Monday, July 2, 2012
We are very grateful for yesterday afternoon’s rain. About 4 pm, while we were inside watching the Cardinals-Pirates game, we heard some thunder! We were so pleased that we went outside and stood in the cooling rain. We allowed the drops to soak our shirts, as we offered our thanks. We received .59″ in about 30 minutes. Some pea-sized hail was lightly scattered among the raindrops. Another .12″ came about 6pm.
Strong storms hit in Vincennes; there was some wind recorded at 85 mph! It knocked down power lines and trees. We were without internet last evening and this morning, but never were we without electric power. Some areas still do not have their electric power restored. Although we do not think it got to 85mph here, we had some tree limbs to pick up this morning. Also, some of our poor corn fields had a small percentage of the stalks snap off at the ground. It was so stressed from the heat and drought, it could not take the wind.
Ross and I evaluated every double-crop soybean field this morning. We were joined at the Shake farm by our Monsanto seed dealer and neighbor, Jeff Jackson. We determined that we will replant them all ASAP. Jeff agreed with our decision, and recommended a planting population of 200,000 seeds per acre. That’s higher than our typical population of 170,000, but so recommended because of the later planting date.
So, John, Philip, and Ben went to the Huey farm to bring home the soybean planter from storage. Brandon has taken a truck to New Lebanon, Indiana (near Sullivan) to get a load of seed. The plan is coming together, and by afternoon, I should be out there replanting. It is urgent to get them in the ground as soon as possible, to take advantage of the new moisture, and to use as little of the calendar as possible.
Still, we are rejoicing over the rain. We are certainly not out of the woods yet, but we are convinced that this rain will extend the window of opportunity to make possible a decent crop. The humidity is back today, in June it was dry like a desert here, more comfortable for people, but less favorable for crops. Perhaps it won’t be so long now until the next rain!
