Overcoming The Challenges of A Wet Spring
21 Jun 244m 58s

Matt Miles talks about the impact of an unusually wet spring on his crops, and how oversaturated soils and cloudy weather have led to yellowing and stunted growth in crops. He is trialing a solution.

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00:00 So I'm here with bur rigging today. We're out here just kind of looking at some of our crops, looking over what we're doing, something we've had, 00:05 we've experienced this year I, I said this earlier in a week. I said, you know, I've thought out of the 35 00:10 or so crops I've made that I've seen a wet spring. And I finally figured out what a wet spring was. Not so much flooding and we've had six inches of rain, six 00:18 and a half once we flooded up pretty good. But just every two or three days. And what it's done is put these crops 00:24 where from the time we put the seed in the ground, they've been absolutely in wet soil since then. So what I've noticed is a lot of yellowing, 00:30 we concentrate on the rain and the amount of rain we got and rain every day. But what I've seen, I think, and you tell me if I'm right 00:35 or wrong, the cloudy weather, I think the cloudy weather may be hurting us as much or more than the rain is. 00:41 And you've experienced this a lot of times and I mean, what's your thoughts? So yeah, I mean, like you said, 00:46 the rain events we've had have been fairly regular. It hadn't really been like, we've gotten two tenths here, three tenths there. 00:52 We've gotten an inch and a half to six inches. We're dealing with moist, you know, maybe even to the point of oversaturated soils in some places. 01:00 But the cloudy weather early on is really what's given us these issues. Number one, if you don't have enough sunshine, you can't get 01:08 that plant's metabolism up and running. And of course that means that if you're in marginal soil conditions as far as moisture goes, 01:15 that plant can't develop that pool that it needs to because it's not getting enough heat units in order for that metabolism to really start to get going. 01:24 So in those situations, even though these plants are small, this is first troon here, probably I've got some 01:30 that are even, you know, higher than that. These acts are not as yellow as some of the older beans, right? 01:35 We've been dealing with oversaturated soils, very little sunshine. I made a comment the other day. 01:40 We've had maybe 30% of the sunshine that we need. Where do we go from here about the only thing that you're gonna be able to do 01:46 to overcome the photosynthesis deficit? And like I said, it depends on where you're, you're anywhere from 50 01:52 to 65 heat units less than where we should be. The only way that you're gonna overcome that is provide that plant supplemental energy so that it is able 02:01 to maintain its metabolism even though we have poor sunshine. Now, today's a beautiful day, 02:06 but that's gonna change here this afternoon and going into tomorrow, right? So one of the things at concept Agritech 02:12 that we've done over the years is we've made a two product application. One is the foliar RX and the other is our Sweet success. 02:20 Folia RX provides alternate energy sources like from kelp extracts and a few other things, 02:25 plus it has a micronutrient package. So whatever the plant can't pull up from the soil, if they're oversaturated 02:31 or whatnot, you can get it in there. And then of course, the sweet success, that's a black strap, molasses based product that has several different 02:38 forms of sugar in it. So when those are combined, what you really see is that plant now has a buffet, for lack of a better term, 02:46 of different energy sources that it can use based on whatever it needs at that time. So it's not a single point energy source. 02:53 And every time we've ever done this, it's been amazing to see that we actually actually keep a positive growth habit to the point of 03:01 where you may be two nodes are more better than where you don't put it out simply because that plant now has something to feed on 03:07 that it doesn't have to manufacture for the sun. So what you're saying, like with the buffet, so soybeans or whatever, whatever plant you're looking at, whatever 03:14 that plant needs, you're gonna give it to availability for it to be there. Plus you're gonna give it to energy source with the sugar, 03:20 which will help, I guess, move that through the plant. Sure. So you've got the micro pack, the biology and the sugar. 03:26 So all that's there is a combination. It's just like a, you know, I guess when we get sick, we take aspirin, maybe cough syrup if we're coughing 03:32 or whatever, and you're giving that plant a combination of all those. So if he's coughing and he's got a headache, 03:37 he can take care of both of 'em at one time. Sure. I liken it. You and I both played football. I liken it to when uh, 03:43 the team doctor was a old veterinarian and would come in at halftime and he'd give everybody a B12 shot. 03:48 Yeah. So we can finish the half strong. Yeah, that's essentially what you're doing is you're providing that plant energy. 03:55 It doesn't have to manufacture from the sun. And if you're in a soil situation where it can't really, you know, pull those nutrients 04:03 because it's too much water, you're getting it in through the leaf area. We've done this so many times, I can't even count. 04:09 Usually within 48 hours you're gonna see a very positive response where this has been put out. And it'll really help turn that plan around 04:17 and maintain a positive growth habit during these less than ideal situations, sunshine situations. 04:23 So guys, if you've been in doing the same thing I have, and I've seen this through the Midwest, that, you know, I, when I'm looking on social media, you know, 04:29 we're not the only game in town with, with bad weather. It's from, it's from the north to the south. And you know, I went into Louisiana last week 04:36 and I mean it's, I thought we had it bad till I got down there. So if you're dealing with this, you've heard it from one 04:41 of the best agronomists, I know if you have these problems, you can get ahold of them@conceptagritech.com. 04:46 You know, you can call me or call stream ag and, and we'll hook you up with them or, anyway, guys, have a good day 04:52 and hope it gets drier for you.

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