Illinois Crop Update – July 14, 2023
Russ Higgins – Extension Commercial Ag Educator
Grundy County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Wet (soil is wetter than normal, local vegetation is healthy)
Another week with precipitation; July has been much more favorable than June for northeast Illinois crops. Even with the rain, some no-till soy fields are noticeably lagging in growth behind tilled fields in our area, especially on lighter ground. Those scouting fields have an opportunity to evaluate their post herbicide applications. For many, these applications took place under very dry and unfavorable conditions. Post control and residual activity or lack thereof is evident in some fields. Waterhemp is pushing through the soy canopy and growing well in corn fields as well. Most corn fields are at or near the critical R1 or silk stage, most soy is at or near R2 or full flower/bloom stage. While scouting I noted my first Northern and Western corn rootworm adults in the area. Local wheat harvest has started and stopped between recent rains.
Figure 1: No-till soy – Grundy County July 13, 2023
Figure 2: Waterhemp over soy canopy – Grundy County July 13, 2023
Figure 3: Waterhemp in Corn – Grundy County July 13, 2023
Talon Becker – Extension Commercial Agriculture Educator
Champaign County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Wet (soil is wetter than normal, local vegetation is healthy)
For this week’s report, I visited fields in northeast Champaign County. Overall, crops look to be recovering well from the early drought stress. Soil moisture was close to optimal in the fields I visited. And with some moderate rain in the forecast, soil moisture is likely to remain adequate through the next couple of weeks. The majority of corn fields are in full pollination, while there were a few I spotted that are just starting to show tassels and a few others that were nearing the end of pollen shed. Soybeans have closed their canopy on most fields and are at R2-R3. I came across one small wheat field that was harvested, but there were no signs yet of an attempt at planting a double-crop soybean in that field. Weed pressure, largely waterhemp, was present in all the corn fields I visited, but was generally low to moderate. Soybean fields showed a variety of conditions; most appeared relatively clean while there were a few that had some serious issues with waterhemp and volunteer corn.
Figure 4: Soybeans on 15” rows at late R2 and early R3 – Champaign County, July 13, 2023
Figure 5: Low to moderate waterhemp pressure in R1 corn – Champaign County, July 7, 2023
Nathan Johanning – Extension Commercial Agriculture Educator
Monroe County
Soil Conditions: Severely Dry (soil is very dry, water bodies are very low, vegetation is stressed)
Our area is highly variable on crop conditions. Rainfall has been highly variable, and many areas have just missed major rainfall events for the region as a whole. Most of Monroe County has caught some rain on Wednesday of this week ranging from an inch in some places but others only a few tenths. Prior to that, most except for the northern part of the county had received little appreciable rainfall over the last two weeks. Even when rains do come, a day or two later the soil is just as dry as it was before any rain; in most fields the deep soil water has already been tapped. Corn is mostly around tassel stage and many fields showing significant stress especially in the afternoon. Tassel emergence is highly variable and in some fields, there is a concern with pollination. Soybeans are progressing but they too are showing stress. Double crop soybeans have come up fairly well and are holding their own. The best-looking crops overall are those along the west, in the Mississippi River bottoms. Other than some very sandy fields, most were planted early and have found some moisture. Let us see how far this recent rain goes and hopefully catch a few more showers across the area.