Cropwatcher 08-28-09 Bring on the heat

Todd Easton Coles County August 28 2009: Another week past and how many left to go? With the Markets in their usual late August doldrums it seems all the local talk has shifted to when will the corn be dry or at least dry enough to harvest. After a really good reader suggestion to mention our growing degree day situation and a bit of researching I estimate the majority of the late May planted corn in our county has accumulated just under 2100 heat units and if it was an average 110 hybrid it will need an additional 600 units to mature. Based on average weather patterns that should mean about a month to go before it reaches physiological maturity and if you want to take it to the elevator dry it will be even longer. Soybeans on the other hand base themselves on day length and very well could be out of the fields by the time the corn is even ready. While that would be good for our harvest schedule I hope it also does not bring too much of a yield penalty due to the late planting season but we may be already seeing that with some producers saying pod counts are down 15 percent from last year. Until next week keep up the heat but don’t forget the rain.