Rain, mild weather has corn crop looking good
Staff writer
Recent rains and mild temperatures have most of the county’s corn crop looking good, but the next few weeks could be critical.
Storms that soaked areas of the county with up to 6 inches of rain were a welcome respite from 100-degree heat that hit early in June.
Jared Jones, a strategic account manager with MKC, said the moisture was “pretty variable” with some areas getting more than enough.
“Most people were glad to get it, even in the areas that got a bunch,” he said.
County extension agent Rickey Roberts said rains had dragged out the wheat harvest.
Longtime farmer Terry Vinduska spent Tuesday harvesting wheat near Lost Springs and putting in second crop soybeans.
“We pull the combine out of the field and the planter pulls right in,” he said.
Corn north of Marion looks really good, but corn always needs rain this time of year, he said.
“A lot of the corn is silking, so it’s a very crucial time,” he said. “It could always use rain when it is silking and pollinating.”
Too hot temperatures or lack of rain can sterilize a corn plant’s pollen and keep it from producing.
“If we have temperatures in the low 90s and upper 80s, most of the corn will be in pretty good shape,” Jones said.
Most farmers in the county planted second-crop soybeans before the rainstorms hit and they are beginning to emerge and look good, Jones said.
Cooperative Grain and Supply manager John Ottensmeier said wet fields might have kept some from getting the crop in.
Both he and Jones expect area farmers will to wrap up planting within a week.
“Usually the first week of July people will stop planting beans,” he said. “If you plant to much past that you run a risk of freeze in mid-October before they are mature.”
Christian Williams forecaster with the National Weather Service in Wichita said temperatures in the 80s are expected through the end of this week, with chances of rain Wednesday and Friday night.
Vinduska said it was still too early in the season to know what Mother Nature might bring, so he is staying positive.
“In Kansas you have to be optimistic to keep farming,” he said. “All in all things are looking OK.”