Late as usual!

Again late, but I thought I would have a few words to say, WOW what a different spring. We need some rain, our target date to start planting corn was April 15th but we started on April 7th(earliest ever for us) and now have 350 acres in the ground (some up). I have been busy getting test seed ready for our test plots and will be looking at several new varieties for soybeans, grain and silage. Hopefully we can get the test plot planted late this week or next. We will have about 20 acres of test soybeans and corn for this coming year. I'm really excited about the next new hybrids and the new soybeans that we are growing and looking at. We have a new CF 491n (supply limited)that really looks good in tests and will be a full season/double crop bean for KY and TN. This is a late indetermate that has southern breeding into to it to take the heat and stress. We are doing the same for our corn hybrids in that everything developed for the central corn belt does not exactly work well here. Hopefully we can hit a home run or a grand slam with some these new silages and corn hybrids that we will have.
Everytime I open up a magazine or see a website one of the things always discussed is weed resistant. I hope to be able to go to a conference in Memphis and
listen the guy from Australia to hear more about this. He says that glysophate will be ineffective in the US in a number of years unless we change the way we use. All articles say that you want to keep resistance off of your farm by using residuals on all crops and not just roundup. As a cost saver, you might want to look at going to either Liberty corn and or soybeans for next year. You could use LL soybeans this year on your double crop beans and change up the chemistry in your fields. theri is no known resistence to IGNITE herbicide. No new herbicide since 1998, roundup was a one in a 100 year discovery. Be sure and reply and I will try and get back to you. Anyone else have any thoughts please post!!

Slow to Post

I am about as fast posting this as it was for us to complete our harvest this year. I won't complain as we had a record crop of corn and soybeans to put in the bins. I have been to many different conferences and seminars since I last posted. I would like to share with you the one thing that has been a central theme with all of these seed conferences. The five pathways to success to increase yields and profitability: 1. Plant quality seed, yes Caverndale Farms Brand Seeds can deliver this to you. 2. Make sure soil conditions are right, so you don't have stand and compactions issues down the road. 3. Use the right variety for each field that will give that field a chance to shine. 4. Make sure seed placement depth is correct, check that planter out to be sure that it is doing the right job for you. 5. Evaluate your past practices, nuture your 2010 crop by looking at your soil tests and fertization requirements for this year. Do you have weed problems or insect problems? With more and more resistant weeds to glyphosate do you need to change chemical modes of actions or are you seeing different weeds than what we use to be battling? Are you getting a price for crops above the average price? Do you need to lock in a price to cover your input costs plus a profit?

Status of crops

Corn is progressing rather slowly but is starting to develop. With the recent rain in July it has not been under too much stress this year with the exception of too much rain in early May. Our early planted crop has tasseled and is setting seed now, with the later planted corn tasseling and pollinating right now. Soybeans are in the stage of blooming and closing canopy to being in the V3 stage of the late planted ones. What do your crop prospects look like? Any disease or insect pressure right now?