Here’s how planting is going.

A quick run of the acres says we’re just over 30% complete. Thursday’s rain likely has pushed any fieldwork into next week.

So we’re adjusting.

Which maturity to plant when?

I’ve flipped a couple of corn fields around, planting fuller season maturity and holding back mid-season hybrids in the event planting continues to be delayed. As the season gets later, planting earlier maturing hybrids will help keep harvest timing on schedule. In another 10 days, we will reconsider planting full season hybrids.

One thing I am not satisfied with is the amount of the early maturing corn we have in the ground, this may limit our early delivery/quick ship bushels this fall. Every time we are ready to go to those fields it rains again. Nonetheless, I would not be surprised if the weather turns on its head and we go through a dry spell soon. Crops can be put in the ground quickly.

Wheat is a grass and corn is a grass, right? This year, I’ve been a bit more intentional with the wheat crop trying to learn from its needs so we can make better decisions in the corn crop. We’ve been tissue testing regularly. The last couple of years, we’ve determined what is generally our ‘baseline’ fertility program. We’ve been adding to it and trying to do a better job making timely applications.

Learning with on-farm trials

We’re trying some new (to us) products. Somehow, I found the willpower to leave a test strip in each field. If you don’t farm, you don’t know how hard it is to leave some of the field untreated when you believe the treatment you are making will add value to your crop.

I told myself I would make up for the untreated strip by doing a 2x treated strip beside it! Not sure if that will work, but the 2x strip should also help answer the ‘how much’ question.

The other question a test strip may help answer is: Are you always able to quantify ‘moving the needle’ with a tissue test or visual examination?

We’ve applied some products but didn’t see a tangible difference in the tissue test results. Did the product not work, or did the plant not need that nutrient? These are some of the questions the yield will help answer.