Farmer focuses on weed control, planting vegetables

WATERMAN, Ill. — Rain showers over the past several weeks have resulted in challenges to spray for weeds and sidedress anhydrous on Wessels’ Family Farm.

“Now we are pretty wet and we have been up against the wall for spraying,” said Brandon Wessels, who is married to Kayla and farms together with his parents, Rob and Teri Wessels.

“There is a threshold for spraying Liberty, so we were looking at the crops every day and we were able to get it sprayed in time,” he said. “That has been the story so far this year — everything is getting done when it needs to, but we don’t have a lot of fluff time.”

Wessels has finished spraying his corn acres for weeds.

“Hopefully, we do not have to do any rescues,” the farmer said.

“We will probably give the soybeans one more shot,” he said. “We are doing a lot of scouting right now to see what’s out there because we don’t want to do anything unnecessarily.”

The plan is to push the herbicide application as late as possible to control the most weeds.

“The best weed suppression is canopy,” Wessels said.

He is on the last field for sidedressing anhydrous.

“We probably have 30 acres left and the anhydrous will be done,” he said on June 22.

This is not the typical plan for supplying nitrogen to their corn crop.

“We normally put our anhydrous down pre-plant, plant the beans and then plant the corn,” Wessels said. “But with the planting season this year, we were not dry enough to start until April 25.”

As a result, the farmers planted their corn and soybeans with the intention of sidedressing the anhydrous.

“That is what we are finishing up now,” Wessels said.

Up to this point, he said, the corn is not showing signs of nitrogen deficiency.

“But if we waited much longer, I think we would start to see the yellowing,” he said. “I think we are right at the threshold of getting it done.”

Right before tasseling, Wessels plans to apply the last portion of nitrogen.

“We typically Y-drop 32% to finish the crop off,” he said. “That’s when the corn crop really needs it, so we spoon-feed it.”

The farmers have applied nitrogen to their crops in different ways, depending on the year.

“We have gone back and forth because when you are spoon-feeding the nitrogen, you are making more passes, using more fuel, there is more wear and tear on the equipment and more compaction,” Wessels said. “But you are giving the crop what it needs, when it needs it.”

Last year, all of the nitrogen was applied as anhydrous before planting because he wanted to save the pass through the field.

“You can make a case either way,” he noted.

“If you are strictly looking at the crop, I think spoon-feeding makes sense,” he said. “But if you are looking at the overall economics, I really don’t know what the right answer is.”

Wessels has also tried biologicals and this year is doing a trial on his farm to evaluate Pivot Bio microbial nitrogen.

“We have one ProBox treated with Pivot Bio to see if there is a yield difference,” he said.

Everything else in the 150-acre field is the same.

“It is the same hybrid and we kept the nitrogen rate the same across the field,” Wessels said. “The only difference is some of the seed has Pivot Bio.”

Typically, he tries to do trials on his farm.

“You have to do trials and get data for yourself,” he said. “There is a ton of data out there, but the best way to know for yourself is to do it yourself.”

Wessels has seen no problems with pests in his fields so far this year.

“But the lightning bugs have the same hatch timing as rootworm beetles,” he said. “So, when we see the lightning bugs, the rootworms are out crawling around in the dirt.”

Wessels has Climate FieldView which includes crop health imaging.

“Every day they give us crop health imaging by satellite, so you can see where the stressed areas are,” said the farmer in DeKalb County in northern Illinois. “Then I can walk out to the field and check to see what is going on.”

Although Wessels does not usually plant wheat, this year he planted about 45 acres.

“We planted it in an attempt to build organic matter, and once it is harvested, we are going to put a cover crop in,” he explained.

“This is my first year growing wheat, so I need to do some research,” he said. “I know how to set a combine for corn and soybeans, but I have never set a combine for wheat.”

The first planting of sweet corn on the farm is close to tasseling.

“We are looking at having sweet corn about four weeks from now and we just put in our 12th planting on Friday,” Wessels said.

“We are past Labor Day now, as far as when the sweet corn will be ready to harvest,” he said. “We’ll probably have 17 or 18 plantings total and so far the sweet corn is looking good.”

The second planting of zucchinis, pickles and yellow squash have also been completed.

“Pumpkins are mostly planted, but we are going to plant a few extra,” Wessels said. “Our pumpkins for the most part are all out of the ground.”