Great Bend Tribune
Published August 12, 2023
The drought monitor report as of 8 a.m. Tuesday, August 8 is essentially unchanged again since last week for our area. The western third of the state especially near the Colorado border improved substantially. A good portion near the Colorado border is now out of drought and another section has improved to abnormally dry and moderate drought. A huge improvement. The significant rains of Tuesday night are not reflected in this. The six to ten-day outlook (August 15 to 19) indicates a 40 to 50% chance of leaning above normal for temperatures and a 33 to 40% chance of leaning to below normal precipitation. The eight to fourteen-day outlook (August 17 to 23) indicates a continued to a 50 to 60% chance of leaning to above normal temperatures and normal to a 33 to 40% chance of below normal for precipitation. This week’s precipitation for the milo that was already pollinated and setting seed made the crop for many and likely did the same for late planted corn allowing it to finish. Many of the soybeans hit hard by the extreme hurt were helped but not nearly as much.
We are already at mid-August and shortly it will be time to plant the 2024 wheat crop. So, what are some considerations to keep in mind?
- With the price of wheat at elevators with the past two years here and the world situation, it’s likely producers want to increase acreage which can be a problem.
- As many producers already know, seed wheat is in short supply form the 2023 harvest and carryover stocks from last year are much lower than normal. However, if it fits your area, Northeast Colorado had a good year and may be a possible seed source. If you can’t purchase the amount of seed you normally would for your acreage, there are ways to get around that. Especially, if you have good soil moisture, for just this year, ignore the fly free date and plant early and at a much lower rate. This provides wheat a better chance to tiller more. Or at least try to plant as early in the planting window as possible.
- If you kept seed, have it professionally cleaned and unless you are grazing, us a good seed treatment. And check the germination of your bin run seed. With untimely rains and the weather, some head sprouting may have occurred, even if it’s not readily visible.
- On the positive side, much of our region has received significant precipitation and we are in great shape compare to the last two years. We aren’t out of drought yet but the areas that received two or more inches of rain in a few hours should have seen a significant increase in soil moisture and some perhaps even subsoil recharge. The downside is the rain also benefitted the weeds which leads to the final point.
- Minimize tillage where possible and any aggressive tillage as early as possible. Keep small weeds small allowing for shallow tillage and/or consider herbicides. Also if practical, no-till if practical to hold onto as much soil moisture as possible.
A lot can change in the next few weeks but as of now we are light years better off in many fields than a year ago at this time.