Local farmers are praying for showers since it's that time of the season, according to Elizabeth A. Hinkel, manager of the Schuylkill Conservation District.
"Much of the corn in the county has just gone into tassel in the last week and there is more that is ready to go into tassel in the next few days to a week. When the corn plants tassel, they also push the silks out of the ears and this is when pollination occurs. Once the tassel forms, there is approximately a two-week time period where the health of the plant and weather conditions are especially critical. Rainfall helps with pollination and it also helps to keep the corn plants from being stressed," Hinkel said Friday.
"We've had enough rain, so far. And we've had some cycles where it was getting a little scary. Last night, we just got a little bit of rain, just enough to keep things going," farmer David Koch, Walker Township, said Tuesday.
The normal amount of rain Schuylkill County receives between Jan. 1 and July 23 is roughly 26 inches, according to Mike Dangelo, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service.
From Jan. 1 to July 23, 2012, the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Program site in Mahanoy City recorded 26.1 inches of precipitation.
From Jan. 1 to July 23 this year, the Mahanoy City COOP site recorded 25 inches, Dangelo said.
"So it's almost spot-on normal," Dangelo said.
While there were scattered showers Tuesday, dry weather may haunt farmers later this week.
"It's going to dry up for two or three days," Dangelo said.
Today and Friday will be mostly sunny with a high near 77, according to the National Weather Service website at www.weather.gov.
"We might have rain on the weekend when a cold front will come from the west but it might drag its feet, so Saturday might end up being dry, too," Dangelo said.
Koch runs Koch's Farm Service, Walker Township, with his brother, Brian. They planted 300 acres of field corn on the family's 800-acre farm this year. On Tuesday, David Koch walked by one of the cornfields. The stalks were more than 10 feet high and he said they were looking healthy.
He explained how weather can spur, or stunt, the pollination process.
"Corn will only pollinate on a sunny day. On a cloudy day, it will not pollinate. So you have to have sun but not extreme heat," he said.
Corn grows best when temperatures are between 55 and 84 degrees, so today and Friday might be good days, Koch said.
"But if conditions are very hot, combined with lack of rainfall, it can reduce the success of pollination and the ear will not produce as many kernels. Each silk on an ear corresponds with where a kernel will form. Each silk that doesn't get pollinated will mean no kernel formation on that spot on the ear. The better the pollination and the more kernels per ear means increased yield potential," Hinkel said.
Hinkel is a sixth-generation farmer. Her parents have a farm in Ringtown. She and her husband, Jared, have a farm in Hegins.
During the stretch of sunny days and 90-degree temperatures last week, corn crops suffered stress, Dwane Miller, an agricultural extension educator at Penn State Extension, Pottsville, said Monday.
"When I was driving through the eastern part of Schuylkill County the other day, I noticed corn crops were stressed and their leaves started to resemble pineapple leaves," Miller said.
"Last week, the leaves on the corn crops were curling and they were starting to lose some of that green color. But they came back," Koch said.
"The corn is slightly stressed from the heat but looks to be in good health throughout the county. All in all, most of the county had received a decent amount of rain into early July, which is better than what we had the last few years," Hinkel said.
As Koch examined his corn crop, he noticed a Japanese beetle on one of the leaves.
"They like the soybean crop, too," he said.
While the beetles were chewing holes in leaves, they weren't causing significant damage or enough to make Koch want to spray the area with pesticides.