Science

There is a lot of science in farming. I have always been interested in the science end of it. This morning our Michigan, Ohio and Indiana ABM sales rep met with me and we dug corn. We were looking for why corn in the same row varies in heighth so much. My question was did the trichaderma in SabrEx seed treament not get colonized on some seeds for some reason?

ABM has a microbiologist so Bruce offered to have her look at my corn roots to see if they were colonized. They can't do this for farmers as a service as they are not equipped to but Bruce offered to find out for me since we are both curious.

The bigger plants are going into vegetative stage V8 and look well colonized to me. When we pried the knee high plant out with a spade, a big long tap root came with it 20 inches long or so. I should have had my camera with me. The smaller, yellower, shin high plant did not have the tap root or it broke off. The sickest little ankle high plant, what we would call a weed in a corn field, had barely any roots but they did look white and healthy.

The seed treatment should give the plant 21 days or so protection and by then the trichaderma should be well colonized for season long control of pythium, fusarium and rhizoctonia. These are the major plant diseases. I think the Cruiser Maxx seed treatment washed off in the heavy rains and I didn't get 21 day control until the trichaderma colonized. I am not sure if every seed got colonized, so now maybe we will find a clue to "what happened?"

I got a test back on my 28% urea ammonium nitrate. It was a little shy of the advertized product. It came back at 25% so I was shorted 3% which would add up over a lot of acres. I have a little bargaining power now with the vendor I bought it from. If you are ever in doubt, I would send a sample to a trusted laboratory and we have one within 25 miles of our farm. They only need a cup of 28 to test but I usually take several samples from one load in a 2.5 gallon jug. I mix the remainder with water and put it between my sweet corn rows or other plants.

There are 7 terminals where 28 or 32 is picked up near the river in Cincinnati. If you buy 28 and they received 32 they add water and the process is pretty precise but mistakes are made. Most terminals induce the water into the tanker before the 28 is inducted and it mixes on the way to your farm or the fertilizer plant. Intentional mistakes are criminal and that's the job of the Ohio Department of Agriculture to handle that sampling and investigation. They are under staffed of course so a lot goes unnoticed and a lot is taken for granted as the system is built around trust. A bad skunk is flushed out pretty quickly and taken care of.

Mostly everyone is trying to get their work caught up, no matter what it is and hoping for a rain. If this weather persists the corn will be well ahead of last year but the soybean crop won't be much farther ahead.

I leave you with the big trees at Fort Salem. I am still thinking about that place and the trucker just reminded me because he lives near there. Tractor pulling season is here, too.

Ed

May 29

We had a good but busy weekend, I hope you did, too. Most farmers are wanting a good rain on their crop right now but the green radar has not brought much if any. It is a critical time for moisture to get the soybean crop up and corn requires plenty of water but not too much!

I see 2013 wheat is over $7 today. The buyers are already bidding a profitable price for soft red winter wheat even though much of this year's crop hasn't been harvested yet. Harvest is as far north as Missouri though and it won't be long. I expect small grain harvest to be record early this year and the hot temperatures the last few days should really bring it to maturity.

Farmers are busy finishing up soybean planting and side dressing corn hard. You can see all your problems if you drive through your corn slowly and there are plenty of problems to look at in most fields. Pythium is still affecting corn from Iowa to Ohio and many stands have went down hill. Every little thing we did right or wrong shows today and the biggest thing I see is planting date.

The farther your corn is planted after the crop insurance date of April 5 for here, the worse the stand is in general. So corn planting date was critical again this year and only for a few days of planting does the corn stand and color look right.

This question was asked today. "I've got a part of a corn field that has been damaged by pythium, but to date the corn has survived. The infected corn plants are probably 8" shorter than the same variety of corn planted the same day and are probably two leaves behind. The stand is still OK. I'm seeing stand counts from 20-30K. When I dig the plants the seedling root is still viable, but the nodal roots have shown little activity and the crown is slightly brown on some of the plants. We've also been very dry which hasn't helped these plants in the least, but a good chance of rain is in the forecast for Thursday.

The question is this. Does anyone have experience with this corn through a growing season? If I leave this corn will it eventually start growing normally and produce an ear? If the stand was inadequate it would be a no-brainer, but I hate to tear up a decent stand and start over.

Any management ideas or help will be appreciated."

My answer was "We are going through the same thing here. This may be the worst pythium hanging on problem I have ever seen. Normally the plants tend to grow out of it, at least to some degree but these are new genetics, new chemistries and I am not sure what to expect. We know those sick plants won't make full yield.

The big question is will spotted in or replant pay? What I have seen replanted so far, the stands are better and more consistent but they are later and won't be as high yielding as the better early stands, probably. It's almost June 1 and this isn't 2011 when our June 5 corn could make 200 bu. That was unheard of.

You just have to walk it, talk about it, think about it and pray over it and decide I am replanting this or I am keeping it.

I think God gave me the chance to test 300 bu corn this year maybe and I missed it by not planting in March. But some March corn still has pythium in it so I don't know.

Know that sick corn will never make full potential and go from there. Will you make more replanting it or keeping it?"

I hope I gave good advice. I leave you with another picture from Fort Salem of Bill Bare's property. He answered my email and I hope to stop and chat and catch up on old times.

Ed

Fort Salem Indian Mound

I took the back roads to meet my sister at the cemetery Friday evening. I took Certier Road off SR 131 near Pricetown in Highland County and turned a big curve in the road and found a big surprise! The scenery changed and the old road didn't look familiar anymore, I seriously thought I had made a wrong turn.

There was an old grown up woods on a hillside turned into a beautiful showplace and a new sign like you see at scenic parks saying "Fort Salem Indian Mound." I grew up near that remote area but I hadn't heard it had been reclaimed. When I stopped, the sign and pictures and details on how the mounds were restored.

Local resident Bill Bare known for Bare Mechanical among a lot of other things, bought the property and sold it to an archaeological conservancy group. Between them, they raised enough funds and labor to restore the woods overlooking bottom land. They cleared the brush and little trees and limed, fertilized and seeded the woods and mounds. Pictures are never quite as good as being there and mine aren't either but you get the idea.

The old hard and silver maple grove is full of trees over 200 years old, or virgin timber when the white man settled the area in the late 1700's. Old timers like dad always prounced Certier as Searchy Road, we pronounced it Cer T er and of course the French pronounce it Cer T Yea. No matter how you say it, I can't find a link on the Internet, it is that new. I entered about every combination I could think of so far and no luck so I reveal it to you today!

I would love to have a family picnic or a quiet picnic with friends there. We only saw two picnic tables when I took LuAnn and Sable back Sunday evening. It is remote and suited to smaller groups. She was astounded and amazed to see it as I was to find it. She said this is the place my friend was talking about, she lives around here somewhere! It is not that far from our place, only 15 miles south or so and on my way to my mother's.

I have contacted the Archaeological Conservancy office in Columbus, Ohio. I think this may be the group who were involved with the project. As you can see by their new acquisitions, they are quite active although Fort Salem is not mentioned there. I also ran across this piece while searching for more information about that project.

Whiteoak High School is not far away I can just imagine a nice school here like I saw on Rural TV about Locust Trace High School near Lexington, Kentucky in Fayette County. My imagination runs pretty quickly when I find something like Fort Salem near my old home area. Dad would really like what Bill Bare and Archaeological Conservancy has down in Highland County.

That was my find this Memorial Day weekend. Farmers are busy trying to finish up soybean planting and then it will be the task of "laying the crops by" for the summer growing season. It's been really hot here and we nearly broke the record high of 95 degrees F. It got to 93 on our thermometers.

Happy Memorial Day to you all,

Ed Winkle

Good Corn?

Have you seen any good corn? There isn't much around here! This picture is from a friend 100 miles away or so and it has 300 lbs. of AMS per acre spread before the twin row corn was planted. The herbicide was applied via water, not liquid fertilizer. I think it looks pretty happy and healthy.

We have some fields in this region, probably, almost that good, but see that dark green color already? Most of our fields look yellow and that corn had the same cold stress and maybe a little less water than we had here.

Farmers have been posting their corn woes on Crop Talk all spring. Dry weather seems to be the problem for most farmer but many got caught in that cold snap April 12 and another one the first of May. That really derailed a lot of potential good corn like this picture shows.

We have been near Chillicothe to Georgetown, up to Lebanon and Waynesville to Washington Court House and Greenfield. You can count the really good corn fields on two hands. Most fields are still brown and are being planted to soybeans. I don't think we will end up with record corn acres in Ohio. Crop insurance paid out a record $12 billion last year and some people do not understand this important part of our production system.

Pretty soon we will be talking about soybeans, wheat harvest and what goes on in our gardens. I saw one of the best fields on Harveysburg Road where a friend of mine notilled beans into Highly Erodible Lands early and those beans have several sets of leaves on them. They are loving this heat and gravity is pulling those roots to water as it goes down the water table. Those roots are highly nourished and well fed.

I have learned a lot since 1963 when dad helped me plant my first field of corn. That field of corn got washed away in the 63 flood but I never gave up hope of growing good corn. This year I didn't plant when my gut told me too. Those few days in March were the best corn planting weather all year, I even mentioned that in an earlier blog but I wasn't ready when those days came and I let them slip away. Logic and calendars got in the way of the right time to plant this year.

So I take the lemons I planted and try to make lemonade out of them. I don't have an oil boom for extra income. It's time to side dress and spray the corn we have and be thankful for it. Lots of corn got replanted, lots of corn needed replanted and never got it and every problem written in books have happened to our corn this year.

I hope your crops and gardens are doing well. Keep sending pictures and comments like the one I show today and we will keep discussing how we all do it.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend and thank you soldiers of war who keep us free and soldiers for Christ who do the right thing.

Ed Winkle

Cemetery

My sister and I met at the Cemetery where our dad is buried last night. It is a long drive for her and we haven't got to see each other for awhile so it was good to do that.

Do you visit the cemetery or does it "creep you out?" I played taps at various cemeteries when I was a kid every Memorial Day and for other occasions. We were taught to honor the dead and to show respect and prayer to your deceased loved ones. But I know some people never go "until it is their turn."

While I was waiting for her to get there, I visited all my aunts, uncles, former friends and neighbors buried there. We tried to remember where they put me the years the director wanted an echo player and I was the kid back in the woods somewhere. Every cemetery I have driven by is very well kept this year, even a little nicer than some former years I remember. This is kind of surprising in the depressed economy with every government and non profit struggling for funds.

I saw a car that looked liked my sisters and walked that way when an older Chevy truck drove through with a little gray haired man passed by. We waved and it struck me that was one of my classmates so I yelled his last name and he backed up. I hadn't talked to him in 10-20 years, I don't remember the last time. We talked about where the other guys were we grew up with. Most of the class went their own way and hadn't kept up with each other.

It is amazing to see how many people are gone who are your age or even younger. Several of my classmates never made it to 60. In my family,one aunt was 86, one 85, dad was 85 and Uncle Roy is 85 and Jane is 90. Grandma Winkle was 84 and Grandpa 74. The rest didn't live quite that long. My mom is 85 so my line has lived a little longer than some of the others. I wonder what that means for me?

In our church we pray for the dead in hopes they will one day meet the Lord if they have not already. Trends have changed for funerals and such in these "face paced times." It's a subject most of us put off until we have a life changing experience that makes us plan right then, or we let our loved ones take care of it.

This is not meant to be a gloomy subject but as a matter of fact we all must face. Many farmer friends talk about times when they know their dad is with them or looking out for them and I have felt the same way many times.

I am thankful for the many soldiers who have kept our land free and very thankful for the Christian souls who worked hard to do the right thing.

How do you honor the dead this holiday?

Ed Winkle

Good Sleep

I am a very curious person who likes to understand what makes things works and how things tick. I spent my first 21 years studying and working, 31 years working and learning and the last 10 years traveling and observing. Through all those years I was never a steady sleeper. Any project, stress or distraction would wake me up. It took me 60 years to learn how to sleep all night.

I have slept 8 houts a night or more for the last 14 months. That amazes me. Maybe I finally got to a point in my life where there was more security than upheaval but we did simple things to sleep better.

The big thing for me is my routine. I always knew I was sunrise to sunset person but I didn't always live that way. Having a set routine or "ritual" is key to my good sleep. I wake up when the sun rises and I get sleepy when the sun sets so I just encourage that a little by eating 3 meals a day around 8, noon and five or six. I keep busy in the hours inbetween.

The bed has become key to my sleep. We found Hampton Inn's by Hilton 10 years ago. I have never slept at a Hilton that didn't have a good bed without good sheets, covers and pillows. Our bodies just "melt into" those coverings. The room is dark and the room is cool. We go to sleep listening to the news or weather or not at all. LuAnn is a reader, I am a thinker so she reads a little and I try to go over my gratitudes for the day. The next thing you know it is 8 hours later and we wake up pretty refreshed.

That last statement about gratitudes gives you a hint of my spiritual program. I finally faced the idea that I only have so many days on this earth and I am going to do my best and leave the rest to whoever is in charge of this universe. That person I call God and I have accepted the teachings of the church, the universal church called Catholic. I know I have a soul and I want it to be at peace when my days here are over.

So my spiritual program is THE key to this whole thing about sleep. I know who I am and I know what I have to do. I think a lot of people do not. Like me, they struggled their whole life and may still struggle or unlike me they figured this out a long time ago.

I can't tell you how good it is to be at peace and be able to sleep all night. I am "out of sorts" if I don't do this. The very best thing I can do for you is share this with you and hope you have found it or find it soon.

Life is so much easier this way.

Ed

Pythium

I am getting more and more calls and emails asking "what is wrong with my corn? or "how bad is the pythium in your area", Ed? Some are asking what is working and what is not. It is good we review what it is, first.

Many seedling blights can infect germinating plants at this time of the year. One of the most common and earliest groups of fungi that attack corn and soybeans belongs to the genera Pythium. Fungi in the genera Pythium are called "water molds" because they thrive in soils that are wet. In addition, these fungi are earliest and very common because the various species are active over a wide range of temperatures and moisture regimes. In fact, Pythium spp. are often grouped by the temperature regimes that induce optimum infection. Cooler soils (50 to 60°F) favor three species (P. debaryanum, P. torulosum, and P. ultimum) that are more common in northern areas, particularly in early-planted fields. Several other species, including P. aphanidermatum, have higher optimum temperatures (86 to 97°F) for infection, but they can also be present in the field at temperatures as low as 60°F. These species of Pythium cause problems in more southern areas and in late-planted crops.

Pythium fungi overwinter in the soil and in plant debris as oospores. Moisture is necessary for oospore germination and provides a medium for movement "swimming" of the germinated motile spores, called zoospores, which infect the plant root system. Three to four hours of wet conditions can be sufficient for initiating zoospore production. Exudates from seeds and roots also induce fungal spore germination, hyphal growth, and penetration. Damaged seed encourages increased fungal attack because damaged seed leaches root exudates into the soil, attracting fungi, and the wounds provide entry for pathogen penetration.

Although Pythium may cause minimal damage to germinating corn, this fungus can infect a substantial portion of the developing root system including the mesocotyl. Infection of the mesocotyl can result in loss of the primary root system, causing the developing seedling to die, unless adequate secondary roots have developed. Corn plants during the first few weeks after emergence may grow more slowly and appear less healthy when only their primary roots are infected with Pythium. Root tips or the entire root system of the corn plant can become infected with Pythium, appearing brown and becoming soft-rotted and water-soaked. Often the outer tissue of the root is infected and may peel off, revealing a white stele. On severely infected plants, symptoms may include root system discoloration along with yellowing and stunting of the aboveground plant.

I am no plant pathologist but I do understand this much. We treat seed to prevent these disease outbreaks. Usually they work but sometimes they fail. Like any other organism, pythium develop resistance to our best plans. All species seem to be resistant to every seed treatment we have in this severe a situation. Everything failed to some extent but the best stands have some bean guard on them with SabrEx. Captan in the bean guard helps and if SabrEx can colonate(50 degrees or so), we get season long control of pythium, fusariums, rhizoctonias and other soil borne diseases. Oxygenation of soils is critical so drainage and soil fertility balance becomes important.

We will probably be talking about this problem throughout the growing season.

Ed