(file photo)
Despite a hot month of July, farm fields and crops are doing generally quite well in the Wright County at mid-summer.
Taylor Herbert is a crop specialist with the University of Minnesota Extension Service in Wright, Meeker and McLeod County. She says overall, corn development is right on time…
“I think these 70 and 80 degree days are coming at just the absolutely perfect time right now with silking. Pollen does release a little earlier in the day, usually in the morning, so the temperature is a little bit lower. I think you know, that will go without a hitch.”
She says soybeans are generally full enough now to shade their roots from much of the hot sun that may be too intense for the plants…
“I’ve seen some really full looking, nice soybean fields as I’m driving across the area. I know June, you know, beans always kind of look kind of sick and sad. But you know that July heat and all that moisture really helped to pull them out, I’m seeing nice dark green now. Still a little bit of yellow where we have some really low spots where there’s definitely the iron deficiency chlorosis. Looking forward, we might start seeing some more of those diseases pop up, but for now, I’m not really noticing anything, I haven’t heard anything from any of my colleagues across the state either for soybeans. I think people are looking out now for soybean aphids.”
One thing that most farmers in our area and throughout much of the state can agree on is that rain has been generally very sparse in July, and with more hot weather on the way, some showers would be very well received.
