Here’s our field on
another hot day. Man,
is it hot!! It’s already in the 90s this morning. There’s a small
chance of rain tonight, but I don’t think it will rain. It was certainly hot over the weekend.
On Saturday it was 105 F. Usually, the soybeans will grow enough that the area between
the rows will be covered by leaves. This helps shade out weeds that
are between the rows. But I don’t know if our field will cover the “middles.”
What do you think? I guess time will tell.
Here’s
our marked row. The plants have grown a little since last week (based on how
close they are to the red flags). Oops, the crabgrass is still there too.
Almost all the plants are flowering now.
This
plant has several branches and you can see the branches have flowers
too. Flowers form at
the nodes of the main stem first and then the nodes on the branches
will form flowers. Do
you see where the branches are attached to the plant? They are attached in the axils of the leaves.
These branches were the regrowth caused by the hail damage.
This is the growing point
of the plant. It is slightly below the other leaves for protection.
All new leaves and nodes are packed into this bud. You can see the next trifoliolate leaf that will unfold in a
few days above the growing point. The new leaves form on alternate sides of the stem as it
elongates.
This is our first plant that we’ve been
watching. It hadn’t flowered last Friday when we looked at it, but
it’s really flowering now. It’s
in the R2 stage.
Here’s the second plant we’ve been watching.
You can see flowers up and down the stem. Flowers will last 3 to 5 days before they dry-up. This plant
is still in the R2 stage, but it has gained another leaf (V9).
At the R2 stage the plant has developed about 50 percent of
its leaves and only about 25 percent of its total potential dry
matter or weight.
