Plant monitoring techniques describe the current plant status and potential for further development. In long growing seasons, plant compensation late in the effective bloom period complicates any prediction of yield potential. Where effective bloom periods are short (<5 weeks), a delay in maturity invariably results in yield loss and thus compensation is decreased. This simplification of yield components in short growing seasons was utilized on the High Plains to develop an evolving model that could provide producers with yield probability estimates based on plant monitoring data at first bloom. For 1993, under conditions of high square retention, yield was highly correlated with Nodes Above White Flower at first bloom, yield = 74.3x10((0.139NAWF)), R² = 0.62.