Weekly Weather and Crop Update

The 2019 growing season officially ended a little over a week ago with the first killing frost. Thanks to a couple really warm weeks late in September our accumulated growing degree units were just a few above normal. However, growing degree units are tabulated from May 1 and a lot of corn and soybeans were not planted until much later. So, looking at the growing degree units for the 2019 growing season can be misleading and does not tell the entire story of the growing season!

Temperatures last week averaged 46.4 degrees which was only .4 degrees below normal. That was beneficial in helping the beans dry down to allow farmers to harvest beans. The warmer temperatures helped the corn dry down a bit too as corn moisture dropped about 3.5 percent. Full season corn planted later in May has dropped down to about 25 percent moisture. It was unfortunate when a major storm front moved through dropping about an inch of rain and high winds.

After a very wet September we have already received around 6 inches of rain in October! You have to wonder when the pendulum swings from rainfall much above normal to much below or dryer than normal? It sure would be nice if it begins today!