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The crop progress report from NASS showed that on July 1, 40 percent of the Illinois corn crop was silking, the crop rating was 85 percent good + excellent (G + E), and more than 85 percent of Illinois was reported as having adequate or surplus soil moisture. While this combination is very supportive of prospects for high yields, questions remain about whether the crop is actually as good as it looks, and about how dry weather in the coming weeks might affect crop prospects.…

MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center near Monmouth has scheduled a field day for July 18. University of Illinois crop sciences faculty, researchers, students, and Extension specialists will address issues pertinent to the 2018 growing season.
The program will begin promptly at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, July 18, and is open to the public at no cost.
Weather permitting, presentations will take place outside next to research plots. Participants will board buses to tour portions of the farm.…

Seedling disease is running rampant across Illinois soybeans.  Many producers are wondering why.  Afterall, you used a fungicide treatment.  Well, there are many things that could be at play.  I describe these in this weeks Field Crop Disease Blog (click here).  Remember to sign up for updates!…

Warm temperatures continue in Illinois, with growing degree day (GDD) accumulations since May 1 running from 150 above average in northern Illinois to about 250 GDD above average in the rest of the state. With GDD accumulations of 900 to 1,000 since May 1, the corn crop planted in early May is at V10 to V14, about 30 to 60 inches tall, and needing only about 350 to 450 more GDD to tassel and silking. With daily accumulations at about 25 GDD,…

We worried our way through the cool month of April, with 32 percent of corn and only 7 percent of soybean acres planted by April 29, and nothing emerged. During the first two weeks of May, the weather was warmer and drier than normal, and adding together corn and soybeans, Illinois farmers planted more than a million acres for each of the 10.3 “days suitable for fieldwork” between April 29 and May 13.
By May 13,…

We have published the 2018 small grain fungicide recommendation guide.  Please find a link to the guide and more information at the Illinois Field Crop Disease blog, which can be accessed by clicking here
Email alerts to new posts on the Illinois Field Crop Disease Blog can be found by subscribing for updates, which is located at the right side of the webpage.…

Parts of Illinois received some precipitation for the third Sunday in a row (starting with Easter) on April 15, and in a few places, also for the third Sunday in a row, it came partly in the form of snow. That streak should end this weekend, and less rain and warmer temperatures are predicted to move in for the rest of April.
Some ammonia went on late last week and there was planting activity in places,…

Last month (March 2018) we used data from 2017 N rate response trials to update the N rate calculator that provides best-estimate N rate guidelines for different regions and previous crops (corn or soybean) in Illinois. The updating process, which is currently being done by spring each year in Illinois, involves adding the new data and taking out some of the older data.
Many people understand the idea of using data from previous research to try to predict how a management factor will work the next time (in this case,…