Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Today, we had to make some decisions about what to do.  The fields that still need NH3 in the river bottom lands (about 220 acres) are still a bit too wet to apply nitrogen.  The Saturday night/Sunday rain event kept us out of the fields yesterday (Monday).   We have about 1200 acres with soybean herbicide applied.  We must apply the herbicide to the corn fields before that planter can run.  It was very cold the past two nights.  These are all factors that must be weighed to figure out ‘what next’.  So, together we came up with a plan.  We stopped the NH3 machines, and unhooked the implements.  John is spraying burndown herbicide on the corn acres that have received nitrogen.  Brandon has hitched up the corn planter to the CIH 420 Rowtrac and is testing how that will work in the first field of #plant23.   I am now hooked up to the soybean air drill and I am finishing the setup of the air cart, no-till drill, and Fieldview iPad.  Tomorrow, Davis from Huston’s will be here to assist me to get started.  There is still a run page for the air cart that doesn’t look right in order to plant by prescription.  I tested the “Tru-Set” down pressure today, and learned a little bit about how much pressure to apply to the seed openers on the drill.  I still will have to learn tomorrow about the ‘relative flow blockage monitor’.   In the morning, I’ll calibrate the 3 seed meters under each seed tank on the air cart, and then I’ll be ready for Davis to arrive!

The cool nights have us a bit concerned about getting lots of acres of corn planted.  Cold and wet is not healthy for the little corn seeds trying to sprout.  It seems that soybeans can tolerate such conditions a bit better, so maybe after I get all set up and confident about the operation of the new air drill, I will go from ‘yellow light’ to ‘green light’!

Filling the seed tanks on the air cart today.  430 bushels on board now.

Brandon’s first pass with the corn planter at the Dunn farm location.

It feels good to get started with #plant23.  Sure, there are lots of rows to run down yet, and we will have to pause the planters to apply the rest of the corn nitrogen.  But it always feels good to plant some of our crops in April.  Early planting makes for a tick higher soybean  yields, and a better-manageable summer work schedule.

I’ll try to get some pictures of the soybean drill in operation tomorrow.   Have a good Tuesday evening.