Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Rainy week.  We received rain Monday, Tuesday, and today.  All in all, about 1.7″ (43mm) has come our way.   It is welcome.

Wheat harvest is about two weeks away.  You can really tell it is “turning”, or changing from green to gold.  It is standing pretty well, not much has gone down.  We increased our nitrogen fertility for this 2021 crop, with hopes to increase the yields.  Heavier nitrogen amounts can cause the wheat stem to get ‘lazy’ and lie down flat.  To counteract this tendency, we also treated the wheat with a growth regulator to keep the plants 6-8 inches shorter.  This reduces the possibility of the wheat going down.  When a crop gets blown down by the wind, this problem is called “lodging”.  Lodged wheat makes for a particularly difficult harvest.  Cutting close to the ground to get the heads into the combine header is a lot harder than in standing wheat.

Turning from green to gold.
#wheatharvest21 in a couple weeks

The CIH 8250 combine came out of storage this afternoon to get prepared for wheat harvest.  Brandon has it in the shop, swapping out the concaves and making other internal adjustments.

The CIH 8250 is in the shop getting prepared for wheat harvest.

We’ve had alternating periods of sun and rain all day.