September's sun and heat moved the soybean maturity along well. We are now in a much better position than we had expected to be in staging wise with some of the early planted soybeans (<5%) harvested. So far, we have seen very encouraging yields on the early planted beans without drowned out spots (50-70bu in some cases).
Rains this week were spotty across the county, with variable accumulation from 0.5 inches- 3 inches. We expect that this rains will help to even out the crop that is in the field, while it also knocked some of the remaining leaves off. Even on the later planted beans, we are seeing really good reaction to the weather lately. Double crop beans planted July 10-15 are getting close to R6 stage so it looks to be a successful year for double crop soybeans. At this point, soybeans are pretty much out of the woods with aphid concern which is positive.
IP Premiums are expected out at the beginning of October.
On the corn side of things, our agronomists have been spending a lot of time in the field looking at different corn varieties. We are checking out the impacts of tar spots on different varieties, as well as its standability. We take great pride in how many fields our agronomists walk so that they are able to make good recommendations. One thing that we have identified through out walks so far is that the ground spraying seems to be getting more coverage on the corn crop than plane or helicopter.
So far, yield counts on corn look good. Test weight is going to be what make or breaks the crop's overall success depending on the level of tar spot in your area. A lot of corn may black layer prematurely which will contribute to this lighter weight. We estimate that a good percentage of corn is roughly 3-weeks away from black layer, but it is truly all over the map depending on planting date. Lodging will be the next thing to look out for. There are some fields that we may recommend combining early.
Silage corn just started, and yields are coming in pretty good as long as the crop was sprayed with a fungicide. Fields without a spray are lacking in the forage-leafy portion.
We have 3 corn plots this year, and 2 soybean plots that we will be publishing data on once the fields are off! Stay tuned!
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