Planting running late

Wet spring weather has many row crop farmers behind on their planting.

But the moisture has been great for those raising hay.

"It's better than last year," Joe Plumer of Plumer Hay Farms in Hamilton Township said Tuesday while cutting hay along County Road 750 North. "It's earlier and it's better hay. It's excellent hay."

Plumer and his son, Gary Plumer, expected to have half of their 400 acres of hay cut Tuesday, with plans to start baling some of it late Tuesday afternoon.

The Plumers also raise 450 acres of corn and 450 acres of soybeans.

But they've yet to plant that first seed this spring because it's been too wet.

And that's just as well.

"If we would have had it planted, the river would have taken out a lot of it," Plumer said.

The East Fork of the White River in fact did wash out and drown some crops already planted along its banks last weekend when it flooded. Water's still standing in some fields along the river.

Plumer said he's normally finished planting corn and beans by now. He's not alone in being late.

According to Purdue University, the weekly crop report shows 24 percent of the Hoosier corn crop had been planted by Sunday. Although that's up from 11 percent planted the week before, it's far behind the 83 percent average.

The new crop report said heavy rains last Wednesday and Friday stalled planting activities over much of the state, including here in Jackson County. National Weather Service observer Ruth Everhart of Rockford recorded 3.5 inches from Wednesday through Saturday. That and heavy rainfall northeast of here pushed the East Fork of the White River to a crest of 17.8 feet early Sunday.

 Flood stage is 12 feet.

After about May 20, agronomists begin urging farmers to consider planting shorter corn varieties that mature faster and lessen the chances the crop will be hurt by an early frost.

Robert Zollman of Medora said he's considered changing his planting strategy, but after consulting with his seed dealer, he's standing pat.

"I've looked at it, but we're not going to change," he said Tuesday afternoon. "We're planting different hybrids this year than last year and before, and we think this corn will do well even this late."

Like Plumer, Zollman has yet to start planting.

"We haven't planted an acre," Zollman said. "Not a bit. We would ordinarily probably have 50 to 60 percent of our corn planted and maybe 30 to 40 percent of our soybeans."

Much of his ground is in the East Fork of the White River bottoms, and much of it is still under water.

Six percent of Indiana's soybean crop was planted, compared with the five-year average of 49 percent.