So today like clockwork, everyone was back in action at the NCRS. Vegetable plot harvest is a long and slow process since it is done by hand(s). Below is Roma tomato plot harvest. Brian clips and shakes the tomoatoes off the vine into the plot middle. Then Dan, Kirk and old Tim sort by color, and weigh them. Each plot is one of four replications of a different fertilizer treatment. New Field Agronomy Manager Dr. Mike Read is discussing tomato research with Dr. Brian. (You can't swing a stick without hitting a Dr.around here.) Today is Mike's first day on the job, and he was in town for orientation. (I would say he is facing East. There, now he is oriented.) Mike will be working with Cory, Jay and Alan in the Field Agronomy part of the Department of Agronomic Sciences Department. He will be located in Florida, but expects to travel wherever the call takes him.
Here is a close up of some of the tomato plants. They are really loaded. Look at the deadish looking leaves. There have been a couple of light frosts of late. Not enough to scrape off the windshield, but enough to affect the leaves. So it is time to pick.
Meanwhile, back in the field, there was wheat plot planting going on. Winter wheat plots were planted today after Navy bean harvest last week on Farm 7 shown here, and also on Farm 3. We will also have another experiment on Farm 5 after soybean harvest, which should be in the next day or so.
So everyone is off and running again this week. I am off on a one-day fertilizer mission tomorrow, so I hope to bring you up to speed on that later.
