Dave Reisner - Tough Summer

This summer has been tough!  The lack of rain has really taken its toll on the food plots and my sanity. To understand where I am coming from let me digress. I have made it through the massive floods of 2008 and then reoccurring floods the next few years after to now the past two years being in drought circumstances.  Through all this I have gained much more empathy for the farmers that rely on crops and the all powerful Mother Nature for their livelihood.  I used to think farmers just liked to hear themselves complain and that they were never happy no matter what weather was doing. 

The story hits a little closer to home when you have some sweat equity invested in even "small" scale food plots as well as money invested for fertilizer, seed, and roundup. Not to mention the tractors, implements, diesel fuel and all the miscellaneous costs I spend each year.  Do I sound like a farmer yet? 

So back to the present!  I have been checking on my corn fields every week to see what I can expect for corn production and make decisions on whether or not I need to mow it down and start fresh with fall green food sources. 

Of my 3 main areas planted all within 3 weeks I have all ends of the spectrum covered.

  

The first area planted I will actually make corn and although the field did show signs of serious stress it got just enough moisture late to fill out the ears and I am confident that it would yield 150 bushel or better per acre if it was to be harvested.

The second field planted, probably 10 to 12 acres, I will be considering a total loss and have already mowed some of it down to plant fall greens. It turned yellow earlier and never got taller than 6'.  Even this field after a couple late rains shows signs of trying to still produce an ear of corn, but realistically it is too late for this corn. 

The last field planted which is about a 5 acre corn field has a mixture of both good areas and some areas that look like it burned up.  All in all I think it would average 80 bushel per acre. 

My conclusion is that I do not completely understand the corn plant and its needs at variable times of growth, but overall I'm amazed at its resourcefulness to at any cost try to produce an ear of corn.    

….Now I'm just praying for rain for my fall green plots!!!! -Dave Reisner