matt.teply's blog

It has been a busy few weeks here in the west.  With very few weather delays since the first of May a lot of acres have been planted.  Most of the region is setting at about 90% of the corn acres planted.  Southwest Missouri is still having issues with wet soil conditions but growers have put a pretty good run here the last few days.  For the most part our corn planting part of the season should rap towards the middle of next week.

The Plains West Region consists of a large area which includes the Eastern Half of Colorado, the Western Half of Nebraska, 2/3rds of the state of Kansas, SW Missouri, and parts of New Mexico and Texas.  In this great expanse of territory there has been very little, if any, planting done so far this spring.  Most of the Western part of this geography is still experiencing effects of drought.  Parts of the Western geography have experienced multiple weather events over the last month and a half.  These weather events have produced snowfall, but have had very little actu

            One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to crop production is shallow planting. Adoption of no-till and strip till farming practices is on the increase. The biggest issue that comes with those practices is uneven planting depths. The importance of correct planting depth is sometimes over shadowed by the spacing. But, in my eyes, if the depth is not correct then spacing means nothing. Iowa State University says that optimum planting depths for corn should be 1.75 to 2.25 inches, with the optimum being 2.0 inches.

As we near the end of November, soybean harvest has pretty much come to a conclusion for 2012.  There may still be some double crop beans coming out in south east Kansas.  But, for the most part harvest is over.

This has been a very interesting year when it comes to soybeans.  Harvest results were all over the board.  Central Nebraska had some of the best yields in the entire U.S..

Corn harvest for the most part is all but wrapped up.  There were some issues with strong winds and snow in western Nebraska and the panhandle of Nebraska that caused severe lodging and ear drop.  Some of these fields are actually being harvested twice.  Growers are harvesting them with corn heads trying to get as much as they can; then they are being raked into windrows; then being picked up with various types of pick up headers to help get the dropped ears.  In many cases there are 30 to over 100 bushel of corn on the ground.  Thus, all the extra effort. <

Corn harvest should be in full swing by the end of this week across most of the region.  Dry Land corn harvest has progressed very rapidly.  Most dry land corn has been chopped for silage and what corn was left to pick is coming out quickly.  High Moisture Corn has been going on for about the last ten days.  High temps have brought moistures down very quickly.  There will be a lot of irrigated corn in the 18% moisture range by the middle to end of this week.  Some of the best irrigated corn that I have heard harvested so far was in the Central Nebraska area.

Corn continues to progress very rapidly.  There has been a lot of dryland corn already chopped for silage.  SE Kansas is already harvesting corn and it will move north pretty quickly.  Majority of the corn crop will reach black layer sometime later next week in a good portion of the region.  Irrigated corn will range from very disappointing to exceptional depending on available water, soil type, planting date, planting conditions, and what help Mother Nature gave you.  There will be a lot of the region start to pick high moisture corn in about two weeks.  A

Most of the corn in the region is pollinating, or just finishing up pollination.  There was a slight break in the excessive temps for about 4 days and some much needed rain was received over a good portion of the region, but the heat has set back in.  The 14 day weather forecast looks to be back to excessive heat and scattered chances of rain.  Irrigated corn is looking excellent where water is not an issue.  We may end up seeing some excellent yields in some areas where wells were able to keep up with crop water use.  Our dry land corn was saved by the rain we r

Three words pretty much sum up the current weather in our Region.  "Hot" "Dry" Windy" -- day after day.  Most of the corn crop is around the V8 to V10 stage and looks excellent under irrigation.  The issue now will be whether or not our irrigation will be able to keep up with daily crop water use if we don’t receive some help from Mother Nature.  Soil water profiles in irrigated fields are all but gone.  The dry land corn crop will soon be finished if some very needed moisture is not received in the next ten days to

Goss’s Bacterial Wilt has become a very big talking point across the Corn Belt over the last couple of years.  It has already been found in several counties this year in Eastern Nebraska, and is sure to show up in many more fields across the entire Corn Belt.  The disease has actually been a constant problem for years in Eastern Colorado and Western Nebraska.   Goss’s Bacterial Wilt (Goss’s, as we call in the west) can cause severe yield reduction in many cases and there is no real KNOWN treatment for the bacteria.