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The Trapping Line: May 10

  • May 10, 2013

  • Dennis Bowman

Two more black cutworm moth traps have started reporting this week, one in Piatt County and a second location in Champaign County at Parkland College.  Based on intense moth flight captures Kelly Estes, State Survey Coordinator, calculated the following projected cutting dates.

Location
Biofix Date
Projected Cutting Date

Perry (Pike County)
4/26
5/23

Logan County
4/30
5/23

Brownstown (Fayette County)
5/6
5/27

 
Here are the moth captures reported so far this month:
…

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Conditions favorable for Fusarium head blight (scab) in southern Illinois

  • May 9, 2013

  • Aaron Hager

Wheat plants are now beginning to head out and flower in parts of southern Illinois. During this critical time of wheat development, wheat becomes susceptible to infection by Fusarium graminearum, the causal agent of Fusarium head blight (FHB; also known as scab) (Fig. 1).  This disease can cause reduced grain yield, test weight, and quality.  In addition, the fungus can produce toxins that will contaminate grain such as deoxynivalenol (DON; also known as vomitoxin). …

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New Report on Economic and Environmental Impacts of Transgenic Crops Available

  • May 7, 2013

  • Michael Gray

A new peer-reviewed work has been published (April 2013) that outlines some significant global economic and environmental benefits of transgenic crops. The paper is titled — GM crops: global socio-economic and environmental impacts 1996-2011. The authors of the paper are Graham Brookes and Peter Barfoot, with PG Economics Ltd, Dorchester, United Kingdom. Provided are key findings that I gleaned from the report, some, are direct quotes from this document. As an agricultural entomologist who has conducted western corn rootworm research for many years,…

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University of Illinois Weed Science Field Research Tour

  • May 7, 2013

  • Aaron Hager

We invite you to attend the 2013 University of Illinois Weed Science Field Day on Wednesday, June 26th at the University of Illinois Crop Sciences Research and Education Center, located immediately south of the main campus.  Coffee and refreshments will be available under the shade trees near the Seed House beginning at 8:00 a.m.
Similar to past years, we will car pool to the fields where participants can join in a guided (but informal) tour format. …

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Determining How Much Nitrogen Is Present

  • May 6, 2013

  • Aaron Hager

Fall Nitrogen
With a still fresh memory of the drought conditions during last year, recent rains have reduced concerns over water availability for the start of the 2013 growing season, but at the same time, concerns over nitrogen (N) loss have increased. Nitrogen loss is difficult to predict because it depends in many factors such as time of N application, type of N source, soil type and temperature, and the amount of precipitation received. While it is difficult to know how much N is lost without a direct analysis of soil N,…

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Wheat – foliar disease update and outlook

  • May 3, 2013

  • Aaron Hager

Symptoms of some foliar diseases of wheat are apparent in Illinois wheat fields, and the threat of other diseases is on the horizon. Current wheat diseases that have been observed in the state are Septoria and Stagonospora leaf blotch, Barley yellow dwarf, and other virus diseases.
Of these diseases, only the fungal leaf blotches (Septoria/Stagonospora) can be managed with foliar fungicides.  Although a flag leaf emergence timing for a foliar fungicide application may be recommended sometimes,…

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The Trapping Line: May 3

  • May 3, 2013

  • Dennis Bowman

Several new trap locations have come on-line since last report, thanks to great volunteers. Intense black cutworm moth flights were found in Warren, Logan and Menard counties around April 29 and 30.
…

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Getting Soybeans Planted

  • May 2, 2013

  • Emerson Nafziger

With corn planting off to a very slow start this year, few people have been worrying about getting soybeans planted. Though we’ve been saying in recent years that early planting of soybean helps increase yield potential, corn typically loses yield faster than soybean as planting is delayed. So it is appropriate to plant corn first, before soybean.
How early is “early” when it comes to soybean planting? Based on planting date responses we have seen in recent years,…

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Control Weeds before Planting

  • May 1, 2013

  • Aaron Hager

Wet soil conditions have caused delays in both planting and efforts to control existing weed vegetation.  Much of the existing weed growth is comprised of winter annual species, such as common chickweed, henbit, purple deadnettle, etc., but emergence of several summer annual species also has begun.  The growth of all species has accelerated with warmer temperatures and abundant soil moisture.  Several species of winter annuals are flowering and could produce viable seed before they are controlled with either tillage or herbicides. …

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