Last week Wesmar Seeds out of Altona held its annual corn and soybean plot tours.

With the adverse weather that's affected many areas of the province this year, Wesmar Seeds owner and operator Wes Martens says it's certainly a good time to assess which varieties hold up well against the excess moisture. He talks about some of the soybean varieties which have fared best this year.

"Some of things that we've noticed in the Thunder Seed line up is probably the 33005 and the Astro that hold up the best and show the least IDC (iron deficiency chlorosis) concerns. The 34006 has held up very strongly this year as well," he says. "For the Legend Seeds varieties, the 003R24 and the PRO 2525R2, those two stand out."                

wesmar seeds plot tour1

When it comes to the corn trials, Martens says it's a bit early to tell much, but notes all of the corn varieties seem to be growing ahead of schedule.

"I'm always concerned that a corn variety is fully tasseled by the first of August, so this year we're well ahead of that," he says, "even some of the fuller maturing varieties, such as the Thunder 7578 and the Legend 9676, they're all well ahead of that benchmark in maturity."

At the plot tours, Martens says one of the farmers picked a corn cob from one of the more popular varieties, noting the cob was already coming along at a nice size. Martens says this progress is likely thanks to early planting and plenty of heat this growing season.

Wesmar's corn and soybean plots are located on the east side of Altona.