cropCENTRAL | Field Crop Production Resources

Steve Brand – Commercial Agriculture Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Conditions: Near Normal
Overall, it’s been a very hot and humid week across northern IL as we begin to move out of the heat dome that’s been sitting on us for the past 5 days. This week alone, we have added nearly 200 GDU from the heat wave for Dekalb county with totals reaching 959 GDU on the season, and isolated rainstorms have brought a little bit of relief to the drought-stricken areas.…

by Trent Ford, State Climatologist
Illinois State Water Survey | Prairie Research Institute
University of Illinois
Happy summer solstice – it’s all downhill from here! Every day from now until late December gets a bit shorter. But, we still have most of summer to enjoy, and this week’s temperatures were enjoyable. Average temps this week ranged from the high 60s in northern Illinois to the high 70s in southern Illinois, near to 1-2 degrees warmer than normal.…

Steve Brand – Commercial Agriculture Specialist
Dekalb County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Dry (soil is drier than normal, plant growth may have slowed)
The past couple of weeks have been exceptionally dry for Northern Illinois. We have had a few sporadic rain events with rainfall totals being very isolated and regional from pop up severe storms. With the rain we received this past week including Wednesday 6/18 we have moved towards a more normal rain total on the season,…

Emily Hansen – Commercial Agriculture Educator
LaSalle/Putnam County
Soil Conditions: Near Normal
Fields in LaSalle County have dried out a bit over the last week, with only minimal rainfall over the weekend. At the IVCC + Extension Research and Demonstration Plots corn is nearing V5 and soy V1-2. Other fields scouted in LaSalle County have V6 corn and V2-3 soybeans. One soybean field that was scouted showed signs of root rot, potentially Phytophthora.…

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Dry conditions in northern and central parts of Illinois allowed for a relatively early start to planting this year; the first NASS report of planting was soybeans at 1% on April 6. Soybean planting stayed ahead of corn planting through April, with 22% of soybeans and 16% of corn planted by April 27. By May 4, planting progress was nearly even—33% for soybeans and 32% for corn.…

Kathryn Seebruck – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Winnebago County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Wet (soil is wetter than normal, local vegetation is healthy)
Tuesday’s storms and Wednesday’s rain resulted in over an inch of rain being supplied to the area, which have helped to supply some needed soil moisture.
The fields referenced in today’s report have experienced some hail damage, though the plants will fortunately grow out of it as the damage was not too severe and there is enough healthy tissue to enable the plant to overcome the damage.…

The University of Illinois Plant Clinic is an Extension program located in the Department of Crop Sciences. For more information, please see our website: https://extension.illinois.edu/plant-clinic or contact us at 217-333-0519.
 
Wheat Samples: We have received 3 wheat samples so far in 2025, all from southern Illinois. Bacterial leaf streak, Septoria leaf blotch, and thrips were found on the samples from Marion County, while anthracnose, Fusarium head blight, Septoria leaf blotch, stripe rust, and thrips were found on the sample from Jackson County.…

Kathryn Seebruck – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Stephenson County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Wet (soil is wetter than normal, local vegetation is healthy)
Across the county, corn is between VE and about V4 while soybeans are yet to emerge or at about V1. The rainfall received over the past couple weeks has been well received – the crop looks healthy and green. Surprisingly given the rain, there aren’t yet any significant weed flushes, but scouting is recommended to identify any moving forward.…