Chad Dillenberger is a Monroe County native. His experience spans roles in finance as well as hands-on management as the fourth generation on a 1,600-acre grain farm in Valmeyer. He graduated from Saint Louis University in 2004, majoring in finance, and then spent 15 years with Scottrade (a St. Louis based brokerage firm). He is currently a divisional retail director for Sydenstricker Nobbe Partners and oversees the retail operations for nine John Deere Dealerships across Illinois and Missouri. He has two boys, Henry, 18, and Liam, 15, and has been married to Katie, his high school sweetheart, for 21 years. 

We received nearly perfect rains on Wednesday/Thursday and a little more Saturday morning that will get the prior week’s planting surge started off on the right foot. The western side of the county (bottoms) is nearly done planting, while the farms in the hills on the eastern side of the county made good progress with fertilizer applications, seedbed prep and planting this past week. The beans and corn that were planted in mid- to late-March are up and growing fast with the warm temps. Last but not least, wheat fields across the county have greened up and shook off remnants of the March frost. Some fields are even starting to head out.

Our area found another productive planting window mid-week to get quite a few more acres planted. In all, we are approximately 90% done, with much of those acres emerged and looking uniform. While planting has been going fairly smooth, the regularity of the wind has made spray applications tricky. Most spray rigs were covering as much ground as they could in the early mornings or late evenings to ensure effective applications. The weekend brought some fungicide applications to the wheat — both by air and ground.

We had a rough start to the week with a fairly broad-sweeping storm moving through. While this put the brakes on any remaining planting efforts for the week, it provided some moisture to get the corn and beans up out of the ground and give them a boost to gain some height and find some early nutrients. Luckily, there was no major wind or hail damage from the storms in the county. The latter part of the week did dry out but also cooled off to slightly below normal temperatures. Soybeans took a pause and lost some color with the night temps in the low 40s, but they’re still looking good. A few more fields were planted over the weekend, and the wheat fields have gained uniformity as they fill heads.

The Monroe County area had another quick burst of planting in scattered pockets just ahead of another weather front that moved through Friday night and Saturday morning. Luckily, weather events seem to be spaced just right, allowing some planting and application progress to be made each week. The early corn seems to have found the nitrogen and is advancing through its stages rapidly. Soybeans are still begging for some warmer temps, so they remain a little off-color and slow to gain height. The cooler temps are also causing slow activity on most herbicide applications. Meanwhile, the wheat is loving it and “packing on pounds.”

Last week allowed for another flurry of spraying and planting across the county. It dried out enough for some replants in low-lying areas and creek bottoms. With the warmer weather, we are seeing a flush of weed pressure that has pushed through the preemerge. The early corn is now nearly waist high, fully canopied, and the early beans (15-inch rows) have nearly closed their rows and regained their color as they start fixing their own nitrogen. The later-planted crops still look good and are advancing through their stages a bit quicker than the early fields did. Wheat is beginning to shift to its golden hue, and combines are starting to wake from their winter slumber for some needed maintenance and setup. There might be a select few fields ready by the end of the month, but most will harvest the first part of June.

This past week was soggy and cold, so there wasn't much activity in the southwestern part of the state. A slow-moving system tracked through that took a couple days to clear out. Some spots reported as much as 3 inches of rain. The good thing was that any early-stage bean plants that were under water weren’t hurt too much since the temps stayed cool and cloud cover remained for a couple more days until the excess water found its rightful ditch or creek. The corn is still gaining uniformity and finding the spring-applied nitrogen. Additionally, there was a little wheat lodging with the heavy rains in the first part of the week. Some were able to stand back up, but those that were a little further along with fill stayed down.

We had some “dry out” time this past week and capped it off with some well-timed, light to moderate rains. Corn is growing fast — gaining a new leaf every 2.5 days. Beans similarly are gaining height and steadily flowering. There was a small amount of replanting going in just ahead of the weekend. Farmers in the area are right on the cusp of wheat harvest. Some have nosed in to find mid-20s for moisture, so with the coming week looking dry and sunny, we should have a good push by the end of the first week of June.