The scurs are puzzling no more. The Weather Eye’s heatwave was for real. Are we done with that nonsense or are we in for an encore? Starting Thursday, sunny with highs in the low 80’s and lows in the low 60’s. Sunny Friday with highs in the upper 80’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Mostly sunny on Saturday with highs in the low 90’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Sunday, sunny with highs in the low 90’s and lows in the low 70’s. Sunny on Labor Day with highs in the low 90’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Tuesday, mostly cloudy with highs a slight chance of rain. Highs in the low 90’s with lows in the mid-60’s. Mostly cloudy with a decent chance of rain on Wednesday with highs in the low 90’s and lows in the mid-60’s. We slide below 13 hours of daylight on September 6th, about where we were back on March 6th. The normal high for September 6th is 76 and the normal low is 54. For Labor Day, the scurs will be lounging in their hammock and catching up on their magazines.
Crops took a beating in the recent heatwave and the upcoming forecast won’t do it any favors. Still, how badly the crop got hurt is somewhat dependent on where you live. The heavy May rains that were a curse at the time may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Earlier in the season where they were spared from the heavy May rain, crops just east of I-35 looked uniform. After missing subsequent rains, they still look uniform only not in a good way. Lack of moisture took its toll, and this most recent heat pushed it to the limit. A lot of short corn and soybeans with corn fired up to the ear and soybeans losing the battle in patches throughout many fields, ripening prematurely. Some disease pressure is also present in the soybeans, and it’s being amplified by the hot, dry weather. Not the first time this has happened, but it’s been a while. People forget.
So what kinds of things are happening in the fields locally? In the corn we’re seeing maturity hastened due to the heat. That means the potential is there given the accompanying dry soil conditions that stalk, and ear shank integrity could be compromised. Since uptake from the soil isn’t possible under dry conditions, stalks will be cannibalized, making them weaker than usual. Harvest may need to begin sooner than later. There may also be a test weight penalty if the ears drop too soon and pinch the flow of nutrients through the ear shank. On the soybean side, look for the loss of some of those pods that were set late after the rains back in the first week of August. Beans per pod could be compromised along with bean size. Ain’t I just the bearer of glad tidings?
We don’t have an exclusive on these conditions, however. The recent Pro Farmer Crop Tour bore this out as we moved west into IL. Getting out of the air-conditioned pickup to pull samples on our route, the humidity was so high our glasses would steam up. Not being able to see, it was sampling by the Braille method at first. Stumbling into stalk after stalk and hearing them snap was an eye opener, pardon the pun. Sampling soybeans in IA demonstrated some of the pod abortion mentioned above. Toss in some of the disease issues just getting rolling in those fields and there will be plenty of misery to go around.
On a happier note, upon my return from Crop Tour there were lots of overgrown zucchini to toss over the fence to the sheep. Made their day. Being back home also keeps a steady supply of sweet corn husks and cobs coming their direction. Luckily the sweet corn still had some younger ears interspersed with some the heat had blown over the dam. Sometimes uneven emergence can work in your favor, but wouldn’t make a habit of it. Tomatoes are coming on full bore, so BLT’s are on the menu, along with about every other means of eating them. Still some string beans left, although we’re done freezing them. What’s there we’ll eat fresh or give away as many as possible. A garden is never truly appreciated if it is not shared. Just ask the sheep.
While I was in a holding pattern Sunday waiting for the sheep to be released from the State Fair, I cleaned out the hummingbird feeders. They are nuts right now between the cannas, the planters, and the feeders. The 4 o'clocks are just getting cranked up, so they'll have even more variety to choose from. Hadn't seen any orioles for a while, but filled their jelly feeder just for laughs. It sat empty for a week or two. Could still hear the occasional catbird, so thought what the heck. Monday morning, there was a fully colored male Baltimore oriole feasting on it. The goldfinches are starting to taste test the sunflowers as they ripen. They're also plucking a few sunflower seeds out of the feeder. This last batch of sunflower seed purchased was open & we wound up with a whole bunch of Indian meal moths flying around the garage. The silk threads the larvae leave behind tend to make the seed bridge up and not feed through some of our feeders. Makes for grumpy birds.
Some of the sheep at the MN State Fair went on to another show and some made it back home late Sunday afternoon. Some wonderful friends brought them back to their place in Faribault, so I didn’t have to battle the Sunday fair crowd. I brought Poppy along to meet some new people and get her accustomed to riding. She loves people, but we’ve got a steep learning curve in the riding department. We got spoiled after all the years of Border Collies who lived to ride in the pickup. It didn’t take long to learn to leave the door shut or there would be at least one of them in there. Poppy gets worked up and won’t sit still. It’ll take some repetition, but as we all know, you only get good at things by doing them.
Real good then…see you next week.