2005-5-30
The weather has been great for a couple days and we should be almost done with spraying the corn by the end of the day tomorrow. Then it is time to start spraying the soybeans. The last few fields of soybeans that were planted have had a hard crust on them. Not all of the plants have been able to break the crust to get to the sunlight. We have been entertaining the idea of replanting a couple hundred acres. There are pros and cons to doing this, mostly weather related. We especially don't want to overpopulate the field with a replant if the rest of the beans do break through the crust. At this point, a rain would do that by loosening the soil.
2005-5-25
The past few days have been pretty nice. The last soybeans we planted are now 1-2 inches above the ground.
2005-5-21
The corn in these pictures is in the first few fields that we planted. It is growing slow because of some light frost damage. The last corn that got planted was not hit by that frost and is now about as tall as this is. As for the soybeans, you can see the "crust" of the soil that is in most of our fields. This is caused by a combination of rain and temperature, such as we have had in the past week. The crust is about 1/2 inch thick and the plant has to push up through it to get to the sunlight. In our immediate area, everything is planted. However, there are many people that only 50 miles away from here that still have a lot of soybeans to plant. We have not been in the fields at all for the past 11 days due to mud. Once things dry out a bit, the sprayer will be on the move to clean up some weed problems. It rained again tonight though so it will probably be a few more days of waiting.
2005-5-20
Yesterday was the only nice day we had this week. The sun and heat was appreciated. The weather has been wet, but we aren't flooded. It's just wet enough to keep us out of the fields.
2005-5-14
The wide image at that bottom shows the small amount of standing water we have on the last field we planted. That spot is low and the water just can't drain to the ditch. It hasn't evaporated because the temperature has only been in the 50s. The picture is looking due South. Sometime in the next 5 years, a 4 lane highway will be built here in this spot and the drainage will no longer be an issue.
2005-5-12
Again we are back to what seems like winter weather. It rained most of yesterday and today, and the temperature is in the 40s and 50s. There is still some water standing in the last field planted.
2005-5-11
Yesterday was a big day with the planter running for about 20 hours. Soybeans were finished up in the very early hours this morning. It was none too soon as the rain had moved in by 1:30 AM. As of daylight this morning, there is now a little water standing in the field that was planted just hours earlier.
2005-5-8
The planter has been moving pretty much every day this week and we are well over half done with the soybeans. It has rained a little bit yesterday and today, but not much accumulation. It rains, we quit planting, the sun comes back out, wait a couple hours, start planting again. A lot of the corn is has now emerged from the ground so it can benefit from the heat and humidity we've had the past few days.
2005-5-1
The weather has been cool lately and there is a slight chance of frost in the upcoming days. We are planning to plant some sweet corn with the planter yet before it gets switched over to soybeans. That will probably happen tomorrow and then we'll start on soybeans in a few days. The season is still early so we aren't in a big hurry to get going.