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ND | Everyone keeps talking about "this year" and how it's been tough going. The other day while spraying I really got to thinking about the spring we've had and the mistakes I've made along the way. I realized I've made quite a few screw ups this year, but like they always say...you can't put a price on education.
I got all my spring wheat crop in before the big rains and it's looks real good at this point. I don't think it will do quite as well as last year, but it's still way above average. About the last 100 acres I planted never got sprayed. It was all really clean so I decided to wait a bit longer to spray. Got busy planting soybeans and by the time I got back to spray it was too late. The fields are still really clean, but the application would have still created a ROI.
I fertilized my corn ground right away this spring. With the rains it ended up being almost a month before I was able to get back to the last quarter to plant (also the fartherst from farm). When i pulled in I couldn't believe how much volunteer wheat had emerged. I planted through it and sprayed immediately afterwards....but wasn't very happy w/ myself on it. Overall corn looks good, but there are yellow spots in the field from lack of N caused by either flooding or take up from the wheat.
The soybeans....we got a real late start. Once it finally dried out enough we ran like hell to get done. My last 80 acre piece was really wet when I planted it on June 21st. I was telling myself to wait a day or two but I just wanted to get done so i said screw it. We had a week of hot weather afterwards so the ground crusted and I had uneven emergence in alot of spots.
So what have I all learned this year?
-You've gotta make hay when you can.... When the weather was nice I should have sprayed instead of putting it off a few days. It's too easy to get side tracked and you never get back to what you were doing as quickly as you want to.
-Even though you don't have a crop planted, it pays to scout your fields. Had i taken the time to take a little road trip I could have saved some N loss due to the volunteer wheat.
-I'm thinking I'm going to try some side dressing next year also.
-Sometimes it's better to be patient. I hate being behind schedule, but I surely would have made some money putting off the last field of beans a day or two longer.
Even w/ my boo boos and the weather we've been dealt, I still feel pretty blessed to be where we are at. I haven't had any big catastrophies but alot of little things definetly would have added up to a nice little bonus at the end of the year. I'm happy we managed to get everything planted and with a little good luck it could still turn out to be an OK year.
Edited by Colorblind 7/21/2010 13:49
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What mistakes have learned from this year?
