Crop Production

Harvest time is not the time to determine if a disease affected your crop

  • October 30, 2019

It happens every year.
A field is about to be harvested and something is awry.  Perhaps the plants are lodged, ears are poorly filled, or pods shrunken.  What happened to my crop?
From a plant disease perspective, it is nearly impossible to provide any useful information to the producer.  Many pathogens that can cause crop diseases are also excellent saprophytes.  That means they utilize dead or dying plant tissues for nourishment.  Consequently, when plants prematurely senesce,…

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Tips for small grain planting in an odd 2019 field season.

  • September 14, 2019

Soon many producers will be starting to plant small grains.  Below is my “Top six” list of important things to consider when planting wheat and other small grains in the coming weeks.
1) Ensure that you remove green bridges at least 10 days prior to planting.  This season, prevent plant acres may have favored the development of grassy weeds and other potential hosts of aphids that transmit barley yellow dwarf (BYDV) virus in small grains.  Aphids acquire BYDV upon feeding,…

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Diagrams to help you rate foliar disease on corn

  • August 19, 2019

Many in the agricultural community, as well as researchers annually rate corn for disease as a means to assess hybrid response, hybrid effectiveness, or potential disease level on field productivity.  It can be difficult to rain the eye to accurately measure disease on foliage, and differences in the type and size of the structure or lesion associated with the pathogen varies significantly.  The four links below will direct you to disease area diagrams we developed in order to help you obtain accurate disease severity estimates in your fields.…

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New maps for tracking Southern rust in corn (repaired link)

  • July 14, 2019

Southern rust is caused by a fungal pathogen that does not overwinter in Illinois.  Instead, it blows in from warmer regions during the growing season.  When conditions favor spread and development of this disease significant damage can occur, especially if it arrives before tasseling (VT).  For more information on Southern rust, check out the Crop Protection Network publication by clicking here.  Yesterday our colleagues detected this disease in Southeast Missouri.  With the hurricane/tropical storm remnant pushing northward,…

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Avoid the cosmic freakout

  • July 13, 2019

Today colleagues in Indiana reported tar spot presence in some of their research plots located in North West IN.  They found an extremely low number of stroma (less than 10) when assessing approximately 500 feet of plots.  When you see or read about the report keep a few things to keep in mind:
1) The amount detected was exceptionally low, and not close to the widespread severity we saw early last year.  For example, on  July 5th,…

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RSVP for the Champaign Pest and Pathogen Field Day!

  • July 5, 2019

Come to Champaign, Illinois on July 22nd for the first annual field crop Pest and Pathogen Field Day from 9am-noon.  Registration, doughnuts, and coffee will start at 8:30 am. Parking for the event will be available at the Agricultural and Biological Engineering farm on the UIUC South Farm Facility, located at 3603 South Race Street, Urbana, IL, 61802.  Click HERE to register.
Join us to walk research plots and learn about insect and disease identification in field crops,…

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Fusarium head blight-assessing FHB in your field and late season considerations

  • May 29, 2019

A few weeks ago we wrote an article on how to assess severity of Fusarium head blight (FHB) in small grains as well as some practices to consider that can help improve potential profitability in cases where outbreaks are severe.  Now that symptoms of FHB are starting to develop in the earliest flowering wheat, it is a great time to assess your fields and determine if any considerations for harvest need to be made.  To access the article click here.…

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Another Look at Soybean Planting Date

  • April 12, 2019

As we wait for things to dry out so planting can begin in Illinois, I’ll provide an update on soybean planting date, including addition of some recent data and more detail on what planting date studies are telling us.
Between 2010 and 2018, we ran a total of 30 soybean planting date trials at four sites—Urbana and Perry in central Illinois and DeKalb and Monmouth in northern Illinois. We also ran trials at two southern Illinois sites in some of those years,…

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Remember to check your hybrids for tar spot ratings, scout your fields

  • April 10, 2019

It is that time of year again.  Soon corn will be in the ground, and the 2019 field season will be taking off.  It is no surprise that I spent the majority of my time on the speaker circuit discussing tar spot in corn.  We have learned a fair amount since then, but there are many more things that need to be researched and learned before we have excellent tar spot IPM management programs.  However, there are a few points you should keep in mind this season that can help you determine your risk for tar spot and management practices that can help your bottom line.…

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Early-Season Soybean Management for 2019

  • March 11, 2019

Average Illinois soybean yield first exceeded 50 bushels per acre in 2004, when it was 50.5 bushels. It was 51.5 bushels in 2010, and 50 bushels in 2013. Over the five years beginning in 2014, it was 56, 56, 59, 58, and, in 2018, an astonishing 65 bushels per acre. Yield in each of the past five years was above trendline, which is a first—the longest stretch of above-trendline yields in the previous 30 years was for three years.…

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