HELLO HIVE
Farming is a conversation between you, the crops, and the land. The images speak volumes, especially for someone who understands soil and plant health. Shows a maize field experiencing uneven growth, sparse stands in some areas, and signs of water stress on young plants
Uneven emergence
A major silent yield killer, it stands out by inconsistency in plant spacing and vigor and it is often due to
Poor seed placement by the farmer during planting period and also poor depth, poor depth could either be in the case where the depth is too much causing the seedlings to struggle their way to the top of the soil which could actually not be a success story for all the seedlings, and another way is when the depth is not deep enough to cover the plant from birds and rodents scavenging for seeds to feed on.
Then what's the best depth to make use of? There's a standard depth measurement for different crops and for maize it should be around 5 to 8cm, nothing more and nothing less 😏.
Soil dryness
When the soil is dry, lacking water, a major mechanism for plant growth, then situations like this can arise. In the case of my farm, you can see that the soil is completely dry, making it a very hard condition to plant anything at all.
The way forward right now is to look for a consistent source of water for the next few days until the crops recover their shape.
