So Friday we got back into the field for some plot activities. We harvested some more corn plots on Wednesday and finished Farm 5. Now all that remains is the corn on Farm 7. But alas, it is too muddy to get on as of now. Thursday it was rainy again. But Friday was kind of nice out, so we took advantage of it. One thing that was on the fall agenda was making fall strip-till applications. Or as we call it: Nutri-Till. We have demonstrated good results with fall applications of Pro-Germinator and Sure-K. Here we are comparing placement: either in the traditional lower shank placement, about 8 inches under the surface, or in shallow placement in the seed zone. And other stuff too.
Here are the strips after application. They will now wait for the planter next spring. (Am I talking about next year already?)
Another fall activity is application of (pardon the expression) dry potash on plots for next year. These will be in corn next year and will be compared to planter applications of Sure-K. I show this to prove the validity of the research we do here at the NCRS. But you already know that Sure-K will prove superiority. The applicator here is MSU intern Jeff who is able to help us on Fridays while a student the rest of the week. He assures us that he got a real life education working here on the farm this summer.
Late in the afternoon Doug wanted to harvest some non-plot, or "production" corn on Farm 7. The corn on the west side is kind of hilly and not as heavy of ground as where the plots are. Below Troy checks on Doug while Stephanie offers her advice.
Some of the corn here was planted well after June 1, and needed a grain moisture check. Doug tosses a sample in a container to Stephanie who will check it. Well the news wasn't good there, and so it will have to wait much longer. But there is other earlier planted corn to run. It was tough getting this corn planted last spring with all of the wet weather and having to re-plant some. (Note: if you enlarge your view, you can see lines of Canada Geese overhead. There was wave after wave that evening.)
Coming back into the farm research compound there was a pretty view of the sunset in the clouds.
That's a good sign.
Here are the strips after application. They will now wait for the planter next spring. (Am I talking about next year already?)
Another fall activity is application of (pardon the expression) dry potash on plots for next year. These will be in corn next year and will be compared to planter applications of Sure-K. I show this to prove the validity of the research we do here at the NCRS. But you already know that Sure-K will prove superiority. The applicator here is MSU intern Jeff who is able to help us on Fridays while a student the rest of the week. He assures us that he got a real life education working here on the farm this summer. 
Late in the afternoon Doug wanted to harvest some non-plot, or "production" corn on Farm 7. The corn on the west side is kind of hilly and not as heavy of ground as where the plots are. Below Troy checks on Doug while Stephanie offers her advice.
Some of the corn here was planted well after June 1, and needed a grain moisture check. Doug tosses a sample in a container to Stephanie who will check it. Well the news wasn't good there, and so it will have to wait much longer. But there is other earlier planted corn to run. It was tough getting this corn planted last spring with all of the wet weather and having to re-plant some. (Note: if you enlarge your view, you can see lines of Canada Geese overhead. There was wave after wave that evening.)
Coming back into the farm research compound there was a pretty view of the sunset in the clouds.
That's a good sign.