Thursday, September 19, 2013

Iowa

We are back to our favorite state of Iowa.  Why don't we live in our favorite state?  It's because we rooted too deeply in Ohio.  With six children and twelve grand children in Ohio, Ohio is our home.

As soon as I pulled into the field day site last night, there were only four hybrids signed.  Those were four I brought last spring!  They look awesome, green from top to bottom but the whole plot does.  The ears are still all upright but are all dented, too.  I wonder what in the world the are going to say about them?

I will plant all four and two more next spring unless I find something better.  They mid to full season hybrids that always perform well on my farm and in my region.  I don't have near the soil or soil fertility as this old Mississippi river ground does but I am getting closer.  Funny to have that kind of soil on top of a hill!

I hope the talks are all written down because I know I can't write fast enough today.

I wish you could be here too and I hope some of you are.

Ed Winkle

2 comments:

  1. I don't know, most of Iowa looks like a monotonous succession of square fields, not a single wood or wilderness area in sight, even the hills are being grown for crops and woods are disappearing.

    Zoom out of 42°46'57.89" N 94°48'50.12" W in Google Earth (or any other location), what is so great with this uniformity? Eastern Ohio seems to have greater character than Iowa, even if you live more in the Sin Sin City area.

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  2. I attended the field day wednesday at Osage, IA. Lots of great speakers. I had never heard Dr. Huber talk. He talked about nutrient functions in the plant and how herbicides effect those functions Quite a treat, could have listened much longer. I an learning to build fertility in the soil, so much of the foliar discussion went over my head. Apex soybeans were there. It is unusual for a 3.6 maturity bean to even be considered this far north in Iowa. Dr. Cooper explained that as they move north, the tend to grow taller. Probably as tall as any other beans in the plot. They have large green leaves with many pods. Hopefully they will make it before a frost! The corn plot was just as you describe down there. Green corn with the husk turning brown, surrounded be field of all dead corn. Ears were well filled and kernel depth looked to be above average. While the guys putting on the field are advanced in their crop management they are still searching and always trying different ideas. So, I guess I shouldn't get discouraged when I can't figure out a problem right away. This was the fist time I made it to this event, but it won't be my last!

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