Happy Friday! We’ve enjoyed a week of relatively cool weather and now it seems everything is shifting to hot and dry. Don’t miss the rain at all (at the moment) and the crops are soaking in the sunshine.
July 23, 2021 Update:
Soybeans (91 days)
The beans have steadily been getting bigger, but the field felt different this week. The soybeans are well over knee-high now, which makes wading through them a lot like walking through water with branches between your ankle and knee waiting to trip you with every step.
See what I mean?
The walking paths between rows is practically gone (which is a good thing, because it means that the plants are capturing every drop of sunlight that hits the field).
The soybeans are still very actively growing – check out all of those new trifoliates coming on!
I was pleasantly surprised to see several soybean pods in the field already. Last week, they were barely 1/4 inch long. These are the pods on the lowest node on the plant, which is where it flowered first.
This is what I would consider a good-looking soybean plant: lots of flowers, several pods beginning to grow, and lots of potential to continue to get bigger. We’ve seen a little insect damage on the leaves, but nothing to be worried about. Now that we’re coming out of a very cool and wet last 30 dates and entering a length of hot and dry weather, we decided to apply a fungicide since conditions are ripe for disease development. Hopefully this will help the soybean plants grow to their fullest potential through the rest of the summer and not be plagued by disease that slows its reproductive process.
Corn (87 days)
The corn is still too tall for the measuring stick – not sure why I still bother hauling it through the field at this point.
My point of view looking up. So majestic in the sunset light.
Check out all of these ears! Last week, each was barely a mop of silks and now they’re clearly small ears beginning to grow on each plant.
See how big it is? I’d estimate that it’s about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter. Plenty of pollen still around in the field, too.
Strong, healthy-looking stalks. Check out the brace roots around the base where it meets the ground.
And that’s it for this week’s update! Everything just needs to keep growing this week. 🙂
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