2022 is not a growing year I will soon forget. We thankfully had good moisture in the spring, and even planted a little later than usual because of too much moisture. But by June it all flipped, we received basically no rain in the month of June, had a rain event early in July that carried u…
The weather is bitterly cold, but field work continues. As much as I love getting all this work done, we desperately need some moisture. Being able to tile while weather is in the upper teens, low 20s shouldn’t be happening. But with no moisture, the ground is not freezing. But we’ll continu…
The weather has officially broke, and it is quite freezing out! But thankfully we are still able to continue tiling until we start getting deep freezes. One thing that tiling has showcased is that we are in very rough shape when it comes to moisture. We have been excessively dry, but digging…
Not much crop is left in the area and field work is a full go. Cover crops have emerged, tile is going in, fields are getting chiseled, and strips are getting made. Harvest is over, but the work hasn’t slowed down! Another beautiful week of weather on tap.
Harvest is a wrap! Finished up last week, and it seems like most of the area is in the same position. Seems to be good timing. It has been a soggy few days post finish. Now we hope for some good dry days to get field work done — finish seeding cover crops, strip till, tiling, the fun never stops!
We’re getting there! Should finish up beans today and have one day of left of corn. Most beans are done in the area, with a decent amount of corn left. Yield reports continue to come in well above expectations. All of my wheat has been planted but still have a good amount of cereal rye left …
The slog of harvest continues in central Illinois. While we really need rain to recharge soils, the dry weather has led to incredible productivity. A few area farmer have finished harvesting soybeans, with everyone else not far behind. Wheat has been seeded for 1.5 weeks and it has not germi…
Soybeans are being cut at a rapid pace. It has been great weather, with even some frost events mixed in to help with dropping some leaves on some fields that were hanging on. I imagine the week ahead will be the same, with a portion of farmers even finishing soybean harvest and moving into c…
Harvest is full go! A good amount of corn came out of the fields this past week, and reduced rate drying at the elevator helped. But by the end of the week, people really shifted into cutting beans. It appears beans will be a go for the foreseeable future. I will be the first to admit that m…
Harvest has begun! We have started in on a little bit of corn. It is drier than expected, and yields are somehow better than expected. From the sounds of those who have nosed in and my own experience, corn test weight is very high across the board and is carrying the low kernel counts. Beans…
What an intense storm last night! Lightning and wind was intense. But glad to catch the 0.8 inches of rain we did. I had covers aerial applied last week, so they should be off to the races. Local elevators opened reduced-rate drying for this week. We might nose into some corn by the end of t…
We received a very nice rain over the weekend to hopefully pack some weight on the soybeans. I hand-sampled our earliest corn late last week and it was around 33%. While I am enjoying a nice cooldown, a good week or two of heat will be needed to finish this corn off.
It’s been a hot week. During the afternoon the beans are showing signs of stress on the poorer soil types. But thankfully cool nights and heavy dew is keeping them happy until then. Cover crop seed is being delivered daily — the seeding season is almost upon us. Our local crop tour released …
It’s starting to feel like the movie "Groundhog Day." Northern portions of Champaign County and southern Douglas County received some rainfall over the past few days. We unfortunately did not — barely enough to measure. But we are reaching the portion of the corn-growing season where it won’…
Another week closer to harvest! We received some rain over the weekend, unfortunately significantly lower amounts than the rest of the county. The trend of the summer continues. But while totals weren’t as high as I would like, it still will be beneficial to keep the beans going and building…
Pretty uneventful week, was a nice break in the weather! Corn that didn’t dent prematurely is getting into beginning dent stage. More scouting is confirming what we’ve found leading up to this week. Kernel counts will be low, and premature denting will lead to lower test weight. Soybeans sti…
Central portions of the state received some welcomed rain in the early parts of last week. It will absolutely push the soybeans forward — most are in the R3-R4 range. Early corn is starting to dent, a bit premature. But the later corn is looking good considering the shortage of moisture up t…
Well, we finally came out of steam last week. Corn had been holding on up to this point, but lack of moisture finally took its toll. Early planted corn in southern Champaign County at least has tipped back extensively and already starting to dent. We received a nice rain this morning along w…
I feel like my posts are being repetitive for southern Champaign County. It was a hot, dry week and we missed out on all of the rain chances over the weekend. Noticing some tip-back on the earlier-planted corn and firing starting on the bottom of plants. Rain this week is crucial. Beans look…
It was a busy weather weekend in central Illinois. Unfortunately for Champaign County and close surrounding areas we did not receive much in the way for rain, only 0.1 to 0.3 inches. That being said, the crop still looks fantastic, but it appears we have a hot and dry stretch of weather on d…
It was a fantastic end to the week in central Illinois. Most of the growing area received 1-3 inches, coming at a huge time. We were getting excessively dry. Cooler temps plus ample moisture are going to help tremendously for corn pollination this week. All beans are fully in R1 and some as …
So I can report that the corn in Alabama has tassels! My family and I have been on vacation in Gulf Shores all week, so I don’t know what is going on in central Illinois except that we received some very welcome rain last weekend and I’m sure the crops have been growing like crazy.
We received a little less than an inch across most of our growing area. Southern Champaign County/northern Douglas County wasn’t quite as lucky but still received some. It will be a nice break with a little bit of moisture and cooler temps to start the week. Beans will fully be to R1 by week…
It was an amazing weekend to give the crops a break, but it is all over now. It will be interesting to evaluate the crop after this week. We held up fine last week, but I feel these next 7-10 days will start to take a toll. Corn is V7-V10 and beans are turning out 4th-5th trifoliate across m…
It’s going to be a hot one! We unfortunately missed the rain last week/weekend, just to the north of us received some rain (and unfortunately hail as well) and also to the south. But it kept splitting around us. Beans are ready to be sprayed by the end of the week, so hopefully the heat will…
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