Here at Hoosier Ag Today we like to go in the field to get planting updates, even if that has to be by phone right now. HAT caught up with Phil Ramsey who farms near Shelbyville, just southeast of Indianapolis, about his planting progress. He says he’s just about wrapped up with the planter and is happy with the development of his crops so far.
“Considering how cold it was there initially, that kind of held corn back a little bit. But these warm days and we’re finally getting some warm rain, you can just see it really kicking in and growing,” says Ramsey. “So, I think part of the slow growth, or stunting, that we’ve had from the cold weather early, I think the corn will grow out of it here pretty quickly with warmer temperatures.
As for soybeans, Ramsey says, “Our early beans look really good. We’ve got a good stand, they’ve got a good color, they’re really taking off and so we’re quite pleased with that. The next planting is just now really emerging and getting good growth. We may have a little patching to do on those acres.”
At this point, Ramsey doesn’t have any real concerns about his crop. He’s just dealing with things that he anticipated anyway.
“I’ve got some Canadian thistle coming up in some of my early corn that I’ll have to go back and spray. We’re all non-GMO, so I’ll have to use some other product other than Roundup to kill them. It’s not a huge problem, but a typical problem for a cool wet start.”
Ramsey did say that he has spoken with fellow farmers who have had to replant or will need to replant due to seedling blight and other issues after heavy rains that recently came through.