The Bulletin Archives - Page 25 of 70

Tips for small grain planting in an odd 2019 field season.

September 14, 2019
Nathan Kleczewski

Soon many producers will be starting to plant small grains. Below is my “Top six” list of important things to consider when planting wheat and other small grains in the coming weeks.
1) Ensure that you remove green bridges at least 10 days prior to planting. This season, prevent plant acres may have favored the development of grassy weeds and other potential hosts of aphids that transmit barley yellow dwarf (BYDV) virus in small grains. Aphids acquire BYDV upon feeding,…

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Insect monitoring in soybean: what to look for during pod fill

September 6, 2019
Nick Seiter

At this point in the season, most of our insect monitoring efforts are focused on soybean. There are several pests that can damage soybean during pod fill, and proper scouting is necessary to identify and, occasionally, control these insects. While not an exhaustive list, these are some of the insects and insect relatives to be on the lookout for as the growing season winds down.
Stink bugs. Stink bug (Fig. 1) feeding during pod fill (particularly R5- R6) can reduce soybean yield and quality.…

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Corn and soybean crops limp towards the finish line

September 5, 2019
Emerson Nafziger

After the worst start to a cropping season in decades, mid-season lack of rain in parts of Illinois, and season-long low crop ratings, it’s time to take a look at what comes next as the 2019 cropping season moves into its final stages.
Corn
To no one’s surprise, various crop tours in recent weeks have confirmed that corn yields in parts of Illinois are likely to be disappointing. If there is a positive, it’s that the crop may look a little better than we thought it would by now after more than half of it was planted after June 1.…

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Late season tar spot- what is on the horizon?

September 4, 2019
Nathan Kleczewski

There has been some chatter about tar spot starting up a bit in Northern Illinois corn fields.
However, crops are almost at R5 in many places. What options do we have and what can you expect? Check out our new post on the Illinois Field Crop Disease Hub by clicking here. Remember to sign up at the website for updates and look forward to new materials such as factsheets, images, and guides by Spring,…

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Diagrams to help you rate foliar disease on corn

August 19, 2019
Nathan Kleczewski

Many in the agricultural community, as well as researchers annually rate corn for disease as a means to assess hybrid response, hybrid effectiveness, or potential disease level on field productivity. It can be difficult to rain the eye to accurately measure disease on foliage, and differences in the type and size of the structure or lesion associated with the pathogen varies significantly. The four links below will direct you to disease area diagrams we developed in order to help you obtain accurate disease severity estimates in your fields.…

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Let us know if you see these diseases in Illinois!

August 8, 2019
Nathan Kleczewski

There are two, fairly new and / or important diseases to keep an eye out for in 2019. We are actively seeking samples of symptomatic plants for research to help us understand the biology, ecology, and management of these pathogens. If you have a suspect sample, please send to the UIUC plant diagnostic clinic for confirmation (cost will be covered), and or contact me via email, telephone, or twitter.

The first is a disease that we started working on in late 2017- Tar spot on corn. …

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2019 Observations from the Field: Dicamba

August 2, 2019
Aaron Hager

Approximately two weeks ago, only a few (11 reported as of July 16) dicamba-related complaints had been filed with the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA), and some held aspirations that the magnitude of off-target issues would be less this year than during the two previous seasons. Today, it appears those hopeful aspirations are being replaced by the harsh reality that the magnitude of off-target issues in 2019 might be either similar to or possibly exceed those of previous seasons. …

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Corn and soybean crops at mid-season, 2019

July 19, 2019
Emerson Nafziger

The 2019 Illinois corn crop reached 50% planted during the first week of June, more than a month later than the average of the past five years. The soybean crop reached 50% planted a few days later than corn, and more than three weeks later than the average of the past five years. May rainfall was above normal over most of Illinois, and June brought near-normal rainfall over much of the state. Still, the late planting coupled with too much or too little rainfall after planting produced July crop condition ratings of only about 40% good + excellent for both crops,…

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Southern rust in Illinois- it’s complicated

July 18, 2019
Nathan Kleczewski

This week we started picking up Southern rust in the southern Illinois. Thusfar, reports indicate that disease severity is low. However, the recent hurricane remnant and warm forecasts may mean that we may see the disease progress somewhat in the coming days and weeks.
When people in Illinois hear the words southern rust, it brings back memories of a few years ago when the disease moved in and environmental conditions favored disease development for a prolonged period of time. …

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New maps for tracking Southern rust in corn (repaired link)

July 14, 2019
Nathan Kleczewski

Southern rust is caused by a fungal pathogen that does not overwinter in Illinois. Instead, it blows in from warmer regions during the growing season. When conditions favor spread and development of this disease significant damage can occur, especially if it arrives before tasseling (VT). For more information on Southern rust, check out the Crop Protection Network publication by clicking here. Yesterday our colleagues detected this disease in Southeast Missouri. With the hurricane/tropical storm remnant pushing northward,…

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