Too wet to plant

We heard at church this morning that the 25,000 acre family to the south of us haven't planted a seed. I can see why!

There are a few thousand acres planted in the county but not much around here. I just hope the Gramaxone in the herbicide mixed killed our cover crop of wheat. LuAnn assures me it did, but... you know how farmers question some things and take others as they come. At least the first fields look a whole lot better than they did two weeks ago!

Soybeans have went up in response to market conditions including late planting this week. They are up over a dollar this past week and many farmers are wondering when to "pull the trigger." My bids might get taken this week. I hope so but don't want to miss future price gains either. We all want to avoid the market lows we expect this fall when things are said and done.

At least we have time to clean up some of the messes we have made around here already. When we got home the grass was tall and I got it mowed again although the forecast was rain. Today it was supposed to be clear but it is sprinking!

I don't like to plant on Sunday but it doesn't look good for Monday or Tuesday, either. The magical planting date of May 1-5 will have slipped by us.

I did tell farmers to get their soybean inoculant bought because it looked like there was record interest to use it this year even though there were record supplies available. Guess what, some are sold out right now so if you didn't buy yours you have to wait to get it if you can or plant without it.

With the saturated soils prevalent over the corn belt again this spring I wouldn't trust the rhizobia populations out in the fields. This was good advice not heeded by some again.

Everyone is wondering now if we can enjoy the good yeilds the late plantings enjoyed to the west of us again this year. I guess we won't know until harvest!

Ed