Good Corn?

Have you seen any good corn? There isn't much around here! This picture is from a friend 100 miles away or so and it has 300 lbs. of AMS per acre spread before the twin row corn was planted. The herbicide was applied via water, not liquid fertilizer. I think it looks pretty happy and healthy.

We have some fields in this region, probably, almost that good, but see that dark green color already? Most of our fields look yellow and that corn had the same cold stress and maybe a little less water than we had here.

Farmers have been posting their corn woes on Crop Talk all spring. Dry weather seems to be the problem for most farmer but many got caught in that cold snap April 12 and another one the first of May. That really derailed a lot of potential good corn like this picture shows.

We have been near Chillicothe to Georgetown, up to Lebanon and Waynesville to Washington Court House and Greenfield. You can count the really good corn fields on two hands. Most fields are still brown and are being planted to soybeans. I don't think we will end up with record corn acres in Ohio. Crop insurance paid out a record $12 billion last year and some people do not understand this important part of our production system.

Pretty soon we will be talking about soybeans, wheat harvest and what goes on in our gardens. I saw one of the best fields on Harveysburg Road where a friend of mine notilled beans into Highly Erodible Lands early and those beans have several sets of leaves on them. They are loving this heat and gravity is pulling those roots to water as it goes down the water table. Those roots are highly nourished and well fed.

I have learned a lot since 1963 when dad helped me plant my first field of corn. That field of corn got washed away in the 63 flood but I never gave up hope of growing good corn. This year I didn't plant when my gut told me too. Those few days in March were the best corn planting weather all year, I even mentioned that in an earlier blog but I wasn't ready when those days came and I let them slip away. Logic and calendars got in the way of the right time to plant this year.

So I take the lemons I planted and try to make lemonade out of them. I don't have an oil boom for extra income. It's time to side dress and spray the corn we have and be thankful for it. Lots of corn got replanted, lots of corn needed replanted and never got it and every problem written in books have happened to our corn this year.

I hope your crops and gardens are doing well. Keep sending pictures and comments like the one I show today and we will keep discussing how we all do it.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend and thank you soldiers of war who keep us free and soldiers for Christ who do the right thing.

Ed Winkle