Follow the Field 2020 Update #8

Happy Independence Day weekend! As the saying goes, “knee-high by the Fourth of July”….but is the corn there yet?

July 3, 2020 Update:

Soybeans (72 Days)

The beans are getting bigger!

Soybean growth isn’t always measured explicitly by height. A very important part of soybean growth is in the branching. You can see in the above photo how the soybeans are starting to “canopy” between rows, or cover the bare ground between the rows. These soybeans are planted into 15-inch rows, which means there’s 15 inches from the base of the plant in one row to the base of the plant in the row on either side. Within the same row, the soybeans are more like 2 to 3 inches apart. The soybean canopy is important because it means that the soybean plants are maximizing the capture of the sunlight hitting the field and are also shading the bare ground, which reduces the chances of weed seeds germinating. If you look closely, you can see lots of residue still on the ground (last year’s cornstalks and some cereal rye from the winter cover crop). This also helps reduce the opportunity for weeds to germinate.

 

As you can almost see in the above photo, the soybean plant is still flowering. When the flowers are pollinated, soybean pods will begin forming at the node where each pollinated flower was.

More soybean flowering and the starts of some soybean pods towards the bottom of the plant.

Japanese beetles have also returned to central Illinois this week. I didn’t see a lot of evidence that they’ve been eating many soybean leaves, but I know they’re there and I know they’re eventually going to be hungry. Japanese beetle populations haven’t been terrible in the last few years, but they were really bad when they first showed up in our area. These probably won’t be an insect that will be so damaging to the soybean plants that we have to apply an insecticide to the field to protect the field, but it’s important to keep a close eye on them since we can’t be certain what will happen this summer.

And I’ll leave you with a pretty soybean sunset photo to wrap up the soybean update.

 

Corn (51 days)

I had to break out the 4-foot ruler for this week’s update. No idea what I’m going to do next week since the corn has already outgrown this measuring unit!

The saying goes, “knee-high by the Fourth of July.” While that’s a little outdated, it’s still fun to go out and stand in the field to compare how tall the corn is to yourself…or a kid…or a dog. As you can kind of see in this photo, the corn is about waist-high on me, and I’m about 5′ 10″. Earlier planting dates and improved genetics are a big part of why corn is usually much taller than knee-high at this time of year. In some years, it’s been taller than me by now (when we planted in April vs. May, like this year). Last year, we worried that it wouldn’t be knee-high with June planting dates with the rain delays, but it just made it.

Just look at all of those leaves!

At this point, it’s just hurry up and wait on the corn. We could use some rain soon, but the corn seems to be okay right now. Corn will do this thing on hot days where it rolls the leaves to prevent transpiration. What this does is reduce the leaf surface area exposed to the sun. This seems to happen more often when the ground is dry, too, and the corn is really trying to preserve water. When you drive by a field doing this, it kind of reminds me of what a field of pineapples might look like…if we planted pineapples the same way we plant corn. I guess it’s the pointy, rolled leaves that remind me of a pineapple.

The next thing that’ll happen with the corn is tasseling and pollination. This is when the corn will enter the reproductive stage of growth.

In the photo below, you can see that some of the corn roots are exposed. Corn will develop what we call ‘brace roots.’ These roots simply help support the corn plant and help balance the weight of the ear (corn plants are surprisingly heavy). The roots here aren’t actually brace roots, they’re just exposed (like corn roots will do). You can see how they’re evenly spaced around the stalk and create a really good foundation, though.

And that concludes the first update of July. Have a great Fourth of July weekend!