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.…
3/1/19 at 9:00 am CST
Join Dr. Nathan Kleczewski from the University of Illinois Extension for an update on Tar spot in corn. This disease was first observed in the United States in 2015 in Northern Illinois and Indiana. In 2018, the disease significantly affected corn production in the Midwest and Florida. What is tar spot of corn? How does it work? What is our current understanding of this disease and its management? …
The 2018 report on applied pest and pathogen research in Illinois is now available. This guide provides information on pest and disease management research updates. It is currently located at the Field Crop Disease webpage.
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Remember that game of telephone we played as kids? One person says something in to the ear of another and after passing through 10 people or so the starting message, “I like peanut butter” ends up as, “John licks turtles.” Sometimes that can happen with information pertaining to plant diseases. Lately there have been some interesting things said about tar spot on corn in the community. To help clarify, and set the record straight, I published an article on my blog,…
Hybrid resistance is a key component for managing many plant pathogens. To access a new sheet on hybrid response to tar spot in corn click the following link: Corn Hybrid Response to Tar Spotfin.docx.
We are currently rating multiple variety trials in affected areas across states to generate more hybrid-specific data. More information will be available soon.…
Tar spot is a relatively new disease in corn. It was first described in Illinois and Indiana in 2015, and was first located near DeKalb. Tar spot has been detected to some degree in Northern Illinois each year since. However, typically infections are sparse and the disease does not come in until later in the season. Consequently, yield loss due to this disease has been minimal, and the disease mostly considered an oddity.
However, in parts of Latin America,…
Many people have asked about the need to make a fungicide application for frogeye leaf spot on soybeans this season. I have posted a new article on the Illinois Field Crop Disease Blog which reviews this pathogen, how it works, and some new tools that may help you with these important decisions. Find the article by clicking here.…
If the appearance of the soybean crop going into late July predicts how it will yield, the 2018 crop in Illinois is going to be a high-yielding one. The crop in Illinois was rated at 78% good + excellent (G+E) as of July 22. Conditions across the US soybean growing regions are somewhat variable, but the 2018 crop is in good condition overall.
As I did with corn in the Bulletin on July 6,…
The University of Illinois Extension will host the Ewing Demonstration Center Agronomy Field Day on Thursday, July 26, 2018 at 9 a.m. Every growing season presents challenges to production, and this year is no exception! We are happy to host this summer field day to share with local growers current, ongoing agronomy research in southern Illinois, including cover crop trials on corn and soybeans, nitrogen management in corn, weed management in soybean, and our continuous no-till field,…
We are at that time in the season where many people will be making final decisions regarding fungicide applications in soybeans and corn. I wrote an article with tips and other items to consider when making fungicide decisions and on farm trials on the Illinois Field Crop Disease Blog, which can be found by clicking HERE. …