Very scattered rain July 1-4 across the region. Reports of no rain to 6 inches in locally heavy spots. Rain was spotty as you may have got rain on this quarter section and not the next. On our own farm we had one rain event where we had 4 tenths on one field and basically 0 half mile down the road on another. Despite the rain we are far from out of the woods on drought. The moisture hasn’t meet yet on our own farm and most others across S Illinois.

Lots and lots of questions on April planted corn. Some 4 ft tall and trying to tassel, most without any silks. In some fields silks out but no tassels. We are seeing root issues in the dry soil, some of the storms root lodged the corn and it has nothing to hold onto with the dry conditions. Late May and June planted corn still has a fighting chance. Some fungicide is going on, but I am not sure why at this stage, there is no disease pressure and in some cases, we don’t really have a viable host.

Early planted soybeans have maybe 9 nodes in some fields and have never closed the rows on 15 inches. Heard the seed production guy say he has never seed blooms “on the ground” because plants are so short. Later planting and later maturity are doing better. Spider mites are showing up in many places.

2023 harvest is shaping up to be a highly variable mess. There will be fields of good/average yields next to almost complete disasters based on planting date and what cloud it was under when.

Hot and dry with very muggy high humidity where it does rain

highly variable and scattered

Dry, drier and driest……. sometimes across the road from each other.