So there is a lot of activity at the NCRS as spring unfolds. Yesterday I talked about the orchard progress. Well there was also corn planting going on that I will show today. It rained today, so no outside action to report, so a perfect time for a recap. Yesterday morning, since I wasn't there to help, Stephanie found a new assistant. She said things went better than usual.
This was a no-till corn experiment on Farm 3. Tim had things rolling along. Look at the blue skies and sunshine in the morning.
And then when I finally showed up, the clouds rolled in and there was the threat of rain. We all had our cell phones out looking at the radar. My how things have changed. I used to just use my rope weather gauge. But I figured that if we quit and went back to the shop, then it wouldn't rain just to spite us. So we went ahead and started planting an experiment on Farm 7. The rule is, once you start, you can't stop. Poor Stephanie. Her pump controller quit working and she had to go back to the old bucket system of measurements. Tim prepares to make another round.
So it did rain off and on after we started. But the ground was dry and soaked it up pretty good, so we were able to finish this one experiment. Then we called it a day and went back. Today it rained almost all day. But next week looks good for getting back in action.
I stopped by the wheat experiment on Farm 5 on the way home. It looks good. We used stream nozzles since the wheat was pretty tall at topdress, thanks to the early warm weather. Then it didn't rain for several weeks after topdress, and the wheat didn't have a lot of green up. But it rained last weekend and the wheat is now looking like it should.
I haven't shown Doug much lately. He has been busy on some equipment issues and some new farm drainage chores. But another thing he has been working on is a new fertilizer rate controller set-up for me to take down to a researcher that will do some plot work for us. Phil also helped quite a bit. So I wanted to show them and their work. Hopefully I will be showing this in action in the near future. Thanks guys. Excellent as always.
In fact, I am off on a rather lengthy fertilizer mission starting next week. I will give a clue to part of it. If you get RFD TV, there is a show on Monday night at 8 pm Eastern time that you may want to watch.
This was a no-till corn experiment on Farm 3. Tim had things rolling along. Look at the blue skies and sunshine in the morning.
And then when I finally showed up, the clouds rolled in and there was the threat of rain. We all had our cell phones out looking at the radar. My how things have changed. I used to just use my rope weather gauge. But I figured that if we quit and went back to the shop, then it wouldn't rain just to spite us. So we went ahead and started planting an experiment on Farm 7. The rule is, once you start, you can't stop. Poor Stephanie. Her pump controller quit working and she had to go back to the old bucket system of measurements. Tim prepares to make another round.
So it did rain off and on after we started. But the ground was dry and soaked it up pretty good, so we were able to finish this one experiment. Then we called it a day and went back. Today it rained almost all day. But next week looks good for getting back in action.
I stopped by the wheat experiment on Farm 5 on the way home. It looks good. We used stream nozzles since the wheat was pretty tall at topdress, thanks to the early warm weather. Then it didn't rain for several weeks after topdress, and the wheat didn't have a lot of green up. But it rained last weekend and the wheat is now looking like it should.
I haven't shown Doug much lately. He has been busy on some equipment issues and some new farm drainage chores. But another thing he has been working on is a new fertilizer rate controller set-up for me to take down to a researcher that will do some plot work for us. Phil also helped quite a bit. So I wanted to show them and their work. Hopefully I will be showing this in action in the near future. Thanks guys. Excellent as always.
In fact, I am off on a rather lengthy fertilizer mission starting next week. I will give a clue to part of it. If you get RFD TV, there is a show on Monday night at 8 pm Eastern time that you may want to watch.