From the Fields: Dry conditions persist

It comes down to three words: We need rain. Crops are looking very well, considering the lack of moisture we’ve had. We received about an inch and a quarter July 16-17. Before that it had been about six weeks, and the biggest rain we had was about a quarter of an inch.

The soybeans had just been kind of stagnant. They had good color and all, but they were not growing because there wasn’t moisture there. They’ve taken off and grown. The rain we got in our part of the state was very welcomed because corn was pollinating. This has allowed it to continue.

If you had April-planted corn, it was stressed pretty hard during the dry times while it was trying to pollinate. If you had May-planted corn, the timing of the rain was really helpful. The concern today is we’re back in the mid to upper 90s and short of rainfall.

All in all, with the stress the crop is enduring and has endured, it looks pretty well. What we won’t know until closer to harvest is what kind of effect that it’s had on yields.

There’s been a little bit of tar spot in corn. I also heard, from an aerial applicator last week, that they’ve started seeing spider mites in a few soybean fields. That would be a result of the drought conditions. I haven’t seen it in any of our fields yet, but we’re certainly on the lookout for that.