RAIN-FREE WEATHER A BOOST TO FARMERS

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- Bill Colyer and his son, Randy, hoped they would be able to plant much of their 400-500 acres of corn on Thursday. After 10 days of sunny weather and breezes, the wet field finally was dry enough to plow and plant.

But Bill's tractor developed gear problems around mid-morning, and had to be taken to Cape Girardeau for repairs. Then they had to wait for a fuel injection hose to arrive early Thursday afternoon so Bill could continue plowing with another tractor while Randy followed behind with the seed drill.

"Breakdowns always are a problem, but when they occur at this time of the year -- when spring plowing and planting already is two to three weeks behind schedule because of wet conditions -- it's even more aggravating," said Bill Colyer, as he stood next to his disabled tractor.

The Colyers farm 3,800 acres of rich, river bottom land in the East Cape Girardeau area. Most of their land is south of Illinois Route 146, and about 3,000 acres is planted in soybeans.

But last year the Colyers were able to plant and harvest only about 800 acres of beans because of the flood of 1993, which caused water to back up in the fields inside the East Cape-Clear Creek Levee District from May through September.

Bill and Randy hope things will be different this year. Although there is seepwater standing in some fields near the levee due to recent high water on the Mississippi, the other fields will be ready to plow and plant as soon as the ground dries.

This is the first week since mid-March that the ground has been dry enough to work, said Bill Colyer.

It's the same story on the west side of the Mississippi River, according to Gerald Bryan, University of Missouri Extension Service agronomist at Jackson.

Bryan said spring planting and plowing in the flat bottomlands of Cape Girardeau and surrounding counties is more than two weeks behind schedule because of the wet fall, winter, and spring.

"Corn planting is very late this year because of excess soil moisture," Bryan said. "Very little corn has been planted up till now.

"Some of the fields that were plowed in March will have to be plowed again before they can be seeded, because the heavy rains in late March and early April compacted the soil."

Bryan said those who farm the hill county west and north of Benton haven't had many weather-related problems this year.

"Those fields were able to drain and dry out so they were plowed and planted in March," he said. "But a lot of corn that was planted in March in the sandy soil in the flat land around Benton, Sikeston, and Bell City will have to be replanted.

"After the corn was planted in those areas, it just set there in the cold, wet ground and didn't germinate," Bryan added.

He said the ideal soil temperature for planting corn is above 50 degrees. "Anything above 60 to the low 70s cuts the germination time in half," he said. "A lot of farmers are going to have a lot of catching up to do."

The dry weather should continue through early Sunday, but forecasters said showers and thunderstorms are expected to return next week to southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri.

Although conditions are much better now than last year in the East Cape area, Illinois agricultural officials say farmers in parts of southern Alexander county -- along the unprotected areas near the Cache, Mississippi and Ohio rivers -- might not get any crops in for a second consecutive year unless the water recedes fast enough to allow the soaked ground to dry out by mid-June.

And, they note, April and May traditionally are wet-weather months in the region.

Bryan said the wet spring has been a mixed blessing to hay growers and farmers who pasture their livestock in the Cape Girardeau area. "The pastures are looking real good because of the excess soil moisture this spring," he said. "We should see the first cutting of hay in the next week or so.

"However, there may be some problems in the alfalfa with the alfalfa weevil, and some spraying may be needed," Bryan added. "We're also seeing some signs of crown and stem rot in some of the new stands of alfalfa, which means the fields may have to be replanted next year."

Bryan suggested farmers planting on non-flooded soil might use some starter fertilizer with phosphorous before planting.