View From the Cab

Iowa, Florida See Cooler Weather

Richard Oswald
By  Richard Oswald , DTN Special Correspondent
This year's DTN View From the Cab farmers are Jamie Harris of Madison, Fla., and Karen Johnson of Avoca, Iowa. (Jamie Harris photo by Elaine Shein; Karen Johnson photo by Nick Scalise)

LANGDON, Mo. (DTN) -- With most of August yet to go, View From the Cab farmers Karen Johnson of Avoca, Iowa, and Jamie Harris of Madison, Fla., have already experienced a full range of summer weather, including wetter, cooler conditions over the last week. But Florida cool and Iowa cool are definitely two different things.

"We finally started to get some rain the last couple of days, a half-inch up to 2 inches. It's been pretty cool with temperatures in the high 80s and lower 90s," Jamie told DTN late Monday. Jamie pointed out that even when temperatures are "low," Florida humidity is a muggy 80% to 90%.

In Iowa, where Karen and her husband Bill live, overnight lows close to 50 degrees with 70% humidity are what they call cool. That's what it was Tuesday morning when DTN spoke with Karen and Bill by phone. "We haven't had the warm weather (like some years)," Karen said. Could a cooler-than-normal summer affect yields? Planted about two weeks later than normal this year, the Johnsons' corn is still green despite a month-long dry spell lasting through most of July into early August. Slow maturity of the crop could delay harvest into early October. Only one thing could change all that: "My concern is that maybe we could have an early frost," she said.

The moisture situation has improved in Iowa with close to 4 inches last week. Bill told DTN second ears on most stalks have dried up, leaving just one good ear per stalk. And he noted that today their soybean crop, infested with large populations of grasshoppers and rootworm beetles, will be sprayed with fungicide, an insecticide and a foliar feeding product called Black Label Zinc marketed by Loveland Products. It's a pricey treatment, but combining it in one pass saves a bundle on application costs. Bill said soybeans are somewhat short, "a little above knee-high," but podding and blooming like crazy following the dry spell, and serious hail damage dating back to June.

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On Friday, Bill knocked down a third hay cutting while Karen mowed the yard for the umpteenth time. And Karen researched smartphones and tablets. Her conclusion? "We may not need either. The expense is well over $100 a month." She's looking for a way to keep up with markets while away from the computer. Using benefits included with their current phone plan, instead of email, will work for market and weather updates. "We just have to learn how to text," she said.

Harvest hasn't been delayed long for Jamie in Florida. He and his family partners at Jimmy Harris and Sons have moved back into corn. An irrigated field had about 30 of 90 acres flat on the ground due to planting a variety susceptible to a stalk-eating fungus, fusarium. "Eight to 10 inches up, the stalks was hollow," Jamie said. Areas of reclaimed pine timber where weeds were heavy the year before seem to be where the disease thrived. Fortunately, ears weren't in contact with the ground, which helped with harvest and avoided grain damage. Dryland corn picked Saturday yielded in a range from 60 to 90 bushels per acre. "Some fields just missed the rain," Jamie said.

Soybeans may have been hurt by dry weather. Pods have been aborted, but plants continue to bloom. Armyworm pressure has backed off, but maybe not for long. Jamie said hatches seem to coincide with the full moon. That was Sunday.

Specialty crop watermelons and pumpkins are doing well. They've been sprayed with fungicide and insecticide. Those crops receive daily irrigation with a gallon and a half to 2 gallons of 4-1-8 liquid fertilizer injected into the water. Jamie said the fertilizer becomes even more important as fruit begins to set on. "With a vegetable crop, you can't ever let it go backwards," he said. Jamie estimates fertilizer costs for raising a crop of 3,000 pumpkins per acre at $700 to $800. "The bad thing is after we've put all this fertilizer out there, there won't be anything left (for the next crop)," Jamie explained.

Earliest-planted peanuts are still 30 days from harvest. "All the pegs are in the ground," Jamie said. Pollinated peanut blooms form embryos that grow at the tip of stems called pegs. As pegs grow, they extend downward to the ground where embryos penetrate the soil and grow into peanuts.

Maturity of peanuts is determined by washing pods on a screen mesh with a high-pressure washer. Black-colored peanut shells indicate maturity. Less mature pods are colored brown, yellow or the least mature color, white. Once 70% to 80% have turned black, the crop is ready to harvest. Mature peanuts in the ground can sprout. That's why peanuts are picked as close to maturity as possible.

Six hundred acres of iron clay peas were planted last week. About half have emerged. The rest should be up by the middle of this week. Cooler weather wouldn't bother them, even if it got all the way down to the 60s and 70s. "We don't have to worry about that," Jamie said.

Richard Oswald can be reached at Talk@dtn.com

Follow Richard Oswald on Twitter @RRoswald

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Richard Oswald