With about 0.5–1.0″ of rain and some cooler temperatures, this past week, corn and soybean crops in Douglas County are looking healthy during this vital flowering period. Most soybean fields are somewhere between the full flowering (R2) and beginning pod (R3) stages, with a few fields moving into full pod (R4). At least 50% of the corn fields I saw during my survey had started to flower. Most of those fields were still in the early stages of silking and anthesis (R1), but a couple of fields I visited were entering the blister stage (R2).

Wheat fields I drove by had all been harvested. Many had been planted to double-crop soybeans sometime last week before the rain, and I saw a couple of farmers getting ready to roll again as soils dried enough to allow for field traffic. In the southwest part of the county, several alfalfa fields had their second cutting, with one or two still standing. Oat fields looked to be a week or so away from harvest.