Planting Has Started!
4/24/2012:
We started planting April 5th, 2012 and have put 20% of our crop in the ground. We decided to take a short break to wait for some much needed moisture and have been out of the fields for about 2 weeks now since we have gotten more rain than we anticipated. Although we were hoping to have more done by now, we are very happy that we got the much needed rainfalls in! We were able to start back up today and hope that we can get quite a bit more in before the next rainfall. Hopefully the weather warms back up too!
5/1/2012:
The rain stopped for a few days to allow us back into the fields. We were able to plant another 40% of the corn to bring our spring total to 63% completed. Our first planted corn has emerged and is looking great. With more rain in the forecast we are sitting back patiently waiting and hoping that we don't get too much rain although we are keeping busy hauling corn to the local ethanol plants.
5/6/2012:
We were able to get a little more planted, but not nearly as much as we had hoped for. The storms the last few days caught us all by surprise as they popped up quickly. Over the last 3 days we have received 1.8 inches with most of that coming down at a very fast pace. With a slow and steady rain the fields all dry out quite evenly, but with these storm systems we are expecting a harder time planting with many wet spots in the fields. As of today, the forecast looks in our favor and we are hoping it stays that way. We are expecting to be back in the fields where we got the least amount of rain by the middle of the week as long as the rain holds off. On a good note, the emerging corn is looking wonderful and we will be posting pictures very soon. It is so nice to drive down the road and see lines of beautiful green in the dark black fields!
PLANTING IS COMPLETED!!
We finished planting last night and re-planting this afternoon. It feels great to have the crops in the field, now if only we could get some rain we would be set. Most of the spraying is also up to date with the exception of a few fields of beans. Now we will keep busy starting culivating next week and staying on top of weed control.