Ontario corn crop pictures

[Canuck_2]

Thought some might be interested to see some of the worst corn crop pictures from Ontario.

I thought this was bad but I do not get too far from home and my wife who travels more says there are others close to this bad in other areas.

Heavy land and too much rain

And across the road 

 

Another field showing the problems from going before the land is dry enough.

Lots of these areas around this year

This is what you get when you wait for the land to dry.

May 12 planting on left and May 22 to finish after being rained out 

 

And i was rained out of the next field too and did not get the last of the corn planted until June 3.

I do not have many spots that are stunted and yellow though and those I have are quite small.

The corn on the left is 1.25 metre tall ( about 4 ft for those using the old measure), on the right about 80 cm (.8 metre or just under 3 ft)

[Canuck_2]

Was in that field of mine again tonight.

4 days later and what was 1.25 metre is now 1.7 m

Almost 1/2 a metre of growth in 4 days.

[Nebrfarmr]

There is a lot of corn like the first couple pictures around here in the bottom ground near the river.  According to the USDA, it is all planted on time, but what will it yield?  The only problem around here would be that the people that waited out good weather, had to wait until well into June before they got the planting done, and that requires very short season corn to ensure no frost damage.

[Canuck_2]

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@Nebrfarmr wrote:

There is a lot of corn like the first couple pictures around here in the bottom ground near the river.  According to the USDA, it is all planted on time, but what will it yield?  The only problem around here would be that the people that waited out good weather, had to wait until well into June before they got the planting done, and that requires very short season corn to ensure no frost damage.

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Just to clarify the first 2 pictures are the extreme. Only a small % like that but I am hearing there are similar fields through out this part of Ontario.

In this case it is just heavy land and too much rain. Probably compounded by not waiting quite long enough for ideal soil condition.

Believe both those farms are rented out, both owners have other businesses that they run.

In the case of my field I waited for dry soil but then only had a short window to plant before I was rained out. Happened twice this year so like you say I then end up with late planted corn. Early frost could be worse than those stunted fields but I still think I am better off yet. Even my late planted looks nice and healthy just behind in maturity.

[Nebrfarmr]

Bumped into a guy who rents a field that looks a little like your top pictures, and he says the problem is water coming up from beneath.  The rivers in Nebraska are quite high (North Platte, Nebraska has been in a flood watch more or less steadily for over 2 months now) and in the low spots, while water is not on the surface, the roots just have no where to go.  Tiling is not an option, at least not for these conditions, because the rivers in places are so high, the water wouldn't have anywhere to drain.

Here are some pics of the worst of it:  http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701-s&va=nebraska+flooding+201...

[Canuck_2]

That might almost describe what is happening in those 2 fields but the water came from above too often and too much and the heavy land just will not drain away quick enough.

Look close and I think you can see where there are a few random tile runs.

Other farms with this same ground have been systematically drained and still show good over the drains and poor (not as bad as those) between the runs.

Was by there again today and the smallest corn is greening up some and starting to grow a little.

Doubt it has much chance of producing anything.

[Buc10]

Those are wild pictures Nebraska man. We were on a farm tour to Nebraska about 10 years ago. Wonderful land, and visited a lot of the big cattle feedlots. Was very impressed with your land, cattle, and most of all your huge acqufer down only about 15 ft. if I remember correctly.

Where are you from Canuck man?  I planted corn for the first time ever on our farm this year. Only 19 acres, just ot try it out. Planted May 18th. Looks excellent, about 5 ft. tall. I'll try and get a picture this week. I'm up near Owen Sound. Early corn looks really good, late corn is a different story.

Buck

[Canuck_2]

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@Buc10 wrote:

Those are wild pictures Nebraska man. We were on a farm tour to Nebraska about 10 years ago. Wonderful land, and visited a lot of the big cattle feedlots. Was very impressed with your land, cattle, and most of all your huge acqufer down only about 15 ft. if I remember correctly.

Where are you from Canuck man?  I planted corn for the first time ever on our farm this year. Only 19 acres, just ot try it out. Planted May 18th. Looks excellent, about 5 ft. tall. I'll try and get a picture this week. I'm up near Owen Sound. Early corn looks really good, late corn is a different story.

Buck

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North of London.

Depending on exactly where your farm is you could have almost the same HU for corn that I do because of the lakes.

Lots of corn looks good here to but lots has poor spots from wet and planting when the soil was just not dry enough. For those of us who waited for the soil it meant not enough time to plant early or at least not all the crop. I finished planting corn on June 3 and that may be too late to get a crop if we have an normal frost let alone an early one.

Have visited the fine city of Owen Sound. Walked up to the falls just north of the city. Bridal Veil?? not sure of the name now but they were dry when we were there.

Falls to the south were flowing nicely with a nice park down along the stream.

[Nebrfarmr]

Our water is probably our biggest asset.  The depth to water does vary greatly across the state, though.  It has more to do with the elevation of the land, than it does the aquifer.  Most of the Ogalalla aquifer is about the same height above sea level, so on low spots it is very shallow, and on hills is deeper.  Even before all this rain/flooding our water level was rising.  There were springs that dried up in the dust bowl of the 1930s that only a very few old timers can remember that have started flowing again.  I have even seen windmills where water is coming up out of the spout, and the windmill isn't turning due to the water rising (called an artesian well).  I have heard of a few places where you can run a pipe with a sand point into the ground with a sledgehammer about 6-8 feet, twist it back & forth with a pipewrench to free the holes, and water will slowly bubble out of the pipe if the top of it is fairly close to the ground.  A sand point is more or less a heavy-duty screen shaped in a point that keeps the sand out of the pipe as you hammer the pipe down, yet allows water to flow through.

I think in the future water may become the next 'oil' as far as value goes, and I think Nebraska probably has as much or more fresh water as any state in the union.

[Canuck_2]

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@Nebrfarmr wrote:

Our water is probably our biggest asset.  The depth to water does vary greatly across the state, though.  It has more to do with the elevation of the land, than it does the aquifer.  Most of the Ogalalla aquifer is about the same height above sea level, so on low spots it is very shallow, and on hills is deeper.  Even before all this rain/flooding our water level was rising.  There were springs that dried up in the dust bowl of the 1930s that only a very few old timers can remember that have started flowing again.  I have even seen windmills where water is coming up out of the spout, and the windmill isn't turning due to the water rising (called an artesian well).  I have heard of a few places where you can run a pipe with a sand point into the ground with a sledgehammer about 6-8 feet, twist it back & forth with a pipewrench to free the holes, and water will slowly bubble out of the pipe if the top of it is fairly close to the ground.  A sand point is more or less a heavy-duty screen shaped in a point that keeps the sand out of the pipe as you hammer the pipe down, yet allows water to flow through.

I think in the future water may become the next 'oil' as far as value goes, and I think Nebraska probably has as much or more fresh water as any state in the union.

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Is your aquifer tied into the lake in North Dakota, Devil's Lake maybe, that is rising in recent years?

Think it is saline but does not flow out just evaporates and raises the ground water level.

That would explain the rising level as the lake in North Dakota has been rising and flooding land due to higher precipitation than normal.