Eye on Crops, July 8, 2011

Milford, NE

We’ve had wonderful weather, and received 1.2 in. of rain on the 3rd, 1.05 on the 5th and 2.05 on the 6th. All the rain has come in the evening or early morning hours and left us with heat and sun during the day. We have had 1319 GDUs from the time we started planting corn on April 13; still a little behind but not by much.

The corn looks the best at this time than I can ever remember, and will look for tassels within a day or two. Beans have had their best start in years also, but with all the moisture they have not had to set roots as deep as I’d like to see at this time. Beans are made in the last 60 days and we like them to have every advantage at that time, roots are key for using available moisture.

I have about 150 acres left to control weeds on; though there’s not much pressure but it needs to be done ASAP. Wheat harvest started in the area but is slow and with the wet/humid weather the grain has some issues. We have been mowing roadsides and continue to keep weeds down in driveways and field boarders. ET gauges show a 1.8-in. a week usage of water a week in the corn and we have a full soil profile with 2.7 in. available in 3 ft.

Local new-crop corn closed yesterday at $5.62, soybeans at $12.50.