From the Farm

Video: Planting Drags Out, Moisture Issues at Every Turn

Jul 15, 2010 | Read | Comments Off Tags: , , , , ,

JPlovesCOTTON Author: Janice
Print this

It seems like forever since we had an update on what was happening on Bob Walker’s cotton, corn and soybean farm. Planting that started back in mid-April faced torrential rains in early May. Planting started so long ago and the blog about it was written so long ago, that people have likely forgotten about it. What a luxury that would be for the Walkers. It’s a luxury they do not have for sure. That’s because planters were still rolling at Walker farms throughout the month of June.

“We replanted some yesterday (June 30) but we’re doing alright. It has been a tough year for us on moisture,” Bob Walker says. “We had several rain events early with flooding and all but we haven’t gotten much rain to speak of since Memorial Day. A few farms have caught a shower once or twice, but it’s turned dry enough that we are hurting.”

Walker explains he has both dry land and irrigated acres. Soybeans were the last crop planted and those go on dry land fields. “We have had to replant some beans. Some never came up and we had some fields which had enough moisture to emerge, but then they dried up. We planted again just yesterday and these beans aren’t behind wheat. It’s the latest I remember planting. We’ve got a lot of soybeans up. They aren’t blooming yet so a good rain and our crop could quickly make up for the drought stress.”

Walker’s corn is feeling the heat too. “Our irrigated corn looks okay but the ears are not filling out like we’d like. Some corn has gotten twisted where it’s not irrigated. It got hot so early that this is really a cotton year. Cotton is putting down a great tap root and we have some that is just beginning to bloom. It looks really good.”

How does moisture look on your farm? A video shot in early June points to some of the crop then.

Category: From the Farm

Jul 15, 2010 | Read | Comments Off Tags: , , , , ,

Comments are closed.