Huge planting progress last week

John Schumm

I wouldn’t say we were dry but we needed some moisture. I had four tenths through the night. I went out this morning and dug in and it soaked in several inches so all of the seed should swell now. I got done with planting beans yesterday and corn was finished almost a week ago. Most of what we got in is up and is not quite perfect, but absolutely great.

We went across them last week and those early beans are looking pretty good. How they survived all of that frost is beyond me. They are probably 4 or 5 inches tall now. 

We planted some corn a couple of weeks ago and then we got some frost and heavy rains. It got really cold for a week. That first corn came up better than we thought it would. I was out and did some stand counts and we were very happy with it. Then we started planting corn again on May 15 and finished in 3 days or so. Then it came up in 6 or 7 days and it looks really good. 

We have been really lucky. In total we replanted 6 or 7 acres and are looking really good, but in the Kirby, Kenton, Upper Sandusky area they got a lot more water than what we had and things got really hard. There is a lot of replanting going on in that area. Right here though, we are seeing almost perfect stands with the moisture and hot weather. 

I planted beans yesterday in cereal rye that was as high as the duals. It was pollinating so I have a yellow tractor this morning. It planted really nice and shouldn’t have any problems. The beans we put in a week ago are starting to come up and look really good. 

We burn everything down a day or so after we plant and that rye now smells like a hay field and it is going down to the ground just about perfectly. There are hardly any weeds in those fields because the rye is heavy and when we get a hot and dry spell it really holds the moisture in the soil.

Later in the week we are going to try to get the corn sidedressed. 

Don Jackson

We had some showers to work around but luckily we were on the lower end of the rain amounts. We had a few days where we could squeeze some planting in and we actually got finished up this weekend. 

The last Monday in April we got started and we finished last Saturday. We had three different windows we got everything planted in. The first planted crops are looking pretty good. A couple of those showers we got really helped get that up. We did some stand counts and we were pretty happy with how things are. Early beans concerned me the most, but once it warmed up and we got a shower, things looked alright. The lowest population we found was 100,000, so I guess we’ll see how these lower populations work out. We did not have any bare spots and they are pretty even. I think a few more might have come yet. 

Corn is really looking pretty nice with good stands. It is amazing what corn can go through and still come out of the ground. 

Everything we planted couldn’t have gone in any better. It all planted pretty nice. 

I did have a few calls with some guys worried about some early beans they planted, but now they don’t think things are as bad as they first thought. I think overall replant is not going to be too big of a concern in our area. 

The forecast has a good chance of rain for Wednesday and Friday. They are predicting an inch of rain this week which is really what we need. 

I’m getting ready to jump in the sprayer today to get started on this early corn. With all of this heat it is going to get away from us. Then in a week or 10 days we’ll be needing to get to sidedressing. 

Bill Daugherty 

We are down to about 150 acres of corn to plant and about 200 acres of beans. The first corn is up and looking really good. We replanted about a half-acre in a low area, but most of it is doing really well. 

We got our first cutting haylage made from May 11 to May 15. It went really well. It was a little wet to start. We are trying to get some round bales off now. We had some baler issues last week. We got done baling a little after 9 last night and we are not sure what Mother Nature has in store but we feel pretty good about that.

I have talked to a couple of farmers who have replanted some beans and a little corn here and there. The rain we had the week of May 3 caused some high rivers and low areas got drowned out. Some of those areas with more productive ground are worth going in to replant, but the higher ground has gotten along pretty successfully.

The hay tonnage was really good after the rain. We like to get it off a little earlier than we did. Our first test on it was a little lower in quality, but we are hoping that is a fluke and the tests will improve a little. It all came off really well and we were really pleased with our tonnage. 

The majority of what we have left to plant in corn will be for silage. The bean ground is low lying along Killbuck Creek and it was under water 2 weeks ago. We got it sprayed over the weekend. We are letting it dry out a little more and it is coming along pretty well. 

We have 40 variable speed fans in our dairy barn that are running 100% at 78 degrees. The barn stays comfortable year-round, especially though the summer. The cows have been milking really well for us. We are now feeding 100% ryelage we chopped this spring. We had excellent quality. That and corn silage are the two staples in our cows’ diet right now and it is going really well. 

Ross Black

Last night about 7:30 I got fully done planting.

It is a huge relief to get done planting. We’d go in a field and the high ground was like cement and there would be wet areas in the low spots. We waited and took advantage of the weather.

Once we had the moisture and it got dry enough, the beginning of last week everything planted just perfectly. When got over 85 degrees, though, the ground just baked on top and went from really mellow to about like concrete in a day and a half. The last couple days of planting I had a little issue with getting the planter in the ground, but besides that everything went pretty smooth. 

Everything that has emerged looks exceptional. We have a field of corn that we were worried about with all of the rain but I think we are good to go, even with that field. All of the corn is coming up even and uniform. It really looks pretty nice. With these temperatures we’re going to start nitrogen applications soon because the corn will be growing like weeds. It looks like we could get some showers on Wednesday and we could definitely use a half inch of rain or so.

We are loading the spray trailer right now so we can put the cap on planting. The weeds are coming on fast with these temperatures. 

The fungicide went on the wheat last Saturday. It is headed out and looking really nice. It is over knee high on me already and I’m 6-foot-four. If we keep getting timely rains, I think we are looking at an above average wheat crop.