Crop Watcher Week Six - Good News/Bad News

Todd Easton Coles County June 4 2010: Well it’s been one of those more rain every time you turn around weeks across Coles County. The good news is that many of the area farmers were able to wrap up soybean planting some time during the holiday weekend before the rains came. The bad news is sprayers and side dress applicators still have a several acres to cover and are losing some of their prime running time to this wet weather. In keeping with the rainfall theme of the year showers have been very spotty and varied across the county with Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday rains accumulating just over 2” on our farm and almost double that just north of us. Many have commented that they actually watched the corn growing the last several days as it has almost doubled in height over that time. Maturity for the crop is on average in the V6-V7 range making knee high by the fourth of June which I maintain is the new way to gauge a good start for the corn crop. All but the latest planted soybeans are currently above ground with most in the V2 stage of development and will have good stands if the recently filled ponds go away quickly. Until next week don’t forget the umbrella.