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Mixed crops in Missouri Bootheel

Aaron Porter, a farmer in southeast Missouri, says the crops are mixed as July begins.

“Some corn looks good and some corn looks stressed, a little yellow,” he says. “Some soybeans look good and other soybeans have been replanted. And the cotton is taking off finally after a week of warmer, dry conditions.”

He says the corn is pollinating and he doesn’t expect it to grow out of the yellow tint.

“From my experience, if you don’t get the top-dress on in a timely fashion it’s going to hurt all season. We fly two applications of urea on later in the season, prior to tassel and then, right before tassel. Those two don’t seem to bring it out and if it’s yellow, it’s going to hurt the yield in the end.”

Porter says seedling disease caused some of the cotton plants to die and there was a lot of drowned out cotton that got replanted, but…

“The weather forecast looks clear for the coming week, with warm, dry conditions. It’s good for the cotton, a little warm for the farmer.”

He says a post-emergence herbicide application is long overdue and he’ll manage weeds once fields dry back out following recent rains.

Porter raises corn, soybeans and cotton in Stoddard County, Missouri.