This Week In Ag #118
Baseball gurus know that how many hits you get isn’t as important as when you get them. Sure, hits any time count toward your batting average, but hits with runners on base score runs and win games. Same can be said for farmers and rain. Corn growers pray for rain during tasseling; soybean growers need it during pod fill; cotton growers must have it at pinhead square.
In the month of May, the Delta was deluged. We got over 9” at my farm in Memphis, where the average May rainfall is 5”. This has created a peck of trouble for farmers. In addition to forcing many to re-plant flooded acreage, persistent rains have prevented farmers from entering the field to sidedress nitrogen or make foliar applications of nutrients and herbicides. You have to wonder if the nitrogen you did apply at the start of the season is still where it needs to be.
These troubles are not exclusive to the Delta. Driving through southern Illinois yesterday I couldn’t believe how many fields were still untouched or were being replanted. On a personal note, I was unable to get my soybeans planted and I’ve already missed two planned foliar corn applications. Ironically, a practice I use to get water to the crop is helping save the crop from drowning. Furrow irrigation is a popular practice in the Mid-South. It involves forming hips, or ridges, to plant seeds on top of. This elevates the emerged crop and builds pronounced furrows between the rows. These furrows not only serve as a system to bring water to the crop’s roots when needed, but channel excessive rainfall to help prevent puddling in the field. Unfortunately, it’s not like you can really save all this excessive rain for later in the summer, certainly not for the highly permeable soil found in the Delta. Those who farm the fertile fields of the “I states” can save it to some degree, due to improved subsoil moisture. Adding insult to injury is that early rains don’t ensure summer rains, when it counts most. Like they say in the Delta, we’re always five days away from a drought.
Despite all the curveballs thrown at it, my corn looks pretty good. It has grown rapidly; reaching V5 stage in just 23 days. With the upcoming forecast for sunny skies and temperature in the upper 80s, you won’t recognize it a week from now.
Related Posts
Strawberry Sweet, Corn Still Sleeping
Strawberry Sweet, Corn Still Sleeping: In celebration of National Strawberry Month, I visited Catesa Farms, where flavor—not shelf life—is the top priority. Meanwhile, back on my own farm, the corn is taking its sweet time to emerge, reminding me that in agriculture, timing is all about temperature—not the calendar.
The Water Break Podcast, Episode 29: Preventing Backflow, Part 2
“Where we bridge the gap between water plant operators and engineers” In episode 29 of the Water Break Podcast, Heather Jennings, PE, discusses fundamental water systems backflow and cross-connection issues with Gary McLaren, Marketing Director and “Backflow Nerd” at HydroCorp, based in Troy, Michigan, and Rich Davison, Engineering Sales at Soderholm & Associates in Madison,
This Week in Ag #52
What are farmers doing during these cold winter days? If they farm in the Midwest, they may be laying tile. I realize this may be a foreign concept to my friends in the west, but in many areas of the Corn Belt, you must often move water out of your fields. In heavier soils, excessive rainwater can remain
