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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Many soybean growers have had problems with lodging at harvest this year. The primary culprit for this (as for many of our woes this fall) was the extended period of unfavorable weather that we have suffered. However, in parts of southern Illinois damage by the dectes stem borer contributed to this problem.
The adult dectes stem borer (Figure 1) is a “long-horned” beetle that can often be found in soybean and on other plants. The adult female chews a hole into the surface of the plant (usually at the petiole),…
For those that attended Agronomy Day this past August, the title and above graphic may look familiar. As field and research season winds down, we’re able to finish collecting and summarizing data. One of our biggest summer projects is the annual corn and soybean survey. While some of that information was shared at Agronomy Day, the complete results are summarized below.
As a recap, this survey has been carried out across the state for several years (2011,…
Producers in Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota have been dealing with gall midges in soybean. This is a fly in the family Cecidomyiidae, which is the same family as the Hessian fly, sorghum midge, and several other agricultural pests. We have not confirmed any infestations of this insect in Illinois at this time; the closest confirmed, damaging infestations that I know of are in western Iowa. However, because so little is known about the biology of this insect,…
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,…
Authors: Nick Seiter, Joe Spencer, and Kelly Estes
Based on degree day accumulations, western corn rootworm egg hatch should be underway in much of Illinois (roughly south of Peoria as of May 29; you can view your specific location using the degree day calculator here: https://www.isws.illinois.edu/warm/pestdata/sqlchoose1.asp). We are probably just over a month away from seeing the emergence of the first adult beetles. With low rootworm populations for the last several years, there has been a renewed interest in adult sampling.…
With corn planting wrapping up throughout most of Illinois, the time has come to scout for cutworms. While several species of cutworms infest early season corn, black cutworm (Agrotis ipsilon) is the most likely to cause economic damage. We have received a handful of reports of cutting in southern Illinois, with more expected in the coming weeks as heat units begin to accumulate. If you are not doing so already, follow Kelly Estes’s reports on the Bulletin and through Twitter (@ILPestSurvey) for up to date information on black cutworm moth flights and degree-day accumulations.…
Soil temperatures and field activity are increasing along with moth migration from the south. Insect traps (figure 1) are out around the state and we’ve been capturing both true armyworm and black cutworm moths for over a week. In fact, we recently had our first significant black cutworm moth flights recorded in Montgomery and Champaign counties (figure 2). We expect activity to increase with both of these insects over the coming weeks. As both corn and soybean planting progress,…
Authors: Nick Seiter, Joe Spencer, and Kelly Estes
Rootworm management is a yearly consideration for most corn producers in central and northern Illinois. Western corn rootworm (Fig. 1) is the primary pest species throughout most of the state, but areas in northern IL can experience pest pressure from the northern corn rootworm (Fig. 2) as well. Adult population densities have been low in recent years compared with historical averages, although they did creep up a bit in 2017.…
The EPA recently opened a public comment period on ecological risk assessments of four neonicotinoid insecticides as part of the ongoing registration review for these materials. The purpose of this comment period is to allow stakeholders and the general public to provide input on the risks and benefits of these materials related to their use in agricultural production. A press release detailing this announcement can be found at the following link: https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-releases-neonicotinoid-assessments-public-comment. At the bottom of the page,…