From the Fields: Rain delays spring planting

We’re in hold mode right now, as of April 29, with the rain we had. But we were very fortunate and only got 1 inch out this rain. I started with soybeans on April 23. I planted soybeans for two days, we then switched to planting corn for two days and then quit knowing the rain was coming. We only ran two days each, but I got half the beans in and half the corn in. So, I thought it was a good place to stop, take a break and see what the weather does.

The soil conditions were finally getting pretty fit by April 23, because I no-tilled the soybeans into the standing cereal rye, and they were going in real nice. I no-tilled a little bit of corn and then moved into strip-till, and both of them were going really well. To terminate our cover crops, we’ve run the sprayer right ahead of the planter on everything so far this year to kill the cover crop and then planted. That way we we can stay on top of it.

Now that I got rained out, the acres that I haven’t planted, I haven’t sprayed yet, because I want that cover crop to stay growing. It’s amazing how if you kill it ahead of time and we get a big rain, it’ll just stay wet. It’s shaded. If you leave it and let it grow, it’s amazing how fast the cover crop will pull the moisture into the plant and it actually dries out faster and I can get to the field faster. That’s why I try to run the sprayer just right ahead of the planter.