Editors' Notebook

OMAHA (DTN) -- We've all been there. The days slowly drag on, the weeks trudge by. Then you turn around, the months have flown, summer is gone and you've got a crop to harvest.

But right now, we're still trudging.

Some are trudging through copious amounts of water. But we've been here before, Dave Tollefson of Starbuck, Minnesota, reminded me. And he is prepared.

"Driving on various Pope County roads yesterday (Monday) we noticed many wet spots and some water standing in planted crops," he wrote in an email. "Reminds me of 1972. I asked one prominent farmer that spring if he got done with his planting. No, he said, 'I just quit.' Well, I'm not going to give up quite yet. That's why I own an old 10-foot John Deere Van Brunt drill to plant those low areas where you don't want to drag the 30-foot or 45-foot drill. I've seen where you just wasted your time. Time will tell."

Dave has finished spraying pre-emergent herbicide on some soybeans, but says more rain is forecast for Thursday, Friday in his area. "In the meantime we got about 0.4 inch over the weekend. It was muddy in some spots even before this last rain. Some areas had standing water; other areas just plain gooey. Wettest areas will have to planted later."

Optimism might be hard to maintain in the face of continued rain, and Steven Tuttle of Basehor, Kansas, knows it. "Three years of drought and now 21 days of rain. 8-10 inches. Corn planted, yellow and stunted. Creeks are flooding. Ponding in bottoms. Wheat HRW and SRW devastated by striped rust and head scab, it's been sprayed two to three times, went from 80-100 bpa to 40-60 bpa in three weeks. No soybeans planted too wet." But he added, "Things will get better! They always do!"

It's still wet in southern Illinois, Kenton Thomas of Alexander County, wrote DTN. "Hope for a break; lots of beans to plant."

In the Sterling area of northern Illinois, Keith Landis said too much moisture also is hindering fieldwork. "We are relaxing a bit too much here in northern Illinois," he wrote DTN. "Just had a heavy shower go through late this morning (Tuesday). The cows need to go to pasture but it's hard to move that direction when all is wet out. Sounds like we could get more showers or T-storms this evening.

"Before this last rain we cut, chopped and bagged 90 some acres of hay, planted all the conventional and organic beans and the conventional and half of the organic corn. Most everyone in the area has their corn and beans in. A few cut and chopped or baled first-cut hay. Some, including us, are waiting to double crop some acres. Some of the hay acres that we just chopped still need to be plowed up and planted. The small grains look good so far this spring. (Better than last year when much of it froze out.)"

There's that optimism again.

Other areas are wet, but not as wet and rains have been spaced enough that fieldwork has been possible. In northeastern Illinois, John Moore of Manhattan said farmers were driven from fields about 11 a.m. Tuesday by rain, but nearly all his neighbors have their corn in. "Some (myself included) are still working on beans," he wrote.

"This area caught a break over the holiday weekend and missed most of the rain so there was no barbecues or picnics for most farmers around here [as they were working]. Western half of the state looks like it caught pretty good rains from north to south; just didn't come this far east. Would like to finish planting but it was actually nice to have a little rain on top of what was planted. Soil moisture is staying very good. Hay is ready. Time to sidedress soon. Hmmm, must be summertime down on the farm."

Scott Wallis of Princeton, Indiana, said weather forecasters had him expecting 1 inch of rain Monday, but only 0.1 to 0.2 fell, allowing him to finish bean planting Tuesday and get a good start on side dressing. "Corn is looking really good," he noted, "Nice even stands."

Near Jefferson, Iowa, Pete Bardole said his soybeans are done and he still has some spraying to do, "but that is never-ending at this point.

"There are still beans left to go in here in central Iowa," he added. "We drove to my mother-in-law's on Sunday and I was surprised by how many fields still needed planted. We have had over 1.75 inches of rain since Saturday night. Before the rain everyone I talked to would have liked three more days to let the fields dry out; but we knew we didn't have them from what the weather people were telling us -- and they were right this time."

In Michigan, Kenneth Zahm of Marne wrote that dairies are going full tilt spreading manure.

David Kjelstrup of Underwood, North Dakota, is done seeding but wrote that sporadic rains are interfering with spraying. "We are spraying barley and just get going and it rains ... just enough to screw us up." But he added, "It will pass; I will get done. And I will go hunting."

And then the lucky ones.

Mark Nowak of south-central Minnesota said he has to keep pinching himself to believe this wonderful spring weather hasn't been a dream. "Most of us had corn planted by May 1st and then went right to soybeans," he wrote. "Emergence time has been about average as it turned cooler than normal for several days after planting. Stands are very good and in some cases excellent to best ever. Dodged the frost scare last Tuesday when the morning temp got down to 33.6 degrees as recorded at my Magnum 1 DTN weather station. Although by Thursday morning there was some cosmetic leaf damage on a few corn leaves. So far in May, rainfall has been measured anywhere from 2.25 to 2.7 inches between the various farms. All of the rains have been slow and gentle. No ponding or soil compacting rains (yet). So optimum yield potential is still intact. Could use more sun and warmer temps, but hopefully that will come when the calendar flips to June in 6 days."

Mark acknowledged that not all in the southern Minnesota area have been so lucky. "But sometimes farming is all about location, location. On May 3rd a big storm down poured 2.5 inches of rain only 18 miles east of our farms while we did not receive a drop. That has caused planting delays in that area and on east as there has not been a big break between rain showers for satisfactory soil drying to continue planting. There are still some soybeans to plant not too far east of our location here in eastern Faribault County."

No complaints in Hyde County, North Carolina, from Demock Mann. "The weather here has been great and most crops look really good," he reported. "Wheat harvest should start in two weeks and snap bean harvest early next week. We might even have some of our 85-day corn with a tassel in two to three days."

Perry Buxton of central Ohio said he planted soybeans all Memorial Day weekend and he was still going strong Tuesday. "Got the corn finished up yesterday (Monday) and only have four days' worth of beans to plant," he wrote DTN. He also shared the photo you see with this story on online DTN products.

If you enjoy these reports from readers or would like to share your information also, send me an email at cheri.zagurski@dtn.com

(AG)

© Copyright 2015 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.