The “walls” of dark green corn as the crop begins its push to fill grain and make yield is always an inspiring sight, and the 2014 crop is the best I’ve seen at stage of development. It’s been almost this good in June several times, but not at the end of July. The crop condition rating has been stuck at about 80% good to excellent, and this remarkable uniformity is apparent in travels around northern and western Illinois in recent weeks.…
The 2014 Dixon Springs Agronomy and Horticulture Field Day presented by the University of Illinois, Department of Crop Sciences will be held on Thursday, August 7 at the Dixon Springs Ag Center. The research center is located on IL Route 145, near Glendale, IL, 25 miles south of Harrisburg and 25 miles north of Paducah, KY.
Tours will start at 9:00 AM with the final bus leaving at 9:30. A lunch to follow will be provided by sponsors and UI Extension.…
The 2014 Brownstown Agronomy Research Center Field Day, presented by the University Of Illinois Department Of Crop Sciences, will be held on Wednesday, August 6. Extension researchers and specialists will address issues pertinent to the current growing season. The tour will start at 8 a.m. and will last about two and a half hours. It will be followed by lunch provided by U of I Extension.
Shaded tour wagons will take participants to each stop. These topics will be addressed:
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White mold of soybean (a.k.a. Sclerotinia stem rot), caused by the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is a disease that can occur in the northern half of the state in cool, wet years. The most recent, widespread white mold epidemic in Illinois occurred during the 2009 season, where several fields in the northern half of the state were affected. In some of the northern-most areas of Illinois, white mold can be considered a more consistent problem.…
The program is set for the 33rd annual University of Illinois’ Northwestern Agricultural Research Center Field Day. The program will begin at 8 am on Tuesday, July 15th.
Buses will carry members of the public to different stops in the research center where campus-based specialists or Extension personnel will present the results of crop and pest management research and current recommendations.
Topics and speakers will include:
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There is some evidence that the “book values” that we have used for many years to calculate the amount of P and K removed by grain during harvest may no longer be accurate for the crops we produce today. The economic and environmental advantages of matching crop removal to replacement with fertilizer nutrients makes it important to have good removal numbers.
With funding from the Nutrient Research & Education Council (NREC) we are starting a new project in 2014 to try to get a better idea for how much nitrogen (N),…
Head scab of wheat (a.k.a. Fusarium head blight) is showing up in the southern portion of Illinois. In many cases, incidence is moderate to high (over 50% of the heads affected). Affected wheat heads will appear “bleached” in color. Heads often are partially affected, with both healthy green and affected bleached areas being present in the same head. Although I have not been in all wheat production areas in the state, my general observations are that fields in southern Illinois (south of Interstate 70) range from a moderate to high incidence of scab. …
The corn crop in Illinois is off to a good start in many fields, and in most areas is in the V5 to V8 growth stages, just starting its rapid growth phase. On average, the crop under good conditions will add some 200 lb of dry matter per acre per day over the next 80 days or so. It will take up 3-4 lb per day of nitrogen before pollination, after which the N uptake rate will slow.…
Soybean planting is off to a mediocre start in Illinois, with 26% of the crop planted by May 11, and limited progress with the rain of this past week. Planting will resume in some places this week, but other areas remain wet and it will take some time for soils to dry out. In comparison with recent history this is not yet a serious delay, but as time passes the delay will become a bigger concern.…
Wheat plants are now beginning to head out and flower in parts of southern Illinois. During this critical time of wheat development, wheat becomes susceptible to infection by Fusarium graminearum, the causal agent of Fusarium head blight (FHB; also known as scab) (Fig. 1). This disease can cause reduced grain yield, test weight, and quality. In addition, the fungus can produce toxins that will contaminate grain such as deoxynivalenol (DON; also known as vomitoxin).…