Crop Watch 2018  

Link to August 17th crop watch

Link to August 8th crop watch
Link to July 29th crop watch
Link to July 20th crop watch
Link to July 8th crop watch
Link to July 4th crop watch 80" plus on June 25 Root and stalk checks Floods of 2018. Thankfully not my corn field
June 25, 2018. I spent much of the day scouting my crops. Soybeans are yellow from too much rain but look okay except for deer damage. It's been raining every few days. Fields closer to Des Moines have had crops drowned out with ponds up to 10 acres. Conditions on our farm are better with minimal crops killed from ponding. I took 2 soil samples in my corn field and will send them in to see how much nitrogen is left. I'm also interested in seeing how my fertilizer adjustments and application of micronutrients will show.

Main part of the day: I took measurements of stalk width, tallest leaf, widest leaf, and population from 12 areas covering my variety test plot. Click here for Results

Paul Helland from Hefty Seeds came in the afternoon and inspected their varieties in my test plot for general plant health, root and stalk strength, and population. Paul has been instrumental in teaching me key agronomics. (I attended 2 soil clinics put on by the Hefty brothers that I would highly recommend to new and long time farmers. I got to see research on national corn yield contest winners and data showing how much nutrients are needed for high yields.)

On the 26th, Mark Rothermich from Genesis Ag group came and looked at corn with their products. He also did stalk and root checks. Apparently central Iowa crops are looking
good compared to some other areas.

Besides the variety test trials that I'm doing, 40 acres of corn are using various nutrients and growth promotion from Genesis Ag (touted by some of the national yield contest winners).
I also have 40 acres with products from Central Iowa Agronomy and Supply (from Bob Streit and Marv Mortenson - who are local crop consultants and agronomists but have international ties and do extensive
research on high yield projects.