We finally started planting Wednesday. The land still wasn’t really fit, but it was fit enough to plant a few acres and get one of the planters tuned up.

I tried some no-till first. I didn’t like it -- there was just too much residue to get good seed-to-soil contact. I also found issues with the seed spacing.

Even though we run a single row seed disc, the seeds were dropping unevenly. After a few phone calls I figured out the vacuum pressure was too low. After that adjustment and a couple of depth checks we were ready to go. We did some vertical tillage across the field and left it to dry a bit.

Test plots

We tend to put in test plots when we’re waiting for the ground to be ready. With that in mind, I called in some assistance and we planted the soybean variety plot. I tacked a few population trials on each end of the plot. A corn variety plot will be a game-time decision. We don’t have any plans at this time, but who knows? With frequent rain still in the forecast we may get tired of twiddling our thumbs.

We had a couple tenths of rain Thursday. We also got some wind and some sun. Today we will determine if we can continue planting soybeans. We will also start planting corn.  With a little luck that will go smoothly.

I say a little luck because we ended up being one of a handful of Beta testers for monitor software driving our in-furrow delivery system. We’ve already had a couple of updates. This is not something we would normally do, nor would we choose to do it in a year like this one. I hope all goes smoothly.

Two and half weeks beyond the normal start window we may finally have a chance to get some seed in the ground. I know many guys are in the same boat and feeling the ‘crunch’. It’s important to make the conscious effort to stay safe. We also need to take the time to do this right. We only want to plant one time. Cross your fingers!

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.