Kathryn Seebruck – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Stephenson County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Wet (soil is wetter than normal, local vegetation is healthy)
Although the entire month of May saw just under an inch of rain in total, the beginning of June has brought some relief with over two inches of rain deposited thus far with more on the way (based on data from the Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring Program Freeport station –…
Steve Brand – Commercial Agronomy Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Conditions: Moderately Dry (soil is dry, plants may be browning or stressed, water bodies are low)
Another week, more beautiful and perfect weather for outdoor activities. More notably, another week of little to no rain as we continue to progress into an early summer drought. Most of northern Illinois would be considered to be in a D1 moderate drought as of now.…
Steve Brand – Commercial Ag Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Dry (soil is drier than normal, plant growth may have slowed)
This will be a quick report as there is not too much to report since last week. Most fields have emerged in both corn and soy. I’ve seen fields for corn varying from about to emerge to V2 pushing V3. Soybeans are in a similar boat between emerging in fields to 2nd trifoliate.…
Steve Brand – Commercial Agronomy Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Dry (soil is drier than normal, plant growth may have slowed)
Overall, planting is close to finished across more of northern Illinois. Field work over the last 2 weeks has been non-stop, and most fields I saw were either planted or just beginning to emerge, whether that was corn or soybeans. After a wild and wet April, May has been very dry and unusually cool,…
Russ Higgins – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Grundy County
Soil Conditions: Near Normal
A favorable week for field work in the region. Many corn and soy fields were planted, and operations continue in the area. Earlier planted corn appears to be emerging with a slight advantage to soy. This week we will be starting the aphid suction collection trap in Morris, part of the Suction Trap Network that will be monitored through October.…
Kathryn Seebruck – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Stephenson County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Wet (soil is wetter than normal, local vegetation is healthy)
Field work and planting have been ongoing once fields dried enough following the significant rainfall events experienced in the area in mid-April. Although two weeks ago we experienced a number of uncharacteristically warm days, the weather this week continues to vary as some days have been relatively warm, but many nights have been relatively cool,…
Reagen Tibbs– Commercial Agriculture Educator
Logan County
Soil Condition: Moderately Dry (soil is dry, plants may be browning or stressed, water bodies are low)
Rains over the last week have been welcome but have not provided the much-needed relief from drought conditions. If anything, the rain has slowed the harvest progress for many across Logan County. While on the outside rows, some fields appear ready to harvest, there are still many green plants deep inside the fields.…
Steve Brand– Commercial Agriculture Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Condition: Near Normal
We have had a bit of a mini heat wave here in the middle of September as temperatures returned to near normal compared to the previous two weeks of cooler weather. The warmer temperatures are helping the corn and soybeans progress along through maturity as we are a bit behind the rest of the state harvest and maturity-wise. As the rest of the state is entering into some more substantial droughts,…
Russ Higgins – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Grundy County
Soil Conditions: Moderately Dry (soil is dry, plants may be browning or stressed, water bodies are low)
Harvest is on the horizon, maturity and drydown will likely be expedited with the return of forecast warmer temperatures. Looking back 150-170 days and evaluating the current growing season, most crop stressors were environmental (dry or drought conditions) or related to plant disease (primarily in the corn crop).…
Steve Brand– Commercial Agriculture Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Condition: Near Normal
Cooler temperatures have arrived this fall (late summer really) as we move through the waiting period of the growing season for corn and soybeans. Temperature averages in the 70s and low 80s have brought much relief after a very hot stretch across Northern IL. Nearly every corner of Illinois north of I-80 is at normal rain and water levels as down state begins to enter into a slight drought,…