cropCENTRAL | Field Crop Production Resources

Japanese Beetle Management Guidelines

  • July 10, 2019

Japanese beetles (Fig. 1) have been arriving throughout Illinois over the last couple of weeks, and are becoming pretty conspicuous in some areas. Our crops are well behind their usual progress when Japanese beetle emergence occurs, which could impact scouting and management decision making. Several of my colleagues recently wrote an in-depth article on the history, distribution and management of this pest1; you can read the full open-access article here. Some notes on management follow by crop:
Corn: Silk clipping is the primary concern with Japanese beetle infestations in corn.…

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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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Cover crops on prevented-planting acres: an update

  • July 3, 2019

There have been a number of developments since my June 17 article on managing prevented-planting (PP) fields. A major change was the granting of permission to harvest cover crops planted on PP acres after September 1, instead of November 1. In addition, harvesting after September 1 can now be done with a forage harvester—as silage—rather than only by grazing or making hay.
In simple terms that means that cover crops on PP acres can be managed as forage crops,…

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Reminder – University of Illinois Weed Science Field Research Tour

  • July 3, 2019

The weed science program at the University of Illinois invites all weed management practitioners to our annual weed science field tour on Wednesday, July 10.  Please note the tour will begin at our off-campus field location (“The Lost Forty”) which is located on Cottonwood Road (County road 1700 east) approximately one-quarter mile north of County road 1850 North (see map).
Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m. and refreshments (coffee, juice, and doughnuts) will be available.  Preregistration is not required,…

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Late-Season Herbicide Applications

  • July 3, 2019

Nearly all herbicide labels (soil-applied or postemergence) have rotational crop intervals that specify the amount of time that must elapse between herbicide application and planting a rotational crop.  This becomes particularly important with late-season herbicide applications.  These intervals are established to reduce the likelihood that herbicide residues will persist in sufficient quantities to adversely affect the rotational crop.  Some herbicide rotational restrictions are based solely on time, while other factors, such as soil pH and the amount of precipitation received after herbicide application,…

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Reminder of Omnidirectional In-Field Buffers

  • July 2, 2019

As a reminder, dicamba-resistant soybean fields that exist in counties that might harbor endangered terrestrial dicot plant species and that will be treated with dicamba must have an in-field, 57-foot omnidirectional buffer. The new 57-foot buffer will occur on three sides of the field and be in addition to the required 110-foot downwind buffer.  Non-sensitive areas, as defined in the renewed labels, can be included in the omnidirectional buffer calculation.  This new buffer requirement includes fields in at least 27 Illinois counties (Figure 1).…

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Common rust on corn- a concern?

  • June 29, 2019

Over the past week there has not been much activity as far as corn disease is concerned.  The only exception has been the detection of very light common rust infections on some corn in the north central and southern parts of the state.  Although the occurrence of common rust on corn this early in development may be a concern to some, there are a few things that you should keep in mind.
1) Common rust, caused by Puccinia sorghi,…

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Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center Agronomy Day, July 17th

  • June 27, 2019

MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center will host a Field Day on Wednesday, July 17. Join University of Illinois Department of Crop Sciences faculty, researchers, students, and Extension specialists as they address issues pertinent to the 2019 growing season.
The program will begin promptly on Wednesday, July 17 at 8:00 a.m. and is open to the public at no cost. Refreshments and BBQ sandwiches will be available at the end of the tour.…

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Calculating fungicide net returns

  • June 26, 2019

Corn producers in parts of the state are nearing the point in time where they are thinking about fungicide applications to their fields.  In a recent post on my blog I discussed tar spot and also mentioned a recent publication that shows that a single fungicide application at the VT/R1 growth stage has the greatest chance of providing the producer with a return on their investment.  Click here for access to this article.…

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Understanding Tar spot forecasts

  • June 24, 2019

Recently I posted information on Twitter about tar spot forecasts that I will be making on my website throughout the season.  It is important to know how to interpret these forecasts.  For more information, see the article by clicking here…

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