Crop tour Ks #2

[sw363535]

Three weeks later 

I took the same trek starting at Liberal to minneola, Dodge City, Kinsley, Great Bend, Ellsworth,  Salina, Abilene, Clay Center......

Then added ,,,, back to Junction City and down Ike's 70 to Kansas City.....

Two weeks of near triple digit heat --------- keep in mind it is only first week of September........... pretty well stopped the dry land corn in its tracks..... several fields harvested already and no green to be found  all can be harvested this next week... or close to it

Milo changed color fast and a lot of the leaves are brown before the heads ripen....

I would say we took 25 bushel off the corn and milo crops across the state.... The pretty milo is still going to me good(especially compared to the last 4 years) but not what it could have been...

Soybeans ------ depending on soil moisture--- have lost ground as well.  We saw several fields that have nothing green left.  And others holding on decent --- and everything in between......

Some fields look to be just drying out ,,,, not turning as I would expect...  I inspected the one below and found lots of pods with 2 1/2 beans per pod and I am not sure they are not done

Look at this ECIN or Hobby, Iscat76,   well most everyone out there knows beans better than me.... Tell me when do you know if this field is turning for harvest or just drying up?

The gray looking areas in the back of the field were just that .......gray

I saw a lot of fields worse than this ........ will the beans shrivel?

Hijacker trained in US, employed in US

[lsc76cat]

I would take a pic of our maturing beans and post it but some clouds have moved in making it too dark.

As beans reach maturity the leaves will start to yellow and dry up/drop off. 

Given that conditions have been favorable (and ours certainly have) the pods will be filled.

This process is first noticed on lighter soil (hills and hill sides) and will gradually spread across the field.

It is a pretty sight to see.

The last week's heat has sped up our maturity as well.

We finally got the Canadien high pressure today with a nice NW breeze.

[ECIN]

Well - what I can see is the top of the plants look to have pods filled , I agree with 76 - the hot and dry will speed them along - but boy they sure look pretty good - some water would help them top pods filling - the top ones are were the higher yields will come from ,  Here in New Kansas - we can't buy a dam rain - well At our place anyway . lol

[bkadds]

SW--dried up fast here also. Have lots of rust in the hailed on corn. This heat flared the mites also, but being this far along they can suck all they want. Crop is not worth more inputs besides water at this point. Cannot wait till this crop is in the bins. Stuck sprinklers are causing sleep loss! Been a long summer!

[lsc76cat]

Given that there doesn't appear to be normal "yellowing" of the leaves due to maturity the pods shouldn't be so visible.

The nearly uniform plant color and the absence of canopy would indicate to me stress is damaging them.

But then maybe beans in your area behave differently than what we're used to up north.

[Wind]

I agree, I could not have said it any better.  I saw the same thing in SE PA a few weeks ago, very  dry there too.  A good rain in a few days would help.  Looks like some parts of KS are getting a good rain at this moment.

[Blacksandfarmer]

I can see the underside of the leaves which means moisture stress, but those beans have plenty of pods and look like they have filled out decent. Another rain would help add a few bushels, good looking beans!

[sw363535]

Thanks a bunch, all

We only irrigate beans so we see the normal color  turn as 76 describes well....   

This trip saw several fields that had just dried down to dead looking.... I wondered how that affected the bean itself...

Great information

I tried to show a better field...the hillsides higher ground was shorter, but it will be ok if stops there (assuming they won't shrivel along with the leaves)  There were also fields in lower areas and wetter that still looked good.

Back out west our irrig beans(we stress em early while the corn gets the water.  Then pile on the water late...)  have a heavier pod set than usual..

Bk yes  corn is going brown way too fast..... last two weeks have been miserable...

[lsc76cat]

As promised - much more sunlight this evening.

Hills & hill sides are turning first.  The canopy is more or less intact yet.

Weed control has been a little more difficult this year. 

The corn and beans aren't the only green things that liked our summer.

Ample moisture, warm temps and plenty of sunlight have really moved them along.

This is at the edge of the field along a "clay" hillside.

Last pic: beans are a 2.0 maturity, SCMN.  Neighbor's field in the background, same maturity, planted 12 days earlier.

These look uneven because the 2+ inches of rain over the weekend knocked them down a bit.

Nice NW wind today is helping dry them off and stand them up again.  Losing leaves will help too.

Sure look alot better than the frosted beans we had mid September last year.