Recent reports paint a rather bleak picture of Indiana crop conditions, but in some areas timely rains have saved the crop and boosted yields. JR Roesner of Spencer County says, while September has been dry for much of the state, his area has had some much needed rain, “In the past 10 days we have had about 4 inches of rain.” As a result, he said grainfill has gone well and the corn harvest has begin, “We started shelling corn on Tuesday and the crop really looked good.” He told HAT his crops had started to show stress in late August due to the loss of moisture, but the recent rains really revived both corn and soybeans and should help them finish well.
As for yields, he told HAT that early numbers look good, “On the first 100 acres, we were averaging about 200 bpa, and this was on ground that I would call average.” He added yields were running at the top end of his 5 year average so far.
South of Spencer County where the ground is sandier, those high winds that accompanied the rains have caused lodging problems. Roesner reported these areas also received slightly less rain but that harvest was underway.
Roesner said soybean pod fill in his area has been helped by the late season rains and the corn is rapidly moving toward black layer, “By the end of this week about 25% of our corn should be mature. The corn that got planted after Memorial day should reach black layer in about 10 days.” He said moisture levels were currently still a bit high but that the crop was drying down rapidly.
Listen to the complete report with JR Roesner in the agronomy section of this web site and the audio section of the Hoosier Ag Today app for Snartphones and tablets.