Adopt the Pace of Nature: Corn Update

May 10, 2021

Adopt the pace of nature: Her secret is patience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

We have drive-bys on our country road. They just aren't the kind that happen in a disreputable part of town like the ones you see on the evening news.

 

Country drive-bys don't include souped-up engines.

They don't bring a danger of violence.

They may sound a little like this:

"Do you see any green out there? ...

"I think I see some green ...???"

 (My Farmer should know by now that my eyesight is such that he's always going to see green before me on one of these drive-bys.) 

Like Ralph Waldo Emerson, farmers understand the pace of nature. However, Emerson may not have known a farmer waiting for his planted seeds to emerge from the ground before he penned that quote.

May 10, 2021

While I will contend that Randy is one of the most patient people I know, I also know that patience doesn't extend to plants emerging from the ground. It doesn't necessarily apply to recalcitrant cattle, broken-down machinery or newfangled technology either. OK, maybe I should rephrase that earlier statement. Thankfully, he's pretty patient with me.

Anyway, the time between planting and emergence is not among his most patient times. But there's usually a reward for the waiting.

The tiny seed knew that in order to grow, it needed to be dropped in the dirt, covered in darkness and struggle to reach the light.

Author Sandra Kring

If that's not a metaphor for life, I'm not sure what is. Sometimes it feels like life drops you in the dirt. You get covered with darkness. And it's a struggle to see the light. But it's there, if only you look hard enough.

Living on a farm offers plenty of object lessons like that. Case in point: Our 2021 corn crop. 

April 29, 2021

Because of some rain, chilly weather and cattle chores, we were a little later than usual getting the corn crop planted. (You can read more about it here.)

 

But by May 10, the little corn plants were "up and at 'em." The seedling soldiers were marching down the fields.

 And just like that Sandra Kring quote said, they were reaching for the light.

We are relatively new to growing corn on our dryland farm. We definitely "self identify" as wheat farmers. (That's a buzzworthy thing to say nowadays, isn't it?)

So I'm still somewhat amazed at how quickly corn grows. It's a lot different from wheat. I took the first series of photos on May 10. By May 20 - 10 days later - the plants had gained some height and some hardiness.

May 20, 2021

 

We collected about 1.90" in the rain gauge in the past 10 days or so, including 0.20" last night. I took the photos below yesterday morning (May 24).

Corn field, May 24, 2021

We're thankful for the moisture to give the crop a boost. There's more rain in the forecast. We'll see if any actually falls.

Corn field, May 24, 2021

 Randy planted 50 acres of milo on May 24 as well.

I guess more drive-bys are in my future. "Do you see any green out there? ..."
 
 

Corn 2017: The Journey Begins

The corn seed in the middle of the photo was at the end of the row, where Randy turned. Most of the seeds end up underground, where they are supposed to be, but I still liked the photo.

God says, "Leave the miracle part to me. 

I've got the seed, the soil, the sunshine, the rain and the seasons.

I'm God, and all this miracles stuff is easy for me. 

I have reserved something very special for you 

and that is to plant the seed."

--Jim Rohn, Author & Motivational Speaker

Two weeks ago, Randy started planting corn. He finished the last field on Friday, right before we got 2.20 inches of rain over the weekend. 

 

On the day I took the photos, it was one of those times when the blue sky was dusted with cotton-candy wisps of clouds, which beautifully offset the brown earth.

I wasn't Randy's only audience. Our cows in a catty-corner pasture came to watch the proceedings. I'm always amused by cow's curiosity. Thankfully, they didn't get any closer to the action.

Last Friday, we were in the corn field again. At the field where he had first planted, the green corn sprouts lined up like soldiers down rows of brown earth.

It looks like a good stand.

This year, we planted 310 acres of corn, a little more than last year. I'm sure that seems like small potatoes - or small sprouts - to anybody who has circles of corn. Since we are an all dryland farm, wheat remains our primary crop.

Randy says these photos make the corn look bigger than it is. Yes, it does, but I liked it anyway.

However, corn was a primary crop in this area when it was settled. The 6th Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture of 1888 reported that corn was the main crop for Stafford County, covering 48,030 acres. Oats were grown on 10,849 acres, while the winter wheat crop totaled 8,717 acres. Pasture ground was tallied at 13,446 acres. (Information taken from Stafford County History: 1870-1990.)

 

To give the corn a boost right from the start, Randy applies a nitrogen fertilizer to promote germination and early growth.

He also had the co-op spray a combination of herbicide and fertilizer. The herbicide will help control broadleaf weeds and some grasses, and the fertilizer was applied at the rate indicated by soil testing, so it varied from location to location.

 

Our planter was set at 18,800 corn seeds per acre. Each $200 bag has 80,000 seeds and plants 4.3 acres. By comparison, one bag of certified wheat seed costs $15 and plants about half an acre. A bag of milo seed costs $119 and plants 14 acres.

At another field, Randy did a little digging to uncover the seeds. They had sprouted, but they hadn't yet emerged through the soil. 

And now we'll leave the miracle part to God

I'm As Corny as Kansas in August

Walking through the corn these days is starting to sound like you're shaking cornflakes from the cardboard cereal box into a bowl.

Our 2016 corn crop is beginning to dry down. There's still plenty of green, but it's losing its lush, verdant color as it transitions toward harvest.

 

A corn field nearing harvest looks like it needs an airbrush before a beauty shot. In contrast, I think a wheat field looks pretty from start to finish. Well, except if it gets hailed on or a combine is stuck in the field. OK, I guess there are exceptions to every generalization. But, by the time the corn crop is ready to combine, those dried out leaves and husks just don't look at appealing from afar.

However, all those yellow kernels hiding inside the husks make up for it!

On Friday, Randy picked several ears from the field and hand-shucked them into a bucket.
He was curious about the moisture level.

Our tester showed that it was still 25.4 moisture. It needs to be 16 or lower to cut for hauling to the local co-op.

Harvest of our dryland corn crop is likely a couple of weeks away, depending on the weather.

For a look back at the highlights of the 2016 corn crop, click on this link.