June 2 2007

June 2, 2007

Again, another heavy rain. Just saw that Sisseton SD set a new record daily rainfall. I dumped out 3.7 inches at the plots this morning. That would have been the total for the week as I was gone since Monday. I drove through the eastern part of Sargent county this morning. Every culvert was maxed out with some water going over the roads. Sloughs have started to run from one to another. Drainage areas in the fields are running like rivers. Yep, she is wet again.

Things had dried out pretty well from the last big rain the first of May. I managed to get the bulk area planted on the south side that has a two variety trial and a comparison with Avail. Dave changed the planter units over to the Kinsey brush meters and we got the soybeans planted between showers. I am looking forward to next year when the rows will all be straight and we can plant in between rows. As I had mentioned before, this is the year RTK will straighten the plots up. As I was looking around this morning taking the pictures seen above, (Remember to click on them to get a full sized photo), I was noticing the poor stands where the old rows were crossed with the planter. Another problem with stands this year are pheasants. I guess I will have to do a little more hunting this year. I have heard of some major problems with the critters in the Rutland area with farmers having to replant whole fields.

As you can see in the winter wheat photo, heads are starting to pop out. I put on 4 oz of tilt last weekend and am real glad I did with the rain that came. The plants look healthy. The growth has been a little uneven this year, but looks like things are starting to even up. I also sprayed the spring wheat last Sunday also. Why is it the wind is only calm on Sunday? The mixture was 1 pint WideMatch, 1/2 pint MCPE, and full rate of Axial plus 2 oz of Tilt.

We are trying some switch grass as well. We got it seeded before the rain so we should get a stand. I sprayed roundup first then seeded.

Other work done, corn was sprayed with Roundup and Lumax. I pushed the wind a little one day but then so was everyone else. I used Interlock in combination with Teejet Air induction nozzles. Did not see any drift problems where I walked this morning. I think if you can keep the booms low the drift is reduced greatly.

Have a good week.

Kelly Cooper- farm manager