For the week of June 2nd – 8th
We were going to wait for a rain before spraying – the top layer of soil is completely dry, and there are very few weeds growing as of yet. When in no-till, most of the weed seeds are stuck in the top couple inches of soil, and when it is as dry as it is, there is not enough moisture for them to germinate. However, since we started seeded at the beginning of May, and we had some abnormally warm weather, the crop is advancing quickly and we are getting into the 5th-6th leaf stage – if we wait too much longer we will start doing damage to plants with the sprayer tires.
The big story is the dry weather, and wind. This just does not seem to want to break. At the time of writing this (Friday June 6th) we have had virtually no measurable rain since the snow melted in April. This is one of the longest stretches that I can ever remember waiting for rain. For the most part, the plants do not require much moisture at this early of a crop stage. They seem to be rooting down to access moisture in the subsoil. We will start to see irreversible yield damage starting soon on the earlier seeded cereals. Plants are going to do what ever they have to do in order to produce seed, so if they start to get a sense they are running out of moisture, they will prematurely accelerate growth stages. Once this happens, rain is only able to sustain current reduced production levels, they can’t “fix” or “repair” anymore. We are not at this stage yet, but the clock is ticking…
