Rain showers throughout the week brought another 0.6 of an inch of rain. Soybean fields are just starting to change color to yellow. Corn fields vary from turning brown to still very green. Worked on servicing and spraying grain bins. When it was raining, I worked on servicing the combine in…
It was a good week to get hay baled. Walked in the corn fields and found green and healthy plants that were standing well for the most part. Lower leaves are starting to fire a little. Most ears appear to have pollinated well and are filled out to the end of the cob. With soybeans, I continu…
Last week was a welcome change in the weather. Only 0.1 of an inch of rain for the week. We cut hay and had the best drying conditions of the summer. Disease pressure started to appear in the corn and soybeans. In the corn, bacterial leaf streak is showing up in some hybrids. In the soybeans…
It was another wet week, receiving rain on four different days. Weekly total ranged between 1.1 and 2 inches between different farms. There was no hail or wind damage during the week. I have not been able to get out in the fields and scout, as they remain wet and muddy.
Wayne Koehler grows corn and soybeans in Charles City with his wife of 35 years, Lisa.
I received 0.3 of an inch of rain on Aug. 4-5. On Aug. 7 I received 1.5 inches of rain. The soybeans are growing well and getting difficult to walk in. They have recovered well from the rough start during the cool spring temperatures. I’m seeing very good pod development. The frequent rains …
Completed fungicide application on the corn this past week. Used high-clearance ground application on the larger fields and drone application on smaller fields. Spot sprayed some field edges and corners with glufosinate to clean up foxtail, wooly cupgrass and waterhemp. The rain on July 31 w…
We received another 1.4 inches of rain July 20. Later in the week some farmers took advantage of the change in weather and made hay. Fungicide spraying for corn was a common sight throughout the week. I noted a shift in application methods this year — I saw no airplanes but more drones. Heli…
With only a trace amount of precipitation this past week, I was able to get out into the cornfields and scout for wind damage from storms the previous two weeks. There is some minor greensnap in a couple of fields. It appears to be hybrid specific. Hardly any signs of disease yet. The soybea…
The week of July 5 -11 was another wet week. Fields were wet from rains over the July 4th weekend and on July 8 we received another 2.5 inches. We were fortunate to miss the strong winds with this round of storms. By late week there were many cornfields tasseling. We are watching the corn fo…
The week was very wet and stormy. Rainfall total was 4.4 inches over five days. On July 2 we received 1.8 in less than an hour. Other nearby areas reported 4-5 inches from that storm. There was strong wind also — gusts reported around 60 mph. Several corn fields have lodged and leaning corn …
Area farmers that Y-drop UAN in their corn with high-clearance sprayers as their sidedress method had a good week to get that completed. We did receive 0.2 of an inch of rain on June 24. Some second-cutting hay was also completed during the week. Soybeans are finally growing better, and narr…
The corn has grown to shade the ground between the rows. The soybeans are recovering from the post herbicide spray application. Rainfall las week was 0.2 of an inch early in the week. There was rain forecasted for June 21 but it did not happen. The oats are progressing quickly this year, sta…
Sidedressing nitrogen in corn and post spraying of soybeans were completed between rains during the week. Some respraying of corn has been done due to challenging waterhemp escapes. Weekly rain total was 0.7 of an inch. Cut some hay on June 12. Most of the corn in the area is growing fast an…
The first week of June started off with post corn spraying and sidedressing nitrogen. The corn grew a lot with the week of warm temperatures. Some more hay was able to be baled through Wednesday. The appearance of the soybeans continues to improve, but there are spots with thin stands in man…
We received a couple nice rains around Memorial Day totaling 0.8. This helped the remaining soybeans that were still trying to emerge through crusted soil. By midweek the sprayers were back in the fields making post applications in the corn. There was a window to cut and bale hay through Sat…
The week of cool temperatures has not been helpful. Low temperature on May 20 was 38 degrees. Many no-till soybean fields continue to struggle with emergence. The forecast for a week of consistently warm temperatures should get the beans out of the ground if they are still viable. This past …
The warmer temperatures really helped the emergence of the later-planted corn and soybeans. Some replanting or interseeding of early-planted soybeans was done last week. The crop insurance adjuster noted several replant claims of both soybeans and corn around the area. Field borders are show…
Most of the corn and soybean planting in my area was completed last week. The early-planted corn is emerging. Too many cold days with strong winds and low humidity after the last rain on April 27 has made it difficult for some early-planted soybeans that are struggling to push through cruste…
We received 0.5 inch of rain on April 27 followed by very cool temps for most of the week. The morning of May 2 the low temperature was 31 degrees with light frost. The planters were running again by Saturday, and a lot of corn got planted over the weekend. Some farmers will be finishing cor…
The week of April 20 was a productive week for those that chose to plant in my area. Some farmers were very aggressive getting corn planted while others chose to wait. There were some soybeans planted as well. Pre-emerge spraying and burn down for soybeans was done as the temperatures warmed…
The oats were seeded on March 31 and emerged April 14. Nice growth last week before receiving a light frost on April 20. Last week was an active weather week with some large hail and heavy rain. Our farms were spared from the hail, and rainfall totals for the week ranged from 0.2 to 0.8 inch…
Wayne Koehler grows corn and soybeans in Charles City with his wife of 35 years, Lisa.
Wayne Koehler grows corn and soybeans in Charles City with his wife of 35 years, Lisa. He has also been raising oats, and this year will be growing 65 acres of food-grade oats after buying into a farmer-owned oat milling plant in Albert Lea, Minnesota. “We look forward to that challenge,” he…
Finished up with corn harvest last week. It was a bit of a limp to the finish as the shaker frame in our combine broke at the side rail. So, that will be a major repair this offseason. Overall corn ended up 5-10% over average for us, which we were happy with. It seems like every year over th…