The Bulletin Archives - Page 56 of 73

US EPA’s Proposal to Prevent Western Corn Rootworm Resistance: Does IPM Implementation Have a Realistic Chance?

April 27, 2015
Michael Gray

On January 28, 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) published a “proposed framework to prevent corn rootworm resistance.” Public comments were sought across an original 45-day period that was extended 30 days beyond the original March 16, 2015 deadline. Within the proposal, the United State EPA acknowledges that corn rootworms have already developed resistance to “Bt corn” in some areas of Iowa and Illinois. US EPA has characterized some states within the Corn Belt as in the “red zone”…

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Planting into Cool Soils – Yes or No?

April 22, 2015
Emerson Nafziger

While research shows that the last 10 days of April is on average the best time to plant corn in Illinois, expectations of below-normal temperatures in most of Illinois during the last week of April has some wondering if it makes sense to plant now or to wait until temperatures warm up.
Averaged over the past 22 years, Illinois corn producers have planted 16% of the crop by April 20. NASS reported that 15% of the crop was planted by April 19 this year,…

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Black Cutworm Moth Captures Common in Several Midwestern States

April 21, 2015
Michael Gray

Impressive flights of black cutworm and armyworm moths have been reported by Doug Johnson an Extension Entomologist at the University of Kentucky . Entomologists at Purdue University also have received reports that black cutworm moth captures are now common in many areas of Indiana. Kelly Estes, Agricultural Pest Survey Coordinator with the Illinois Natural History Survey, has established a network of trapping cooperators across Illinois. Although no intense flights (nine or more moths caught over a 2-day period) of black cutworm moths have been reported by these cooperators,…

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Slowing the Evolution of Weed Resistance to Herbicides

April 20, 2015
Aaron Hager

Many individuals involved in production agriculture have first-hand experience with the numerous challenges caused by herbicide-resistant weeds. The magnitude of herbicide resistance is best measured on a worldwide scale. The most recent summary indicates 450 unique cases of herbicide resistance—encompassing 245 species—occur globally. Approximately 11–12 cases of unique resistance are discovered each year. Methods employed to detect and study the evolution of herbicide resistance have improved greatly over time, but our understanding of the epidemiology of herbicide resistance has lagged.…

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Spring Nitrogen Management – Form and Timing

April 15, 2015
Emerson Nafziger

Most corn producers have planned their spring N program for 2015, and many have already started to implement their program. Such plans might include fall ammonia application, early spring application of ammonia or another form of N, or plans to apply all of the N at or after planting. In recent years there has been a trend towards more applications per crop, and it’s not unusual today to have N applied three or four times on the same field.…

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Nitrogen Management – Avoiding Ammonia Injury

April 15, 2015
Emerson Nafziger

A lot of anhydrous ammonia is going on this spring, and in many fields the hope is to plant as soon as practicable after NH3 application. This brings up the question about potential for NH3 damage to seeds and seedlings.
Seed and seedling damage from spring-applied NH3 is relatively rare in Illinois, but it can be quite damaging, and we want to minimize the chances of it happening. Such damage is rare is because NH3 converts readily in soil to the ammonium form (NH4+) which is held on soil exchange sites and is not damaging to plant tissue.…

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Don’t Forget about Marestail

April 14, 2015
Aaron Hager

The harsh realities of poor marestail control with burndown herbicides applied before soybean planting were widespread during the 2013 growing season. We anticipated even more challenges with this species for the 2014 growing season, but by and large the forecasted marestail “train wreck” did not materialize in much of the state. Fall herbicide applications coupled with a harsh winter that caused a high degree of mortality to winter annual weed species probably contributed to a reduced population of marestail last spring. …

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Newly Published Report Confirms Extensive Use of Insecticidal Seed Treatments in Field Crops

April 6, 2015
Michael Gray

On March 20, 2015, an article published in Environmental Science and Technology confirmed the extensive use of neonicotinoids as insecticidal seed treatments in a wide variety of field crops across the United States. The authors of the article Margaret R. Douglas and John F. Tooker are scientists with the Department of Entomology at The Pennsylvania State University.
Provided below are some direct quotes from their journal article concerning neonicotinoid seed treatments (NSTs):

“Neonicotinoid use increased rapidly between 2003 and 2011,

…

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Decisions About Winter Wheat and Weeds

April 3, 2015
Aaron Hager

The most recent report on the condition of the Illinois winter wheat crop indicated approximately 10% of the crop was rated poor or very poor, while close to 90% was rated fair to excellent. It appears likely that much of the wheat crop will remain intact, but in other instances farmers might elect to terminate poorer stands and plant corn or soybean. If the decision is made to plant corn or soybean into wheat stands where some plants remain alive,…

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2015 Handy Bt Trait Table Now Available

April 2, 2015
Michael Gray

In the transgenic era, the most important insect management decision a corn producer makes is deciding which type of corn hybrid to plant — a Bt hybrid or a non-Bt hybrid? This decision is typically made in the fall or early winter, well before planting ensues. In a sense, a producer who elects to plant a Bt hybrid takes out an insurance plan against a wide range of insect pests for the upcoming growing season. I have referred to this in previous Bulletin articles as —…

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