Cool weather...

The recent cool weather is really enjoyable if you are a human or animal, but not so much if you are a corn or soybean plant...

The cooler weather has brought our Gray Leaf Spot progression to a halt; thus, we have stopped spraying fungicides on the corn until the weather warms up again. The cooler weather is also beneficial for our April planted corn to pack on more test weight in the kernels as it has completed pollination is now is focused on putting all its energy in the ear.

The downside to all this cooler weather is that it has really slowed down the growth of our May and later planted corn. Our corn planted May 12th in Greenfield is now fully tasseled, while the corn we planted down there on June 1st is just now chest high. The corn planted over the Memorial Day weekend in Elkhart & Williamsville should show tassels this week, but as of Sunday still had one leaf to go before the tassel appeared. At this point we would rather see temperatures in the 90's as each day we stay cool we push harvest and black layer back further. Mathematically speaking, each day we stay unseasonably cool, we push maturity back another six days based on the normal growing degree days we receive this time of year. I think it is safe to say that harvest will be late this year.

The soybeans have closed the row and are now putting on new growth. We are watching them for Japanese beetles chewing on them - they like this weather too. Soybeans are similar to corn this time of year as well; they would prefer to have "warmer" temperatures as they begin to bloom.