I had a "gee-whiz" thought the other day...would you believe we are less than 8 weeks out from fall harvest?  It seems like we just were planting.  Time flies when you are having fun, huh?

A general rule of thumb is it takes 60 days from tassel to black layer.  Black layer is 30% moisture on corn.  So tassel on July 20, Mature on Sept 20.  If the weather is good, we can lose a point of moisture per day that time of year.  Theoretically, we can be harvesting "dry" corn by the first week of October. Wouldn't that be lovely?

My travels this week brought the need for four wheel drive.  That's the first time this year I've needed it to get out of where I am.  My rain gauge, since July 17, has had over 3 inches of rain.  I think I can safely say we are going to be ok moisture-wise for a while.

Observations from the field: 

I did find another field of suspected roundup resistant waterhemp this week.  When 2 passes of 32oz Roundup Powermax doesn't even tickle the waterhemp (but affects the beans), I think the assumption of resistance is a safe bet.  Guys, we really need to take this seriously.  If all you use is roundup, please stop. Call me, we can come up with a plan.  You don't want this issue and neither do your neighbors.


Wheat harvest is staccato.  We start, we stop. We start, we stop.  The going gets good and it rains.  Everything is holding together, so far.  I don't have all the numbers back yet, but preliminary numbers show wheat fungicides to be beneficial this year.  I'll know more definitely in a month or so. If you are considering a cover crop after wheat, let's get that lined up.  It's still early and you will get the best bang for your cover crop dollar. 


Soybeans are trucking along.  I saw some R3 beans this week.  (Remember R3 is pods on the top of the plant).  If you are considering a fungicide, R3 is the sweet spot.  Beans are quite tall in some areas.  That always doesn't translate to big yields.  You have to look at the pods underneath as well.  I saw some 4 bean pods.  I challenge anyone to show me a 5 bean pod.  It's probably be worth your while to take up this challenge.  I have yet to see one and it's on my bucket list.

Corn is picking up GDS's left and right.  My count shows just short of 1500 GDU's.  (2400+/- is maturity) We are 64% silked vs 49% in 2015 and 39% in 2014 (I am trying to forget that year) on July 24th.  Not too shabby.  I did note some spots of rust here and there in corn.  Dekalb has a nice flyer on rust.  


We are still out y-dropping.  I had some PSNT's pulled and they came back surprisingly low (3+" of rain, duh!).  So we did a few strip trials to see if a bit of late season N can boost the corn along.  If you are interested, let us know.  We'll get you signed up today.  


Don't forget - I'd love to get the call to look at a good field.  I actually had two of those this week.  But the bad still outweigh the good.  Give my ego a boost.

"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need"                ~You cant always get what you want by the Rolling Stones

(I just finished a great book on tape - "Horns" by Joe Hill and that line was an essential part of it.  Check it out.  BTW he's the son of my favorite author.)

In great weather, go forth and grow and prosper.


          
Thank you,
Loree

Loree Johnston LaChey, CCA
CHS Larsen Cooperative
Agronomist/Micronutrient Specialist
(920)594-0073