Agronomy Zone 12

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Rain continues to fall on a regular schedule here in Illinois.  With that comes problems, ar soybeans have started to go into pod fill we have started to see some SDS show up, especially in the early planted fields before May 1st.  Corn also has alot of issues right now, #1 is N deficiency with the abundant rainfall N deficiency is showing up alot especially in Corn on Corn fields.  2nd problem is Ear rots Diplodia is affecting alot of fields right in some cases it is very severe. 

Well what can I say?  The good news with this year's crop is that there does not seem to be a lot of insect pressure to be concerned  with, at least not yet.  Corn ranges anywhere from V10 to R3(Roasting Ear Stage).   The main problems I am finding as I walk fields are water damage and nitrogen deficiency.  There are some fields experiencing heavy Gray Leaf Spot, but not nearly as much as I expected.  Common Rust is another very prevalent corn disease this year.  Weed control has been a huge issue this year also, with alot of fields naked or with just half rate of pre on. 

Beans are close to canopy, and rate from pretty good to horrible.  Most of the problems are due to moisture and weed control.  I have seen some fields sprayed for Japanese beetles, and I am finding an alarming number of stinkbug eggs and podworm moths, this is something we will have to keep an eye on.

Today I was talking to a farmer in South Central Illinois who thinks he has the start of glyphosate resistant waterhemp in one of his fields.  He stated that 3 weeks ago they sprayed the field the first time with glyphosate.  At the time, most of the waterhemp was less than 4 inches in height, and he said they got 65-70 percent kill; however, within two weeks the weeds that did not die were 4 to 6 inches in height and in clumps of about 15 plants in three or four spots in the field.  He spot sprayed them again with glyphosate.  Most of them did not die so he manually removed them from the field yesterday.  The grower said his retailer stated that waterhemp seemed to be harder to control this year, and everyone in the area seems to be having a lot more escapes than normal.  

This does not come as much of a shock to me, as we have been expecting this for a while now.  But it does enforce the fact that farmers need to start incorporating different chemistries into their weed control strategies before all the waterhemp becomes resistant and glyphosate is no longer a useful tool.  LibertyLink® soybeans would be an excellent fit in these situations.  Growers faced with potential glyphosate resistant weeds could use a pre-emergent, come back with Ignite and Fusilade or Select for volunteer corn.  The results would be better weed control, and higher yields.

I noticed some early planted corn starting to shoot tassels in the southern part of my region on June 19th.  That got me curious with the year as we have seen it so far there have not been many insect concerns.  But when I walked out into the corn fields I started seeing an insect we need to watch.  Japanese Beetles had hatched and were abundant.  I only found beetles in the tasseled fields, there were not any adult beetles in untasseled fields yet, but while digging some roots this morning in a later planted field corn was at V8 and I was finding several japanese beetle larva in the cocoon stage or pupating. I do not know if they will reach economic theshold levels this year but want to refresh on my concerns here.  If silks are being cut back to less than 1/2 of an inch before 50% of pollination occurs, and beetles are present and feeding, then treatment is warranted.  This is the case for Corn Rootworm beetles also, these guys should start to hatch in the next few days also.  My big concern with these insects are not the pollination issues this year.  With the moisture we have right now I do not think pollination will be impeded much by silk clipping.  But, after pollination occurs the beetles continue to feed, elliminating the protective silk cap and alot of times even feeding on the developing kernels on the ear tips.   With as much problems with ear rots and kernel damage we had last year I wondering if we should start thinking more about this.  With the ear opened up and as much moisture is available could that be hurting grain quality and opening a roadway for ear rots?  Should the threshhold be dropped to insects feeding on 50% of the ears pollinated or not?  I am looking into this more and if anybody has any thoughts on this let me know.  Until later have a good week