Happy Friday! Crops are growing fast around here with the nice summer weather and frequent rains. Here’s the week 10 update:
July 9, 2021 Update:
Soybeans (77 days)
The soybean field is a lot different than it was at this time last week. The beans have gotten taller (they grew about 4-5 inches just this week) and have filled out a lot compared to last week. They’re now about knee-high and are starting to create a little resistance when walking down a row.
See what I mean about “filled in”? You can tell where the rows are, but the gaps that allow you to see the ground are about all filled in. This is good for soybean production – it means that the plants have lots of leaves and are maximizing sunlight capture potential, which means more energy to put into growing bigger and producing pods with lots of soybeans (we typically see pods with 3-4 soybeans – we like to see 4 and know that it’s possible to get 5, although that’s not very common). More beans per pod = better yields at harvest!
I love how uniform the beans look.
Here’s an individual soybean plant. Each of the white buds is a flower that will eventually turn into a pod as long as it’s pollinated (soybeans are self-pollinated, so there’s a very low chance a flower will not be pollinated). Towards the bottom of the plant, you’ll see some brown, dead flowers. These flowers have been pollinated and the plant is now working on forming a pod there. I would bet that next week, we’ll see some very small pods beginning to grow.
Soybeans are so photogenic this time of year!
Corn (73 days)
Talk about plants that are happy with this weather – the corn had to have added another 18 to 24 inches in height this week alone. There’s really no point in taking the ruler (4 feet tall) out anymore since I can’t even reach the tops of the plants anymore.
Here’s the best I could do for an overhead shot. I stood on my tip-toes and raised my phone as high as I could.
Just for fun, here’s the view at eye-level.
Even with as tall as it is now, the corn still has some growing to do. I was able to unroll a couple of new leaves to find the tassel, which will be the last part that comes from the whorl in the center of the plant. I would estimate that most plants in this field have another 2-3 leaves before the tassel emerges, which means the tassel will be out within a week. We planted all of our corn within 2 days this spring and already have some fields starting to tassel, so it’s interesting how different hybrids progress slightly differently.
With as tall as the corn plants are, it’s important that they form roots above the surface, or brace roots. This helps support the plant. The dark spots on the ground along the row is moisture from rain we’ve had the last couple of days. Corn plants grow in such a way that it can funnel rain that hits its leaves down and around the stalk until it hits the ground near its roots. It’s incredible how plants have evolved to function more efficiently.
And that’s all I’ve got for this week’s update!
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