Is It A Good Day To Sow Wheat?

I sowed 10 acres tonight to get the drill calibrated. I think it was putting it on too thin. It's a 2 year old JD notill drill and it plants less than the chart says. It always has since the day it was new. You would think they could get the chart right, wouldn't you?

This seed is only 16,000 seeds per pound so it is very small, dense seed. I set the drill at a higher setting and it still isn't putting quite enough on so I increased it two more notches. Of course, I put SabrEx on the seed and in the seedbox. I am also sowing 1-2 pounds of radish seed per acre with it.

When radish sprouts the root exudates seems to limit damage from nematodes. The radish gathers available nutrients from the soil and gives them all back when they die over winter. If they didn't die, the Harmony Extra in the spring would kill them anyway.

I don't usually plant on Sunday but it was fun. It wasn't work at all to me but other religous sects disagree and I respect their view. I am more curious if it is a good time to plant wheat? It is the full harvest moon and I usually don't plant at full moon, either.

But since I believe in planting something as soon as you harvest, I am harvesting and planting at the same time.. I am pretty sure this is the first time I ever sowed wheat in September in my life. That's a first. I have always wanted to because my notill wheat gets off to a slow start compared to worked up ground.

Record low acres of soft red winter wheat were planted in Ohio a year ago, mainly because of the wet fall. The high price of corn and soybeans and the lower price of wheat contributed. The stocks report Friday showed we are low in everything and even though there is 2 billion bushels of wheat in storage, that is not enough for world demand. Russia had a failure and Australia is working on one. Some think we will see $25 wheat. Right now all I want is a cover crop.(Curious question, do you like short hyperlinks like that one or longer ones? I have been guilty of full paragraphs links even though they look tacky.)

I saw some neat tips in the NoTill Farmer Magazine I just recieved. I will try to share them tomorrow.

It's been a wonderful month and week, I hate to see September go, but here comes October! Will winter return this year?

Sure had fun with 5 grandkids yesterday. Did you ever see a one year old in a pink tutu carrying an ear of corn as big as she is?

Ed