July is quickly approaching, and for corn producers in Wisconsin, that means one common refrain is ringing in the air: Knee high by the Fourth of July.
Long seen as a benchmark for progress in the Badger state's top crop, a trip around Brown and Outagamie counties shows some fields well on their way ... and others lagging well behind.
Outagamie County Extension Crops and Soils Educator Kevin Jarek says extreme spring weather swings are to blame for the uneven fields.
"I never saw us go from too wet to too dry as quickly as we did in May," said Jarek. "So, we got a lot of seed in the ground, which is great, but the problem is there wasn't enough moisture for that seed to germinate."
That's exactly what happened in Matt VanWychen's fields east of Freedom.
The seed he planted in mid May had to wait for rain. And it was a long wait.
"So, it acted like you got planted June 11. It's the same thing as planting June 11, is when it germinated basically. Your corn seed was in the ground for three weeks and didn't do nothing," said VanWychen.
He says the most frustrating thing is had they seen rain right after planting, they'd be looking at another bumper crop.
But things have gone in almost the opposite direction.
And at this point, Jarek says some fields are likely already too far behind the growth curve to recover.
Source: fox11online.com
Photo Credit: istock-zhaojiankang
Categories: Wisconsin, Weather