You know the Jack Links beef jerky add campaign “Messin’ with Sasquatch”? Well, Mother Nature is messin’ with corn pre herbicide applications. Upper twenties for temps yesterday morning were one thing, but around 20 this morning is another. Nearly all of the weeds that
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With many areas having confirmed glyphosate resistant kochia, all fields need to be managed as if kochia is glyphosate resistant. The key for kochia control is timing. Be early with applications and don't allow kochia to grow. As you can see in the attached picture, kochia is just starting
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Corn determines its maximum yield potential at stage V-5, or so. It turns out that available phosphorus, in the form of phosphate (P2O5), within the seedlings rooting zone, is one of the key factors for determining yield. While ample supplies of phosphorus, applied either in furrow or placed 2
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After we started to understand the soil compaction talked about in my previous blog entry, we started to investigate other stressed fields, as well as a few less stressed. Our findings amazed us! We continued to use the excavator to dig root pits looking for soil compaction and discovered very
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This harvest season I have found a few things that I thought would never be true. A few of the producers I work with noticed a significant yield reduction in certain fields that we assumed was due to high levels of salt or just poor ground. With curiosity, I went out into these fields with a
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This summer's drought has put added stress on corn plants and compromised the overall plant health. I have looked at many fields and would say the strength of the ear shank is average at best. It is a good idea to look at the corn on your farm and plan a harvest schedule accordingly. The
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Early season scouting on your corn fields is the best way to maximize profitability on every acre. An easy thing to do is check the live stand in your fields. To do this, count the number of plants in 1/1000th of an acre. If you have 30 inch rows, you will want to count the number of plants in
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Water logged fields from 2011 should be managed for the possibility of fallow syndrome in 2012. Fallow syndrome is a result of water logged fields having little or no plant growth. The lack of plant growth reduces the population of healthy fungi in the soil. The reduction in these
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Baling corn stalks after harvest can provide livestock feed and bedding, but the value of the nutrients in the corn stalks that are removed should be considered. On average, 150 bushel corn will have around 3.5 tons of dry matter per acre. This corn stover will contain 20 lbs of
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One question that I commonly get asked this time of year is why do we need to apply sulfur when my soil tests indicate there is plenty available. The reason we apply sulfur to corn and wheat is to help meet the crop's sulfur needs early in the growing season when root development is
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As we get closer to harvest there are a few reasons you should spend a little time in your corn fields.  

The first reason is to document any diseases and weak stalks so that these fields can be a priority to combine first. Second, is to get an idea of a hybrids
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