Emerson Nafziger Email

Fields days organized in 2016 by Crop Sciences and Extension at the University of Illinois, Western Illinois University, and Southern Illinois University will focus on crops and pests, with speakers talking about current crop issues along with information from previous research. Each event will offer CEUs for CCAs.
Following is the schedule of crop-related field days for 2016, including locations, dates, starting times, and contact information.

• Macomb, WIU: Thursday June 23, 12:00 PM; Mark Bernards (309) 313-5917,

…

Corn planting has moved ahead of the 5-year average, with 66% of the Illinois crop planted by May 1. Early planting usually means an early start to nitrogen uptake. But N uptake is slow for a month or more after planting: in one study we did in 2015, plants at the 4-leaf stage about five weeks after planting had only 4 pounds of N per acre in the above-ground part of the plant. So there’s time both to get N applied to the crop before it needs it and also time for N in the soil to move out of the rooting zone if it’s in the nitrate form and the weather turns wet.…

Even though the price of nitrogen fertilizer has dropped some in the past year, the lower price of corn means that decisions about N management need to be made carefully, with an eye towards maximizing the return to this critically important input.
The return of dry weather over the past week and the forecast for the coming week has lessened the concern about N loss, though we still need to consider the possibility that some fall-applied anhydrous ammonia might have moved out of the upper part of the soil.…

The pattern of warmer and wetter than usual weather this past winter has changed some in the past two months, but hopes for a warm, dry, early spring have faded as well. Concerns remain about how much fall-applied N might have been lost and about whether and how this should change how we manage N this spring.
Most Illinois producers waited until soil temperatures had dropped to 50 degrees or less before applying anhydrous ammonia last fall.…

With funding from the Nutrient Research & Education Council (NREC) we started a project in 2014 to try to get a better idea for how much nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are contained in harvested grain of corn, soybean, and wheat.
In 2014 we tried to get yield level for each sampled field in order to see if yield level affects nutrient content. We found that it did not, and so we dropped the requirement to include yield level (will leave it as an option) and ask only for the county in which the sampled field was located.…

The 2015 Dixon Springs Agronomy and Horticulture Field Day presented by the University of Illinois, Department of Crop Sciences will be held on Thursday, August 6 at the Dixon Springs Ag Center.
The research center is located on IL Route 145, near Glendale, IL, 25 miles south of Harrisburg and 25 miles north of Paducah, KY.
Tours will start at 9:00 AM with the final bus leaving at 9:20.  A lunch to follow will be provided by sponsors and UI Extension.…

The 2015 Illinois corn crop continues to develop on schedule, with 75% of the crop having reached silking by July 19. But the crop condition rating continues its steady downward trend, with the good + excellent percentage now at 55%, down from its high of 79% at the end of May. Virtually all of this decline is due to standing water, past or present.
Rainfall frequency and amount has moderated some, but parts of western Illinois have received more than 6 inches so far in July.…