“It’s Looking Pretty Good”
Trent Brandenburg is pleased with his corn and soybean crops’ recovery from a challenging start to the crop year. “You can’t see the holes,” he observed, referring to how the crops have developed enough to mask some smaller ponded areas. He has replanted some soybeans twice. “They won’t amount to anything,” Trent estimated. Some ponded areas from the first replanting he just left. Overall Trent expects a satisfactory crop: “It won’t be a bumper crop, but it will be better than average.”
Trent has been mowing grass. Grass usually turns brown and dormant in July and August from the high temperatures and dry soil. Trent says he is happy to have green grass to mow because that means the soil moisture and temperature are optimum for his corn and soybeans.
More from The Field Report
Dry Weather Speeds Harvest
Trent Brandenburg is trying to get his field work done "before it rains". Much of the area Trent farms is in "extreme drought" according to the Illinois Drought Monitor https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?IL map, which is updated every Thursday. The very dry soil [...]
In a Drought, but Corn is Too Wet to Harvest
The current Illinois drought map (11 September) shows severe drought in the northern 40% of Piatt County and moderate drought in the rest of Piatt and adjacent areas of neighboring counties. Trent Brandenburg has barely started harvesting because his corn [...]
Summertime Mowing And Spraying
Trent Brandenburg has been busy mowing his lawn and his roadsides due to the sunshine and frequent rains making his grass grow as well as his corn and soybeans. He has been hiring aerial spraying of fungicides to suppress disease [...]