debugging field crop production

Kathryn Seebruck – Commercial Agriculture Educator Ogle County Soil Conditions: Mildly Dry (soil is drier than normal, plant growth may have slowed) Northwestern Illinois is in the home stretch of planting. I’ve been able to row quite a few corn fields, and beans have been reported as being up and out of the ground or just about. There are few fields that have yet to be planted. Weeds such as giant ragweed and common lambsquarters are present in fields I’ve been in,…

The final week of April acted much like the rest of the month, with warm and wet weather pretty much statewide. Average temperatures this week ranged from the low 50s in northern Illinois to the mid-60s in southern Illinois, between 3 and 6 degrees above normal. The entire month of April ended around 0.5 degree warmer than normal statewide. A continued active storm track brought multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms this week. 7-day totals ranged from around a half inch in parts of western Illinois to over 4 inches near the Metro East area.…

Utilization of soil-applied herbicides in corn and soybean production systems continues to be a common method to achieve weed control. Early preplant, preplant incorporated, and preemergence surface are the most common types of herbicide applications to soil. Regardless of when the herbicide was applied to the soil, the effectiveness of soil-applied herbicides is governed by several factors. The primary factor which governs the efficacy of soil-applied herbicides is having the herbicide available for uptake by the germinating weed seedling.…

The weed science program at the University of Illinois invites all weed management practitioners to our annual weed science field tour on Wednesday, June 25, at the Department of Crop Sciences field research location known as the Clem Farm, located at 1114 County Road 1200 East, Champaign. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and the tour will start at 9:00 a.m. Preregistration is not required, but please let us know in advance if you will be bringing a large group of participants so we can plan accordingly for meals.…