On Monday, April 8th, the post-emergence herbicide application was made to North Pivot, and the ryegrass in Front Field and South Pivot was cut for baling. On Tuesday afternoon the ryegrass was raked and baled by ABAC. The yields were disappointing with only 10 bales from Front Field and 15 bales from South Pivot. Table 1 shows the income and expenses for the ryegrass crop this winter with an assumed market price of $45 per bale from Doug Hicks at ABAC. The ryegrass was allowed time to regrow to 8 – 10 inch height to provide more surface for the burndown herbicide. The plan is to apply herbicide to terminate the remaining cover crops next Monday to prepare for cotton and peanut planting in May.
On Tuesday the first side-dress application of nitrogen to the corn in North Pivot was completed. The fertilizer product applied was 18-0-0-3 at a rate of 48 gallons per acre to achieve a rate of 100 units of nitrogen per acre. Next week, the second application will be made to apply the remaining balance of the 270 nitrogen units per acre recommended for 250 bushels per acre of corn. We will use Dr. Virk’s Y drop applicator so we can vary the rate in the two zones that received additional 10-41-0 to address phosphorous needs. Applying additional 10-41-0 product in these zones applied extra nitrogen due to the lack of a product containing only phosphorous.
The DATA Farm experienced a significant rainfall event last week. Wednesday night through Thursday morning the onsite weather station reported 4.48 inches of rainfall over a twelve hour period. The highest intensity was during the period from 3:30 am to 3:45 am at a rate of 1.64 inches per hour. Two other 15-minute periods had an intensity above 1.00 inch per hour. The overall average intensity during the event was 0.38 inches per hour and the highest wind gust of 30 mph was recorded between 4:15 – 4:30am. The high winds during this storm blew down several areas of the cereal rye cover in the West Field. This can be seen in the drone image above, the bright green areas are where the rye was laid down on the ground. As of Thursday afternoon the rye recovered and stood back up.
Operations: 2nd nitrogen side dress in North Pivot and terminate remaining cover crops in Front Field, South Pivot, and West Field.
Water needs: None currently due to the rain received.
Sensors: RealmFive system in place monitoring soil and weather conditions.
Other:
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