Crop update

[idleriver]

Here in Southern Michigan we may have some great crops.  Our county average is in the 135 range and yield checks right now are looking like 180 bu + corn.  One issue we may have is Western bean Cutworm.  I guess moth flights were huge and we have never had this issue here as far as I know.  I was out doing early yield checks and found a lot of worms.  Three days later the crop dusters were here spraying.  Hopefully we got it in time.  I had the Chemical sales rep out today looking at the kill we got on the WBC and i asked him What percentage of acres were being sprayed.  He said only 10% but he thought that about 50% of the acres needed to be sprayed.  WBC might be a big factor here. 

[HickoryGolfer]

Yes--We sprayed for WBC too. Central Wisconsin. The pest seems to be on the rise over the last few years. ECB is diminishing and WCB rising.  Some area farmers here have not caught up to this new trend either. ie no spray.

[jrsiajdranch]

Idle help out your older cuz and use a bigger font. my eyes are getting tired.  Did you spray all the farms or just some?  HOw is the crop progress?  When do you think you'll be shellin?

We have a field of corn we will be shelling by Sept 15. 

We have started green chopping some of the corn silage but we blew out the feedroll drive yesterday so we are down for a couple of days.

We are off to the State fair today.  1 bull and two heifers.  I'll send you some pics. JR

[idleriver]

JR I had about 90 acres that I had to spray.  The rest was herculex corn.  We are just starting to dent here so it will be a little while before we start shelling.  The story the chemical salesman was telling me was that Corn borer is very territorial, so it kills the WBC.  Now that we are using so much BT corn we have cut down the Corn Borer and WBC populations have exploded.  I don't know if that is true or not but I guess it sounds plausible enough.  JR just get glasses.  Some of us in this family have been using them since the fourth grade.  It is not the big of a deal.

[Blacksandfarmer]

idleriver where are you farming? My guess is you would have to be north of me a ways. 180 bu corn would be nice but I think I'll be in the 120 range. Area's north of Coldwater and Union City had timely rains this summer, and areas south of Angola, IN had great rainfall as well. Here in southern Branch county we missed nearlly every rain event for 5 weeks at pollination so we will not have a bumper corn crop. I have posted a profile picture of my wife and I standing in our field of beans. While we will have a below average corn crop, our beans could make up for it-- we've gotten a lot of rain in the past couple weeks. I dont even want to guess a yield on the beans..... Im afraid of jinxing it haha. Thanks for the heads up on the cutworms, I would have never have thought to scout for them. I ask that you keep me posted if anything changes around here, have a safe harvest.

[idleriver]

Black sand, I am right in Union City.  I did haul a load of beans to Reading in July and noticed they were pretty burned up.  I have not been to Bronson this year though.  Have you done any yield checks.  does your Dad work for Hemkers Construction?

[idleriver]

Black Sand I am right in Union City.  I have not been to Bronson this year but i did haul a load of beans to Reading in july and the were pretty well burned up over there too.  have you checked the pollination on the corn?

If your dad works for Hemkers, I used to work with him.

[Blacksandfarmer]

Yeah my dad works for hemkers, small world huh. Crops your way do look really good. We have had dry summers here in my area for 4 years now.  My crop insurance man who is also my banker will start wondering why my corn yield is below 130 every year after putting out enough fertilizer for 150+ corn. Oh well hopefully all this late rain makes a good soy crop. Let us know what your yield ends up being.

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

I don't think SDS is spreading any in soybeans.  Flew from Iowa City to Rock Falls, IL and the soybean fields look very good.  Corn still shows water and nitrogen stress.  Some corn is showing signs of turning but most is not.  I'd say from an aerial view, the grain filling stage looks like it's going well and we aren't getting any more yield drag then we've had already.

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

Took a little flight from Iowa City to Washington and then out west a few miles.  Most beans look quite good from 1,000 feet in the air.  Some show some signs of color change and some have spots that look to be dying, but for the most part they look good.  Corn is quite variable.  Some is very green, some is very brown, and most is in some kind of changing mode.