Happy Friday! Not a lot of changes this week, but some signs that the crop continues to progress. We’re at the point where the beans (and my yard) could use a little bit of rain, which hopefully arrives with the cold front tonight.
August 28, 2020 Update:
Soybeans (128 Days)
Like I’ve mentioned the last couple of weeks, soybeans have pretty much reached their peak height. In fact, they may actually measure out to be a little shorter right now as the plants are all tangled from the wind a few weeks ago and are also working to support the increasing weight of the pods on the main stalk.
The pods are really filling out. See how you can make out the individual beans within each pod?
Here’s a side view. This is from the bottom third of the plant, so will be a little further along than pods towards the top of the plant, although those shouldn’t be too far behind.
Another side view. Or is it top view?
Here’s a look at what’s happening inside. The individual beans look almost like lima beans in shape, although a bit smaller than actual lima beans. As they dry, the soybeans will turn from green to yellow or brown (depending on the variety) and will also shrink as they dry until they are sphere-shaped. So the shape and color of the bean is a good visual indicator to see how dry they are. We don’t want to harvest soybeans until they are around 14-15% moisture so that they go through the combine easily and store well, since we don’t dry soybeans like we can dry corn after harvest.
Corn (107 days)
The corn visually doesn’t look much different when driving past the field, but there is some evidence of lower leaves beginning to brown. This is more likely a cause of the hot, dry weather than natural dry down prior to harvest.
Check out that nice row of plump ears. 🙂
I had to open an ear of corn to see signs of progress. See the dents at the top of each kernel? That means that the sugars are beginning to convert to starch within each kernel and the kernel is now at a lesser moisture content than it was a week or two ago (that’s where the dents come from). We’ll let the corn continue to dry and will harvest when it’s somewhere between 18% and 22% moisture. Then we’ll dry it down to 15% moisture after harvest using the big dryer at the elevator so that it will be in prime condition for storage. But we’re still quite a ways off from harvest.
And that concludes this week’s Follow the Field update. Have a great weekend, everybody!