Dry Areas

Dry Areas

weather

Last week was pretty good for most of Illinois from a rainfall standpoint, but there were gaps in the West South Central area especially.  Some areas got very little rainfall.  Crops are starting to show a good bit of stress.  The photo below was on some sandy soils in St. Charles County, Mo.  The areas of burned up corn will continue to get larger every day now.

Past 7 Days Rainfall

Past 7 Days Rainfall

corn Crop Condition weather

We have just had several days of wet weather.  You could get the idea that the effects of dry weather have been averted.  If you study the map, You will find that there are many areas that had only a half inch, especially to the west. On the plus side, many parts of Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana had good rain.  Some of the early planted corn is good till silking time, which is coming in two weeks.  Later planted corn was helped as far as getting roots to grow deeper, but probably more than half of the corn I have seen will need more rain to assure a decent crop.  I have not seen anything that leads me to believe that corn yields will be above trend line.  Early planted soybeans are looking good, but later planted soybeans have population issues.

Dry Weather Reprieve

Dry Weather Reprieve

weather

Many dry areas of the Midwest had decent amounts of rain in the past two days. Areas below in blue and gray did not get much rain.  There are still acreage in southeast Iowa, Northwest Missouri and parts of Illinois, that did not get enough rain.  Those areas are in the heart of the corn belt.  This rain will not carry through the growing season except on some early planted corn.  Green areas below will be needing more rain in two weeks. This was certainly a welcome rain.  There is potential for more rain in the next few days.

Road Trip North and West

Road Trip North and West

Crop Condition weather

Weekend travels took us to Pella, Iowa for a family visit.  Some corn in Pike Co is in the V-8 to V-10 stage. On Friday, some corn in Pike County was starting to roll because of low humidity and high winds.  On the return trip, corn on the sandy soils had turned white.

Irrigation rigs were running in the Mississippi River bottoms as we traveled north. There were still a few planters in the field Friday.  Most of the soybeans in Iowa were V-1 to V-3.  It was interesting that almost no beans in Iowa were planted in 30 inch rows.

High winds, low humidity and high temperatures continued for our entire visit.  Corn in Iowa was V-3 to V-6 stage, so fortunately water requirements were lower than for some of the Illinois Corn.  In Iowa, people were already talking drought, although crops looked OK even as we traveled home Sunday.  To give and idea of the conditions though, I will comment that upper leaves on trees were wilted because they could not take up water fast enough.

Without regard to dry conditions, crops generally looked better in Iowa than they do in Illinois because soils were dryer for planting in Iowa.    

Rain in the forecast on Wednesday could help to rescue the corn from significant damage.

Rainfall Shortage?

Rainfall Shortage?

Soil Moisture weather

We have been hearing some concerns expressed about dry soils in our area.  Rainfall the past week should have relieved that concern in the short run.

Topsoil moisture on Wednesday when we went to the field was just OK.  Topsoil should be well soaked at this point.  Septic tank borings through the winter to a depth of 5 feet have showed that subsoil was at least moist and in some places saturated,

Soil Moisture does not change much until tillage and transpiration start.  In a dry period it is easy to mess up your topsoil moisture with too much tillage.  With wetter topsoil, that is even easier to do.

The real problem is that through the winter, the rainfall pattern was a dry one. Until the past 2 days, I can't remember the last time we had at least an inch of rain.  If that dry pattern were to continue into the summer, crop yields would suffer.  The fact is that we cannot grow top yielding crops without timely rains in June, July, and August.      

Rainfall Departure form Normal

Rainfall Departure form Normal

Rainfall weather

Rainfall amounts are looking good in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois.  Right now, It looks like we are on the brink of being wet.  Indiana and Ohio are still on the dry side.  

Road Trip to Bloomington

Road Trip to Bloomington

Crop Condition weather

Yesterday I went to Bloomington for a meeting.  We drove past a lot of nice looking corn.  While we were there, a small amount of rain fell on part of that hole I have been talking about.  In some cases, the soil did not even look damp when we returned home.  About  a half inch fell in Hillsboro at least in my gauge.  The garden looked damp until noon.