Rainfall Departure form Normal

Rainfall amounts are looking good in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois.  Right now, It looks like we are on the brink of being wet.  Indiana and Ohio are still on the dry side.  

Soil Moisture

We had to have pits dug thru gravel to do a septic tank evaluation.  that looks like more than 1.5 inches in the hole.

Sprayer Skip

Not all sprayer mistakes are this easy to see.  This field had several gaps.  If it was custom applied, I would invite them back at their cost.

Sprayer Skip

Best Use of Corn in Landscaping

We attended a Cardinal's - Cub's Legends game in Normal this weekend.  The game was played in the Corn Crib.  Maybe outside of Dyersville, IA, the home of Field of Dreams, this may be the best use of corn in the landscaping.  They also have a one row corn picker for a decoration.

Corn Landscaping

Corn Picker

Points North

I went to Sycamore for a meeting and then continued  on to Woodstock, Belvidere, Rockford, Freeport, Galena, Mt. Carroll, and Morrison.  Then straight south to I-74.  Crops look very good everywhere we went.  Most of the corn nrtoh of I-80 was not yet tasseling.  Most of the corn south of I-80 had dry silks.  I did not walk in to any fields, but soybeans looked good too.

Is Precision Conservation Practical?

I read an article in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation today that proposed the premise that it is possible to grow and mange different crops in the same field for different purposes.The looked at Switchgrass and corn. Some of the corn was harvested for biomass as well as grain.  The switchgrass was harvested for biomass.  I see lots of barriers to implementation on a large scale, but it was interesting to see that it was even possible. Unfortunately, I can only share the abstract.

North of Springfield

I was 10 miles north of Springfield today to look at some vegetable crop issues.  Topsoil was relatively dry.  It was obvious that rainfall amounts have been more modest than the 4 inches we had in Hillsboro.  Crops continue to tlook good, but there are still areas that need rain.

Sweetcorn Day

One of the ways my brother pays his rent is to furnish the family and some friends with sweetcorn.  It came a bit early today. but today was the day to pick corn and freeze it.  It is a great winter treat.  Fresh frozen corn is hard to distinguish from fresh corn.  We cut it off the cob to freeze it.

Road Trip to Bloomington

Yesterday I went to Bloomington for a meeting.  We drove past a lot of nice looking corn.  While we were there, a small amount of rain fell on part of that hole I have been talking about.  In some cases, the soil did not even look damp when we returned home.  About  a half inch fell in Hillsboro at least in my gauge.  The garden looked damp until noon.