From the Fields: Jump start in the spring pays off in yields in fall

We had excellent weather this fall for harvest in northern Indiana. The days were long and the push was on each day to accomplish as much as we could. My goal was to finish harvest before the National Corn Husking Contest, and while we were close to meeting that goal, we managed to finish the following week. Thankfully, we had corn finished and most of the fall tillage before the first winter storm hit and dropped a foot of snow.

Overall, I believe the corn and soybeans did much better this year than last, but we were done planting this year before May 1, so this was a definite jump start on the growing season for us. Across the board, my corn acres average 298 bushels to the acre.

Some fields of soybeans experienced some lodging and mold issues, which was part my fault as I had bumped the population of the seeding rate in the heavier muck soils when it was planted, but the height and the deep green color soybean plants were outstanding, with a minimum display of three-bean pods throughout the plant.

All the corn and soybean fields received one pass of foliar fertilizer. Corn did really well, and soybeans average 58 bushel to the acre.