St. Charles Co, MO

Saw lots of corn getting mature. Soybeans still setting pods. Attended a produtive field day.

Clinton

A trip to Clinton IL showed little new about crop condition. Some corn is maturing because it has run out of Nitrogen. It is probably black layered prematurely.

Rain

I don't often post twice in one day, but we had about and inch of rain. While subsoil moisture is good, we needed some rain to grow roots down to the moisture. This rain will go a long way toward making a decent bean crop. It will help corn too, but not as much as some people will think.

St Louis Area

We travelled south toward the St. Louis area Firday. Corn is looking as good as it is going to get. Some is running out of Nitrogen especially in areas that were wet this spring. Lower leaves are turning. In some places up to the ears. Soybeans are waiting for rain.

Dave

New Travels

North to Mt. Pleasant Michigan last week. Corn was not impressive. USDA lowered acreage planted estimates, but increased yields to 157 bu per acre. I can't believe it. Yesterday I did som sampling for a special project. Topsoil was kind of dry. Subsoil moisture was still pretty good. Looked at some double row corn in Staunton today. It looks good. It is one of the few fields in this area planted under ideal conditions.