Monday, July 25, 2016

Oh My, How You've Grown!


Oh my, how you've grown! It's a phrase often attributed to little old ladies commenting on children's exponential growth. (Oh wait! Some people may put me in the "old lady" camp these days. Hmmppffff!)

But the sentiment also applies to our 2016 corn crop.
June 18, 2016
In a little more than a month, our dryland corn crop has gone from waist high to towering over my human measuring stick.
Randy says that corn needs a certain number of "heat units" to grow well. I would say it definitely got its share of "heat units" last week.The temperature hovered around 100 degrees all week, and we didn't get any rain. This Monday morning, we've gotten 0.20" of rain. Let's hope it helps cool things off a bit and gives another boost to the corn, milo and feed sorghum crops.

Since we are first and foremost wheat farmers, the rain we got during wheat harvest may have been an aggravation. But our corn farmer alter ego is happy the rain helped fill the corn cobs and has the 2016 corn crop looking so good. 
Most the corn stalks have more than one ear.
Maybe the song lyrics from South Pacific will come true this year: "I'm as corny as Kansas in August." By the end of August, our dryland crop may be ready to harvest. It happens in half the time of the 9-month-long march to wheat harvest.
April 23, 2016
More photos from this year's corn crop progress (and my human measuring stick) can be found by clicking on this link.

4 comments:

  1. And hasn't it grown well and may it continue to do so.

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  2. Wow, look at that corn go! What fun! Hope conditions remain favorable for a high yielding harvest.

    It was another hot one yesterday, 99*. It's like walking into a sona when we step outside. We had thunderheads and lightning last night; no rain at our house. There was rain in the area and several fires.

    Between drought conditions and lightning it's common for ranchers to be on the lookout for fires. J went to the big hill south of the house to sit and watch. Luckily the fires last night were short lived between prairie firetrucks and rain.

    The weathermen say today is going to be a severe weather awareness day and to keep our eye on the sky.

    Stay cool and drink lots of water.

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    Replies
    1. This week's forecast doesn't show any triple-digit heat, but it's supposed to return on Sunday. It's still really humid, though.

      I hope the storms in your area just bring rain - not lightning. Fire is a scary thing. Stay safe!

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