For the week of July 29th – August 7th
It was another week of hot and dry weather….you can really start to see the effects in some areas — but a change in weather pattern seems to be coming! This next week they are calling for cool conditions — highs in the teens to lower 20’s – – and more importantly, they are calling for a chance for some moisture. Cool conditions would lessen the stress on the crop, but rain is what we really need at this point. One more rain would be enough to finish the crop off and help to fill it out.
Bugs have not really been an issue this year, except for aphids in our oats. We were monitoring the population for the last few weeks, and it went from not finding them to above threshold in less than a week. Aphids are generally more of an issue in canary seed and peas, but for some reason we have had significant issues in our oats. Aphids are more of an issue in hot and dry weather – as they feed on the sap from the plant and cause accelerated dry down. Without a adequate moisture in the soil to allow the plant to replenish itself, it can cause more significant yield loss – and more importantly, in a crop like oats, a lighter kernel which translates into lower bushel weight. Bushel weight is a significant quality parameter for the markets that we sell into – so we ended up spraying all the oats.
As of today most of our staff are back from their summer holidays – we will be gearing up to get the rest of our harvest equipment ready. If we get some moisture harvest will likely start the week of August 19th, if it stays dry, it could be sometime mid to end next week.
