In mid April during a HAT Field Update Mark Kingma in northwest Indiana said he was ready to plant but resisting out of concern for frost. But on an 80 degree Thursday just two weeks later the Jasper County farmer was sailing along planting in perfect conditions.
“You couldn’t ask for nicer planting conditions right now. Where we plant near the Kankakee River we get nervous when we go too long without rain and then it starts raining and we get nervous the longer we go with rain. So we were out of the fields and got started again late Wednesday afternoon. We’d been out since Friday. Saturday, Monday and Tuesday it rained but we were able to get rolling again. Right now we’ve got two-thirds of our corn in and I’m anxious to start on soybeans.”
Despite the recent rain sandy soils have soaked it up and field conditions are now excellent.
“We had from an inch and a half to two and a half inches of rain across our farms coming over four days. But there really isn’t a puddle anywhere, no wet spots, and everything is just nice.”
And Kingma says earliest planted corn is now ready to come up.
“The very first corn I planted should be spiking through today (Thursday.) It’s all sprouted and has not come up yet. My concerns for frost were well founded. The little dabs of sweet corn I put in my mom’s garden have frozen off twice.”
Kingma spoke with a number of farmers in the area last weekend who were grabbing just a couple of bags of seed to finish up, and he expects that they have been able to complete planting this week.
Hear more in the HAT Field Update at the Agronomy page, sponsored by Advanced Ag Solutions.[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/05/Great-planting-conditions-for-Kingma.mp3|titles=Great planting conditions for Kingma]