High winds hit parts of central and north-central Illinois on June 22 and 23, flattening corn that was at stages V10 to V13 or so (4 to 7 feet tall.) Hail damaged leaf area in some places as well, but hail was not as widespread as wind damage.
Figure 1 shows corn completely flattened at our Monmouth Research & Education Center, following wind gusts up to 78 mph between 2:45 and 3:00 AM on June 22.…
Corn planting in Illinois has gotten into gear over the past week, with 12 percent of the state’s crop planted by April 17. That’s close to the planting pace of a year ago, and is behind the 5-year average only because that average includes 2012, when nearly half of the state’s corn crop was planted by mid-April. Illinois corn yield averaged 105 bushels per acre in 2012, while in 2014, the year with the record-high corn yield of 200 bushels,…
The University of Illinois is part of a large, multi-state research project funded by the North Central Soybean Research Program (funded by state checkoff programs) to look at effects of weather, soils, and management on soybean yields.
As part of this project, we need to gather basic information on at least 500 soybeans fields around Illinois for each of the crop years 2014 through 2017. These data will go into a large database that will be used to take a look at how management affects yields in a given soil type and with a certain weather pattern.…
The University of Illinois Extension will host its annual Ewing Demonstration Center Fall Field Day on Thursday, September 10, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. The Ewing Demonstration Center is located in southern Illinois about 20 miles south of Mt. Vernon at 16132 N. Ewing Rd; Ewing, IL 62836. It is on the north edge of the village of Ewing, north of the Ewing Grade School on north Ewing Road. Watch for signs.
The ongoing research this year includes trials on soybean cover crops,…
The 2015 Brownstown Agronomy Research Center Field Day, presented by the University Of Illinois Department Of Crop Sciences, will be held on Wednesday, August 5. Extension researchers and specialists will address issues pertinent to the current growing season. The tour will start at 8 a.m. and will last approximately three hours. It will be followed by lunch provided by U of I Extension. 2.5 hours of Certified Crop Adviser CEUs have been approved.
Shaded tour wagons will take participants to each stop.…
Last week, I visited all of the University of Illinois corn variety trials in the northern half of the state. Gray leaf spot and northern leaf blight were beginning to appear in most of the locations, but were the most obvious at the trial located near Perry, IL (Pike County).
With the amount of rainfall received in the past few weeks, it is not surprising that these diseases were beginning to appear. Since hybrids differ in their level of susceptibility to these diseases,…
Some rain has fallen somewhere in Illinois nearly every day for the past 3 weeks, and rainfall totals for this period exceed 7 inches – two to three times normal – over more than half of the state (Figure 1). This has a lot of people wondering if enough nitrogen remains in the soil to supply the corn crop.
Daily high temperatures have averaged close to normal over the past three weeks, while night temperatures have been 3 to 4 degrees above normal,…
Rainfall in April and May has been about average through most of Illinois, at least until the downpours the last days of May. This has allowed timely planting and a good start to the crop in most areas, and has allowed nitrogen management to be carried out more or less as planned by most producers. Warm temperatures during some weeks of May are moving crop development along, and much of the N planned for application after crop emergence has already been applied.…
Fields days organized by Crop Sciences and Extension at the University of Illinois and by other institutions 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 2015 field days organized by University of Illinois Crop Sciences and by several other institutions.
Event
Date – start time
Food
Contact
Urbana – Weeds
June 24 –…
Stripe rust of wheat has been observed in different parts of Illinois within the last week. Although some varieties have very good resistance to stripe rust, there are still several varieties that are susceptible. Stripe rust is able to flourish under the cooler temperatures we’ve had over the last few days. With rain in the forecast in parts of the state over the next few days, favorable conditions for this disease likely will continue.
Although some wheat fields in the state are already past the critical period for applying a fungicide for protection against Fusarium head blight (a.k.a.…