Cold Inhibition

Corn in these parts suffered from a phenomena called cold inhibition of germinating seed. When you click on the link, you see two good pictures of baby corn with its roots wrapped tight around the seed. The one picture even looks like a grubworm wrapped around the seed but it isn't. It's the baby root thick and gnarled around the seed like a little kid shivering in the cold.

I think there is a lot of this corn in the US this year. We had quite a cool and even cold April with some damage to the wheat crop. When farmers talk about not planting corn so it's first drink is a cold one, I think it is more than that.

The corn actually drinks the soil solution. That solution becomes very fluid when it rains enough to run water past the corn seed. The seed swells and that baby radial root takes up that fluid. Research shows little difference in the temperature of that fluid but there hasn't been much research done to corn that compares to what we have this year.

I think this took some bushels off our final yield. I am guessing 10 bushels but it could easily be over 20 bushels per acre lost to cold inhibition. This is another reason I demand good seed lots treated with the best treatment money can buy. From the digs I have done, the Poncho Votivo corn looks superior to everything else. Some of the Cruiser Maxx seed I have dug needs to be replanted.

I am not making a blanket statement that Poncho Votivo is superior but it looks better to me this year. Mucor fungus is rampant in cold notill soils and perhaps it is a little better on that pathogen. Captan was our very best defense against it and you don't see much of it anymore with the worker protection problem it had a few years ago.

There are many things interacting in our scenario but the main one is cold or fluctuating soil temperatures enough to cause this phenomena. This is why many farmers don't risk planting early or being "the first in the field." Timing planting to catch optimal growing conditions is impossible on today's big farms so many have to start early so then don't end up planting late. That and we are all impatient to some extent and not pulling the planting trigger early is impossible for some of us to do.

The big numbers of planted corn you read and hear about doesn't mean it's all in great shape. A good, atively growing stand is one thing and cold inhibition is a whole 'nother story. It hasn't been good growing weather here since late March and I know that is true in many other places.

The way we are going we will be lucky to get the corn up in May and will be planting soybeans in June.

This month is half over.

Ed

Mom

Dear Mom,

Thanks for bringing me into this world so I can "pass it on." Thanks for feeding me, clothing me, patching up my scratches, bumps and bruises. Thanks for sending me to church. I learned a whole bunch there and that has carried me into grandpahood. I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

Thanks for sending me to school and demanding I be the very best student I could be. That taught me how to learn, get a job and how to make money so I could provide for myself and my family. That also has "done me well" over the years.

This sounds funny, but thanks for taking me to the dentist. I have went every year or so most of my life and I have a good set of teeth! That is key to my health to chew my food so I can do all those other good things. That is also key to my longevity.

I do miss your cooking though. You really learned how to cook. Your macoroni, chili, salads, and that pounded fried steak you made is something I can't find just anywhere. Some come close, but aren't quite as good!

I didn't care for those stewed tomatoes we had with those foods. In fact I got quite sick of eating them but I see now we were really blessed to learn to live from our garden we all worked in. It was really good for me and taught me a lot of great things. I still eat lots of tomatoes to this day.

Your pies and cinnamon rolls are sorely missed. I don't need them in my older years but I sure miss them sometimes. Remember when you showed up the ladies at church and won all of those ribbons for your baking at the county fair?

Thanks for insisting we all get a college education. You should be proud that tenant farmers helped all their children graduate with a college degree that means something to this day. That helped us get our kids oriented to a world of work and learn and they will pass it on to theirs.

We all learned to work hard and no one has ever accused any of us for being lazy for very long. It is amazing what I have been able to do in my life, let alone my brother and sister and all our kids. Everyone has chores to do whether it is tending to animals or the house they live in.

Thanks for not taking me out of this world even though "you brought me in" to it. You clobbered me good sometimes and I deserved it and a lot of other times you didn't. I learned respect of discipline at an early age.

So here's to you mom, on Mother's Day. I hope you have a real good day and are proud of your three kids,eight grandkids and all those wonderful great grandchildren.

Today's picture is your mother, grandma Carrington holding a cousin.

Your son,

Ed

Hurry Up and Wait

Farming has been herky-jerky this spring. A few farmers planted in March, most tried in April but not all, and the crop is all over the place. We have wheat pollinated to just heading, corn that is about ready for side dressing and fields that haven't been touched. There are a few fields of beans up but serious soybean planted has not started here yet. I think the last two years have made local farmers very hesitant. It's been hurry up, then wait, and mostly wait.

I am an impatient person sometimes(most of the time), so I don't particularly care for "hurry up and wait." Part of me doesn't mind and part of me just wants to start a job and finish it. I suppose a lot of us are that way. We have adjusted to waiting in airports for long flights because the outcome has always been worth waiting for.

Cropping was that way last year, too. Waiting until the first of June worked out real well for everyone around here but this year isn't quite the same. "No two years are the same" has sure been true this year. In 2010 it worked out to plant before the all month May rains and this year it hasn't. Some have planted everything, most have planted something and some haven't planted a seed around here yet.

I guess that gives agronomists and consultants plenty to think about. Next Saturday is my seed inspection school and I already have wheat fields pollinated to go look at. Crop adjustors have already been in some fields where the corn didn't come up as expected and I have heard about and seen counts as low as 7,000 plants per acre. That's a replant in the middle of May in anyone's book.

This morning's sky reflected the hurry up and wait weather. We have a couple of nice days then a front moves through and it gets cool again. It got down in the 30's here in places and saw farmers talking about lows in the 20's in parts of Nebraska. That isn't any kind of crop growing weather.

So we take our lumps as they come and keep trying to make lemonade out of lemons.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I imagine some of the dads and sons will be planting somewhere.

This quote from the Cafe sums up the frustration of balancing work and family, though I don't think any of us call the USDA family: "SO tonight, I was redoing the U-Joint job I just did on the 895 because I realized I had the joints out of phase and was getting a vibration when turning when the phone rings. I normally do not stop to answer it but due to several family health issues in the last week, I dropped what I was doing and picked it up.
On the other end was "Laquesha" with the USDA asking if I has recieved my rent survey. I just hung uo the phone and went back to work and no more than got my hands full of tools when the phone rang again.
Sure enough it was Laquesha saying "we must of got disconnected." As my blood began to boil, She asked if I had got my survey?
I replied "Yes".
"Have you filled it out and returned it?"
I replied "No but let me ask you, What is todays date?
She replied "May 10th"
"Do you know what farmers do on May 10th ?" I asked in my calmest voice. " they plant corn is what we do on May 10th, I am elbow deep in a tractor trying to fix it so I can do just that and I would think the USDA would have better things to do than bother farmers in the middle of the busy season about a survey that was voluntary."
She replied " i am just doing my job"
I replied "So am I" and hung up the phone.

She didn't call back a third time.
End Rant "

I think you moms will get a little more attention than that!

Ed

Orin

Today's post was going to be Murphy. Murphy has been hitting us hard in southwest Ohio. We have had a beautiful spring but our best weather was two weeks in March. Then it got cold and wet and five inches of pounding, cold rain in one week.

One day I was scouting one of our fields and found a brand new Kubota stuck in the drainage ditch inside a tile blowout. Someone had broken into the machinery shed on that farm, cleaned out the former owner's tools and new 16 foot trailer and stuck the tractor trying to take it to the road to laod it onto the trailer. The theif was right, it is 4WD but it has little tires too that fell right into that big hole.

Yesterday I noticed on one bill I was billed for a corn herbicide I never saw in my stash. We have looked all over and no one knows where that case of herbicide disappeared to. It's worth over $2000.

I went to plug in something and the fire flew so the electrician is going over the wiring. Thank God for Jim, he has kept this farm going the last five years. There are about 100 other things like that so you can see why I was going to title this blog Murphy.

Then I got an email from a young farmer we met while traveling through Oregon in 2010 and that all went away. He made my day. His name is Orin and he had to show me the post he made on NewAgTalk.

On that trip we met BuddESheperd at The Lazy Farmer, Orin, and one of the best radish growers I know, Garth Mulkey. This all happened within a few days, thanks to NewAgTalk, the National NoTill Conference and email.

Orin grows fescue for the Oregon Ryegrass Commission, Christmas trees and anything to turn a profit on his Bellfountain farm. I won't forget the surprise cookout we had on their lawn with his wife, then little boy and his dad. It was great fun to meet farmers like that you read about on NewAgTalk.

So thank you Orin for replacing Murphy today, the Good Lord speaks to me through other people.

You did just that.

Ed Winkle

Scouting Corn

All of the corn that has been planted so far this year needs to be scouted now. I wonder how many acres or what percentage actually get scouted by the farmer, the tractor driver, the ag supply company or the hired scout or consultant?

As usual, everything you did or didn't do shows in the fields right now. My carefully selected seed lots with the best treatment I could buy planted properly looks pretty good for what it's been through. I give the 24 row Kinze A marks on spacing and C plus on amount of soil above the seed. I might be low on the latter grade.

Planting date is critical. The best stands I have seen are the 3 good days in March and a couple in April, one near the first and one around the 18th. The week of the 23rd is not as good but still coming. It seems to have the most uneven emergence so far.

Beyond the stand and emergence, the most troubling thing I have found is the amount of flea beetle damage. All planting dates are affected somewhat but the week of April 16th seems to have the most damage. Flea beetles chew up baby corn and infect it with Stewart's Wilt. Most hybrids have some resistance to Stewart's but that plant is also opened up to Goss's Wilt and other bacterial diseases this summer.

Six ounces of a pyrethroid insecticide like Permethrin insecticide broadcast or a few ounces in the popup fertilizer will usually control flea beetles. This was not the year to not pay attention to this small detail but most serious corn growers take care of their potential insect problems through seed applied insecticide and in furrow applications of various chemicals.

Weed control seems to be pretty good but that varies across the country, also. Most fields have had enough time and moisture to allow enough weed growth that a second application will be required as a post emergent application by or before vegetative stage 6 or V6. The nozzles need to be dropped by using "drop nozzles" by that stage to get the product on the target and not on the corn leaves.

That is about it for today. Take time to scout your acres!

Ed Winkle

Spark!

So many things to talk about it's been hard to pick one. You readers have been quiet. That's good, that means you have been outside. But I do need some input. What would you like to talk about? I have been struggling to pick one topic each day this past week.

Today I chose our friend Sparky. Sparky makes things go and he has for over 100 years now. I am talking about spark plugs. Since I decided to replace the ones in the Buick, I got to thinking how much longer they last than when I was a kid. They were lucky to last 10,000 miles in 1966. This set had 135,000 miles on them and 5 years of weathering on them but they didn't look too worn.

They gauged about .005 inch wider than factory specs. That is not much wear after all those sparks!
1500 RPM divided by 6 cylinders, and... that is a lot of lightning strikes inside that cylinder. The plugs were $9 so I thought I better change wires while we're at it. They looked and felt new but they have carried a ton of voltage over 5 years. Ever see an old car or truck or tractor engine running at night and you could see the wires light up? I don't want that after the effort of changing the plugs.

On the Rendezvous, you have to unbolt the engine mount and pry the engine as far as it will pry to get to the back 3 cylinders. The flexible exhaust connector won't let you pry the engine any farther. It's a nightmare under there. Don't complain when you get your shop bill, believe me. It's worth every dollar they charge in my book.

About the only way these plugs can fail is if the resistor inside of them burns in two pieces. The tip is made of titanium and is about indestructable so I imagine many if not most of these engines go to their grave with the original plugs in them.

The engine fired quicker than ever and I could feel the difference. It runs smoother and you can feel it from the moment you start right into high gear and road speed. I am sure I picked up one or two more miles per gallon.

The Dodge has 100,000 on its plugs again so I might change them. They are much easier to change because of the size of the engine compartment. It runs so much smoother after I cleaned the battery terminals it isn't funny. These engines are so sensitive, just a volt or two makes a big difference in performance.

The best thing about the old Delco HEI distributor was we didn't have to gap and replace ignition points any longer. It's amazing what these systems do today. A friend told me we are all driving what Indy or NASCAR had in the 60's, about one horsepower per cubic inch. That's a pretty good analysis.

Ed

Road Trip!

I was reading the New Ag Talk Cafe this morning and came across a thread about a young man taking a road trip with his dad. Road trips with my dad might be as far as the feed mill in town, or once a year to the county fair and the Ohio State Fair!

I wonder what my boys remember of their "road trips?" I took them as far and as much as I could because I love to travel and I loved being with my kids. Road trips led to "Field Trips" as a teacher and parent. I love field trips too!

His story made me think of my many road trips and field trips, especially the last 20 years. Iowa over 10 times, every state and most National Parks was a blast! Right now would be a great time to go see that tall corn(via email this morning) in central Illinois and eastern Iowa. Work and gas prices are good excuses not to go but it sure would be fun!

It looks like most of our corn is going to make it. It's amazing what these "fancy" seed treatments do on good seed lots these days but it is really amazing to see what trichaderma fungi eat in this cool mud! I had enough soil moisture and temperature at the right time to colonize these fungi and when the chemical treatment runs out about now, that fungus will sit on the root hairs just gobbling up all that pythium, fusarium and rhizoctonia that could kill my crop!

A good friend is visiting this weekend from Iowa so I won't venture too far. Just scouting my fields each day keeps me pretty busy as well as gardening, mowing, telephone, email and NewAgTalk. I might get some of each done!

There are too many eroded fields here again. I have been reading about erosion and residue anywhere it has rained much and desperation wherever it hasn't.

"Sounds like here. You painted the picture properly.

Yes the notill washed but there are tilled fields here with the topsoil GONE.

Wonder why the rivers are so BROWN?

"$800 an acre to grow corn" down the Mississippi!"

That's not a good trip for our soil! What do you think my friend is holding in his hand? It will keep the soil from washing!
Ed