Corn Pollination

Early planted fields are starting to pollinate.  It may be 2 weeks before this field is done pollinating because of unevenness of the stand.  This can't lead to top yields.

Good corn Harvest in Mato Grosso

By Eduardo Paim:

The corn harvest has already started in northern Mato Grosso, and the productions are surprising, we are harvesting 20% to 30% more than we expected! The soybean harvest was over and great too!

Comments on Weather and Crop Report

While I have not been everywhere, I have traveled hundreds of miles in the past week in Illinois, Iowa and a small part of Missouri.  The Illinois weather and crop report is consistent with what I have seen.  59 % of Corn is listed as good to excellent.  May be a a bit generous, but it is close.  67 % of soybeans are good to excellent.  I am not sure it should be that high, but soybeans are better than corn.  19% are still reporting short on moisture.  That seems about right.

Past 7 Days Rainfall

We have just had several days of wet weather.  You could get the idea that the effects of dry weather have been averted.  If you study the map, You will find that there are many areas that had only a half inch, especially to the west. On the plus side, many parts of Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana had good rain.  Some of the early planted corn is good till silking time, which is coming in two weeks.  Later planted corn was helped as far as getting roots to grow deeper, but probably more than half of the corn I have seen will need more rain to assure a decent crop.  I have not seen anything that leads me to believe that corn yields will be above trend line.  Early planted soybeans are looking good, but later planted soybeans have population issues.

Dry Weather Reprieve

Many dry areas of the Midwest had decent amounts of rain in the past two days. Areas below in blue and gray did not get much rain.  There are still acreage in southeast Iowa, Northwest Missouri and parts of Illinois, that did not get enough rain.  Those areas are in the heart of the corn belt.  This rain will not carry through the growing season except on some early planted corn.  Green areas below will be needing more rain in two weeks. This was certainly a welcome rain.  There is potential for more rain in the next few days.

Road Trip North and West

Weekend travels took us to Pella, Iowa for a family visit.  Some corn in Pike Co is in the V-8 to V-10 stage. On Friday, some corn in Pike County was starting to roll because of low humidity and high winds.  On the return trip, corn on the sandy soils had turned white.

Irrigation rigs were running in the Mississippi River bottoms as we traveled north. There were still a few planters in the field Friday.  Most of the soybeans in Iowa were V-1 to V-3.  It was interesting that almost no beans in Iowa were planted in 30 inch rows.

High winds, low humidity and high temperatures continued for our entire visit.  Corn in Iowa was V-3 to V-6 stage, so fortunately water requirements were lower than for some of the Illinois Corn.  In Iowa, people were already talking drought, although crops looked OK even as we traveled home Sunday.  To give and idea of the conditions though, I will comment that upper leaves on trees were wilted because they could not take up water fast enough.

Without regard to dry conditions, crops generally looked better in Iowa than they do in Illinois because soils were dryer for planting in Iowa.    

Rain in the forecast on Wednesday could help to rescue the corn from significant damage.

Crop Condition Today

In general crop condition this spring has been fair at best.  Today as we were getting caught up on soil sampling, we were still seeing fields that are too wet to plant.  Corn was still being replanted.  Patching in will probably continue for  2 weeks.  12 acres of corn planted in Mid-March was the best looking corn we have seen.  I am not advocating for planting that early because the risk is huge.  About half the corn is starting to get some dark color.  It is also getting tall enough that you can't see the areas that have poor stands for the most part.  Smaller corn has decent stands, but we are still seeing nitrogen and sulfur deficiency symptoms, probably somewhat as a result of weather. My overall rating of corn condition is just average.

Weather is improving for now.  Next week we will start hearing from some people that a rain would be nice.  The first rain in the forecast is June 17.

Soybeans are looking a little better than corn.  Stands are more even and some early planted beans are at V2 or V3 stage.  later planted soybeans are germinating and emerging fast.  My overall rating of soybeans is slightly above average.

Weed control is an issue in some places.  I have heard of disappointing results with Dicamba and I have seen disappointing results with Liberty.

Flag Your Field

I have been seeing flags in fields.  If you Google "Flag Your Technology" you will see articles on placing flags in your fields to mark the technology your are using.  The idea is to prevent accidental applications that might damage your crops.  No-till Farmer has the biggest listing I could find.