting very close to completing their duties for the year in the corn fields. Corn plants are in rapid growth mode with many of the early April planted fields coming into the V6 stage this week and the first of the May planted corn well into the V3 stage. Soybean fields are also greening up nicely this week with the majority that was planted throughout May around the V2 stage of development. Bailers in the area also had a good week to cut and bale a very healthy first cutting of hay and get it stacked in the barn. Looking back at the year ago report shows that we are considerably behind on our crop development from where we were last June but this year’s corn crop seems to be off to a much healthier start in these early stages and hopefully we will get to take that to the grain bin next fall.

Crop Watcher 06/03/11

Todd Easton Coles County June 3 2011: It has been a good week in the fields as they seem to get noticeably greener every day. Last week after the rain it looked like there were going to be many drowned out areas in practically every field. Astonishingly the water went away relatively quickly and with the help of the cooler temperatures in the days after the rain the water damage was minimal to what it could have been. Sprayers and side dress applicators are running hard in fast growing corn fields with some of the early fields approaching V5 maturity. Soybean fields also had a good week as most of them have emerged with real good stands. There have been some trouble spots though mostly in the southern part of the county and rotary hoes have been in the fields to help the beans break through the crust.