GriggsDakota is dry, but getting by. Yesterday there were photos of our best soybean field of the season.
Today we look over a field that was planted on lighter soil and has had just a little less rain. You can see that many of the plants are shedding leaves and drying up.
The plants have shut down growth for the season. They are concentrating their energy into the soybeans that have already formed. They drop leaves from the bottom of the plant.
It is interesting to peruse the field. It looks like a soil map. Where the soil is heavier, the soybeans are a deeper green.
But, most of the field is too dry to finish. The top has shut down and the bottom has dropped leaves in order to protect the pods that have formed.
Soybeans are an amazing plant.
They are tough and struggle to reproduce. Each plant will try to finish the formed pods, which contain the soybeans, if it can.
Weekly rainfall in September, even if the sun stays warm, will not save this field of soybeans.
The potential in this field is minimal. We normally have frost by late September. There is simply not time for recovery.
As the reality of our dry Summer hits home in GriggsDakota.