About Your Fields April 9, 2018
In This Issue:
1. What's Up With This Weather? What Can You Expect Next?
2. Spring Sprayer Check Up
3. What's Next? Products You Should Look At
What's Up With This Weather? What Can You Expect Next?
As I am writing this article it is the start of the second full week of April, the high temperatures for the past few days have been in the upper 30's, and it is snowing for the third weekend in a row. I have to say that it is situations like this that makes me love what I do for a living. No two years are the same, and it's hard to predict what is coming next, but rest assured, the end results will be the same. What are those results? At some time in the spring we will be able to start planting our crops on almost all of our acres. What we will be able to get for yields from these crops will be determined by other factors that we cannot control. The biggest question we need an answer to is when will we be able to start our field work this spring. After looking at the weather models that we get from Radiant Solutions each day I think we should be able to get into the fields sometime in the next couple of weeks. What is Radiant Solutions? It is a weather forecasting service that Akron has subscribed to and we send out their daily forecasts each day. If you do not receive this email and would like to let us know and we can get you on the list. When I analyze the charts from Friday's forecast it looks like we should be starting to warm up in the next couple of weeks according to the 11 to 15 day temperature outlook.
11 to 15 Day Temperature Forecast
The above chart shows that we should be in the upper 50's to lower 60's once we get past the snow that has just fallen. If this forecast turns out to be correct that should help us to start drying up the soils that have seen plenty of moisture fall on them this winter. If you look at the precipitation forecast model you will see that we are trending above not only last year's moisture but also the 30 year average. So we should have adequate moisture to plant into this spring.
If the above forecasts hold true we should still be able to get the crop in during the time frame that has shown to be the most advantageous the past 13 years. Beck's Hybrids has been looking at planting date for corn the last 13 years in their Practical Farm Research trials. Below is a chart taken from their report showing that the best time to plant your corn crop has been between April 1st and May 15th. The best time shown in their research was the last half of April. If you would like to see the complete report click on this link Beck's Hybrids PFR Planting Date Trial.
Beck's Hybrids Practical Farm Research Planting Date Trial for Central Illinois
If we aren't able to get into the field until May 1st the harder decision might be wether you should be planting your corn or your soybeans first. Over the past couple of years Dr. Emerson Nafziger from the University of Illinois has been looking at the advantage of planting soybeans before your corn crop. Some of the conclusions that he has found are that soybeans might tolerate cooler weather better than corn. If this is true you could see a bigger hit to your corn yields if they are planted first and then the weather turns off cool and wet. If you would like to read his articles click on these links to articles that he wrote in 2016 Article and the 2017 Article. No matter what happens I feel that we are still too early to be thinking about changing any plans that have been made so far this year.
Spring Sprayer Check Up Time
Last week we discussed a little about what you should do with your planter before it is time to go into the fields this spring. This week we will look at sprayer maintenance for starting the season. One of the most important things you need to do is make sure that your sprayer starts out clean. With all of the emphasis that is being put on sprayers and misapplication and contamination, it is a good idea to start out right and make sure you are clean. Here is a link to an article that talks about 5 Things You Should Do for Your Spring Sprayer Startup. This is a good common sense reminder of tasks to do before you start spraying. This link is from Successful Farming and it gives 13 Smart Sprayer Tips to start your year off right. These last two links deal with probably the most important aspects of spraying and that is Preventing Sprayer Tank Contamination and the Proper Way to Tankmix Chemicals. I hope you find both of these videos informative, if you have any questions give us a call and we can help you with any spraying problems you might have.
What's Next? Products You Should Look at this Year
For the next several weeks I will talk about different products that we have tested in the past that have shown some value to our customers. As we get into the season I will start talking about some of the new products that we are testing and hopefully be able to show you some of the early results that we are seeing in our plots that we will be putting out. It is our hope that at the end of the summer we will be able to have our customers out to our main plot at Ben's house for an agronomy day to show you what we have been working on this year. The first product I would like to talk about is a biological product called Invigorate. This product is made by a company named Agrinos, and they have been around since 2009. They have a presence in the US, Brazil, India, Mexico and China. The main thrust of their products is in what I would call the biological arena. This means that they have products that will help the plant overcome and deal with stress. Invigorate is a by-product of the shrimp industry, where it is fermented and utilizes a consortium of microbes that creates a highly productive microbial system in the soil. One of the things that I like about this product is that it has 2 different application times for corn. The primary time that it can be used is in furrow at planting time. Last year we tested Invigorate with starter fertilizer and we saw a 10 bushel increase over just straight starter in the furrow. You can also use it at the Y-Drop timing when applying nitrogen. If you are going to use it later, you must put it through the Y-Drop system to get the product close to the plants roots. If you put it through a conventional sidedress bar you will not get the benefits of the product because it is not close to the roots. One of the key things that made us look at this product is the guarantee that Agrinos has put on it. If you plant 400 acres of Invigorate and leave a couple of check strips, they will guarantee that it will pay for itself. If it does not pay for itself they will refund you the cost of the product up to $10 per acre. That is good because it costs right at $10 per acre to apply. After speaking with Mike Mills of Van Diest and learning that he has had several customers use this product the past few years and no one has gotten a refund due to poor performance I feel confident in recommending this product to you. If you have any questions about Invigorate give Kevin or Ben a call and we can walk you through what the product is and our thoughts on it.