If you had a window to plant your corn in a reasonable time frame, if you've received timely rains but not too much rain and if you applied enough nitrogen and planted enough plants, you're set up to handle big yields this fall.'

Yes, that is a lot of 'ifs.' And the biggest if of all is what the weather will be like the rest of the season. But on the Crop Watch '14, field, at least, it was planted May 4, has had timely rains to date with only perhaps one or two rains that caused ponding in small areas of the field, and is dark green heading into the second half of the growing season.

Crop Watch 7/25: Crop Watch Corn Field Still Clean and Free of Major Disease Issues

Crop Watch 2014: All systems go right now for good corn yields in many areas.

Danny Greene of Greene Crop Consulting, Franklin, helped pull tissue samples and soil samples to illustrate the value of those practices on the field recently. Look for those results coming soon.

While in the field, he decided to do an early check on possible population. To simplify the process, he has a small-diameter chain measuring exactly 17 feet, five inches, the distance in 30-inch rows that represents one-one thousandth of an acre. He tried it out on a spot he picked at random, pulling ears at random. When he finished his calculations, he arrived at a conservative estimate that was just over 200 bushels per acre. And that was on the end rows!

Not all the field will be that good. He also checked a spot the size of your garage, perhaps, that ponded early and then recovered. The stand was thinned but the corn is dark green now. Yield won't be high there, but it's a small spot.

Crop Watch 7/21: Brown Silks on Corn Plant Indicate It's Time for Next Phase of Development

Early yield check: Danny Greene checks yield on one location for an early indication of yield potential in this field. His conservative estimate was just over 200 bushels per acre.

Since the soils are silt loams or heavier, what moisture that is there will likely be held for the plant to use. Variables that will play out include factors such as how deep-rooted the corn is since it was wet early, if it should turn dry now. For now, though, it appears to be full speed ahead!