Farmers wait for weather window
CHENOA – Growers are keeping a close eye on this week’s weather to see if there will be an opportunity to begin planting.
Rodney Rhoda, who farms near Chenoa in McLean County, had only a few tenths of an inch of rainfall last week missing the heavier rains. With cold temperatures lingering, Rhoda is leaning toward planting soybeans first.
“It’s going to be cold but I think ground conditions maybe will get close enough to plant some beans,” Rhoda told The Central Illinois Farm Network last week.
Rhoda has cover crops over most of what he is going to plant soybeans into. He is hoping they take some of the moisture out and help with planting. Corn planting could be several days away yet.
“We used to plant corn first and nowadays, I think we are better off planting beans and waiting to let the soil temperatures warm up,” noted Rhoda.
Farmers have discovered in recent years that they don’t lose much by planting corn in May. Rhoda is growing wheat on his farm for the first time this year as he intends to pattern tile the field this summer.
“I might have picked a good year to try that,” Rhoda admitted.
If the wheat comes off soon enough, Rhoda may try to plant some double-crop soybeans there. The other option is just tiling the field and putting cover crops back on. Rhoda credits his handy hired man, Bob Little, for the cover crop effort. They mounted an air seeder on the back of the combine.
“It blows the seed up underneath the corn head,” explained Rhoda.
Even though it is still a learning process, they have had good luck with the cover crop practice.
Late April could bring us some light at the end of a cold tunnel. A warmer-than-normal weather pattern is in the forecast for late this week. Seven-day forecasts continue to paint a wet picture, especially for central and southern Illinois.
“The longer-term outlooks for the rest of the month and the start of May show higher odds of near normal precipitation,” said State Climatologist Trent Ford in his weekly weather summary.
Drought conditions in northern Illinois have improved thanks to the rainfall this month where counties are rated as abnormally dry or in moderate drought.
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