Wheat is starting to approach heading. What should producers do to determine risk for Fusarium head blight and suppress this disease? Click here to access the new article on the Illinois Field Crop Pathology website on the subject!…
Consider adding some insect scouting to your wheat management routine this spring if you are not doing so already. While damaging insect pest infestations are pretty sporadic in Illinois, missing one can be costly. The first step in managing these infestations is knowing what to look for.
Aphids
There are several species of aphids that infest wheat in Illinois, and they can be difficult to tell apart without careful examination (the figure captions below provide some tips on how to identify the different species;…
Along with colleagues from Ohio State University, we took a look recently at data from a lot of corn plant population trials in both Ohio and Illinois to see if we could come up with estimates of the value of variable-rate corn planting. This work was published in Agronomy Journal (reference is at the end of this article) and my OSU colleagues also put the findings in an Extension fact sheet, available here.…
Grape colaspis is a common insect, but it only occasionally affects corn and soybean production in Illinois. However, 2018 was that rare year where “outbreak” levels of infestation occurred in parts of the state, resulting in stand reductions and, in some cases, replanting of damaged areas. Information can be tough to come by for an occasional pest like this one, but I will summarize what we know and what we should expect going forward.
Biology.…
Currently, most small grains are approaching jointing or just past jointing in many parts of the state. Now is the time that you most likely will start to see early season viral diseases in some fields, specifically Wheat Soilborne Mosaic Virus and Wheat Spindle Streak Virus. These diseases are transmitted by soil borne microbes that thrive in cool, wet conditions. Infected plants typically are chlorotic and may be stunted. Often affected plants occur in low lying areas of the field or areas suffering from compaction.…
As we wait for things to dry out so planting can begin in Illinois, I’ll provide an update on soybean planting date, including addition of some recent data and more detail on what planting date studies are telling us.
Between 2010 and 2018, we ran a total of 30 soybean planting date trials at four sites—Urbana and Perry in central Illinois and DeKalb and Monmouth in northern Illinois. We also ran trials at two southern Illinois sites in some of those years,…
Now that the soils are warming, some producers are discussing planting soybeans in the ground. When considering early planting of soybeans, there are two diseases that should be considered: 1) Sudden death syndrome (SDS) and 2) Pythium root rot (PRR)
Both SDS and PRR are favored by cool, wet weather. In the case of SDS, early season infections can reduce stands, and also result in colonization of root systems. The SDS pathogen remains in the lower portion of the stem and roots until the the plant reaches the reproductive stages. …
It is that time of year again. Soon corn will be in the ground, and the 2019 field season will be taking off. It is no surprise that I spent the majority of my time on the speaker circuit discussing tar spot in corn. We have learned a fair amount since then, but there are many more things that need to be researched and learned before we have excellent tar spot IPM management programs. However, there are a few points you should keep in mind this season that can help you determine your risk for tar spot and management practices that can help your bottom line.…
We are starting to look for cooperators that are willing to place and monitor traps for black cutworm and true armyworm this spring and European corn borer, corn earworm, fall armyworm, and western bean cutworm this summer. We provide traps and lures. We ask cooperators to place and check traps several times a week, reporting trap catches to our site.
We will also be looking for cooperators to participate in our summer field surveys as well.…
The fall of 2018 and so far in 2019, there have been limited opportunities to apply nitrogen fertilizer. Average rainfall through the first 25 days of March ranged from a little less than normal in the northern half of Illinois to an inch or more above normal in south-central Illinois. But temperatures have averaged 3 to 4 degrees below normal, which slowed drying. There were several days in the first week of March when it was frozen on the surface and a considerable amount of P and K went on.…