Crop Production

Corn disease update and farewell

  • June 30, 2015

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,…

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Corn and Nitrogen as Rains Continue

  • June 19, 2015

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,…

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Tracking Soil Nitrogen – Does Corn Have Enough N?

  • May 30, 2015

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.…

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2015 Field Day Events in Illinois

  • May 19, 2015

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 –…

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Stripe rust and Fusarium head blight (scab) concerns in Illinois

  • May 14, 2015

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.…

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Wheat disease outlook

  • April 28, 2015

As the weather begins to warm up, wheat is beginning to grow at a faster pace.  Symptoms of some diseases also are beginning to appear or will likely be appearing soon.  Below are some diseases to look for right now.
Stagonospora and Septoria leaf blotch: Although caused by two different pathogens, symptoms of these two foliar diseases look very similar and both can be managed with an appropriate foliar fungicide application.  Most results from University of Illinois wheat foliar fungicide trials conducted since 2008 have shown that an application of an effective fungicide for control of Fusarium head blight (scab) when wheat is beginning to flower also provides good protection against common foliar fungal diseases on the flag leaf. …

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Planting into Cool Soils – Yes or No?

  • April 22, 2015

While research shows that the last 10 days of April is on average the best time to plant corn in Illinois, expectations of below-normal temperatures in most of Illinois during the last week of April has some wondering if it makes sense to plant now or to wait until temperatures warm up.
Averaged over the past 22 years, Illinois corn producers have planted 16% of the crop by April 20. NASS reported that 15% of the crop was planted by April 19 this year,…

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Spring Nitrogen Management – Form and Timing

  • April 15, 2015

Most corn producers have planned their spring N program for 2015, and many have already started to implement their program. Such plans might include fall ammonia application, early spring application of ammonia or another form of N, or plans to apply all of the N at or after planting. In recent years there has been a trend towards more applications per crop, and it’s not unusual today to have N applied three or four times on the same field.…

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Nitrogen Management – Avoiding Ammonia Injury

  • April 15, 2015

A lot of anhydrous ammonia is going on this spring, and in many fields the hope is to plant as soon as practicable after NH3 application. This brings up the question about potential for NH3 damage to seeds and seedlings.
Seed and seedling damage from spring-applied NH3 is relatively rare in Illinois, but it can be quite damaging, and we want to minimize the chances of it happening. Such damage is rare is because NH3 converts readily in soil to the ammonium form (NH4+) which is held on soil exchange sites and is not damaging to plant tissue.…

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