After yet another heat wave, we finally received some reprieve with some consistent rain and cooler temperatures. We were briefly entering a drought across most of the region, but have come back to normal after this past weekend’s rain.

Most corn fields I saw are between R3 (Milk) and R4 (Dough). While disease levels are low, I did find some fields with ear rot, small amounts of tar spot on a lower leaf here and there, as well as some gray leaf spot. Nothing to write home about but the disease is present, and with the current weather conditions, could reproduce and spread rapidly. Overall, if a fungicide was applied, the corn should be fine and protected through end of season. If you have fields with hot spots or disease breakouts entering the R4 corridor, reach out to your agronomist or extension professional to see about options and how to handle those late spray season options.

Soybeans continue to look relatively disease free as they are averaging R5 to R6 and beginning seed fill. Pods are decent size and plentiful on the plants I scouted. The heatwave and dry conditions through flowering has tamped down the white mold risk quite a bit this year. With the current humid and cooler conditions, I do expect frogeye leafspot and SDS to start to show up in fields, and that would be something to monitor as we finish the season. I have not seen any Red Crown Rot so far this season, but it is moving north throughout the state, so that could be a potential disease to look out for as well.

Until next week, stay safe and have a great growing season.

Corn and soybean crops are generally looking good, with the only exceptions being areas of fields that experienced flooding or waterlogged soils earlier in the season. Leaf disease pressure is low in fields except those fields where plants experienced stress from waterlogged soils.
Last week’s timely rains had a noticeable impact on fields with low soil moisture and plant vigor. Soybeans are midway through the R5, Beginning Pod stage, and corn is in the R4, Dough stage, with kernels beginning to dent.

As we progress through the second half of the growing season for corn and soy, conditions have been mostly favorable for grain fill in the Northeast region. Most soy is at or near R5 also known as the beginning seed or beginning bean stage. As rapid seed fill begins later in this stage, the soy plant starts to remobilize nutrients from leaves and stems to meet the demand of pod fill. In fields visited, disease and insect pressure in the soy crop has remained very low. I have not come across red crown rot in soy fields visited, but reports have this emerging disease spreading in Illinois. It was announced this week that Illinois farmers can receive free red crown rot (RCR) testing thanks to the United Soybean Board and the Illinois Soybean Checkoff in partnership with the University of Illinois. If you suspect that you have RCR in your fields and would like confirmation, please consider sending diseased samples to the University of Illinois Plant Clinic in Urbana. While scouting R3 or milk stage corn, I noted white frass on a developing ear, almost always an indication of feeding by the corn earworm. The corn earworm is also known as the cotton bollworm and is a pest of several crops in addition to corn and cotton. The adult female corn earworm moth prefers to lay eggs on fresh silk. The hatched larvae follow the silk to the tip of the ear where they feed and produce excrement or “frass”. Larva inside the ear do not have effective insecticide control. While this pest is a challenging insect to control in sweet corn operations, it usually is a minor concern in yellow dent corn. As we diligently continue our foliar corn disease scouting, a slight uptick in gray leaf spot was noted, but fields I have visited are remarkably disease free at this stage compared to recent years.

Reporting to you from the ISA Agronomy Farm in Heyworth, Illinois (40.284611, -88.983532)! Crops are getting well into the reproductive stages, and the farm just received a well-deserved 1.4″ within the past week after receiving no more than 0.6″ the entire month of July. Many surrounding areas received significant weather events during July, but our farm was not one of them.

The pollinator strip at the farm is in year two, otherwise known as the “creep” phase. After being established with the help of Pheasants Forever and going through the “sleep” phase last year, it is nice to now see the strip filling in and the biodiversity that it has brought along with it. You can see the butterflies flying around, hear the crickets chirping, and today I even saw a pheasant!

I partially attribute this pollinator strip to the notable presence of lady beetle larvae I saw in the corn today, which is now at the R3 Milk stage. Aphid pressure was notable on some of the later planted corn at the farm that is at the R1 stage. Therefore, it was nice to see reinforcements forming (lady beetle larvae) to help control the aphids. Additionally, I found southern corn rootworm beetles, as well as a western corn rootworm beetle in the corn crop.

Double crop beans are at V3/V4 and full-season beans are at V3/V4. Crops are overall looking promising!

With much of the east central IL region receiving at least 0.5″ of rain over the past week, soil moisture has rebounded back to optimal or ‘near normal’ levels in most fields, following a bit of a dry spell. In Douglas County, like much of the region, remnants of spring storms are still visible, but the remaining crop is overall healthy and progressing well. Disease and insect pressure continued to be low in the soybean fields I visited. Full season soybean fields are reaching R5, or beginning seed, on the most advanced end, and double crop soybeans are beginning to flower (R1-R2). Corn fields visited ranged from R2 (blister) to late R4 (dough), with most closer to the more advanced end of that range. Aphids were present in a couple fields visited, although they seemed to be in isolated pockets within those fields. Similarly, isolated areas with leaf and stalk symptoms consistent with Physoderma brown spot/stalk rot could also be found in a couple of the fields surveyed.

I went south this week specifically on the lookout for any southern rust that might have made its way this far north, but I did not spot any pustules at this time. Once corn is past R4 (dough) growth stage, the available research shows a low likelihood of a fungicide providing a positive economic return (https://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2020/01/southern-rust-in-corn-disease-development-and-fungicide-use.html). So, at this point in the season, most fields are past the point of concern and late planted fields or late maturing hybrids should be the focus of scouting efforts.

This past week saw hail, substantial rain, and missed opportunities for needed precipitation in varying fields across the northeast region of Illinois. Corn has reached R3 or the milk stage in the field I have been scouting this summer. At this stage the kernel no longer adds new cells to the kernel endosperm but fills the existing cells with liquid starch. If punctured the liquid or “milk” will spray or shoot out of the kernel. Foliar disease pressure in this field continues to be low, I have noted very sporadic purplish lesions in leaf midribs and on corn stalks. This is symptomatic of the fungal disease Physoderma brown spot. Especially on lighter soils or areas where significant nitrogen loss occurred, likely due in part to extreme rainfall, considerable remobilization of carbohydrates is taking place as corn plants cannibalize lower leaves to meet their nutritional needs of ear development. Soy has reached R4 or full pod stage, the beginning of a critical stress response period for the soy plant. New flower growth slows and plants lose their ability to remake new flowers and pods. Similar to the corn crop, disease and insect pressure currently are low in the 2026 soy fields I have visited.

Crops are looking good. Soybean fields are not showing any signs of disease symptoms in the upper soybean canopy. Corn is advancing to the dough stage in early-planted fields.The majority of central and eastern portions of Illinois have had below normal rainfall for the first 29 days of July, as evidenced by the brown grass in pastures, lawns, and roadsides.

Corn and soybeans are progressing well in northern Vermilion County, as full-season crops are entering key grain fill stages. Impacts from wet weather early in the season can still be seen in low-lying fields, with uneven growth stage and canopy where the crop survived. Conditions have been a bit dryer in the region over the past several weeks, and surface soils are starting to crack. That said, crops do not appear to be experiencing much stress at this point, as they are likely able to access moisture deeper in the soil profile.

Most full-season soybean fields were somewhere in the pod development stages (R3-R4), and the few double-crop soybean fields I found were in the V2-V3 range. Disease and insect pressure still appeared to be low in most soybeans, but weeds were a different story in a handful of fields. Corn generally ranged from R1 (silking) to R3 (milk). I found a couple fields with some mild aphid pressure, and foliar symptoms of nitrogen deficiency could be found in the lower canopy in those areas affected by the early-season moisture and subsequent soil conditions. Foliar disease symptoms can also be found in these areas where plants are stressed, but healthy corn still looks relatively clean of foliar diseases.

Hot and mostly dry conditions continue across the area, with daytime highs in the 90s and soils beginning to crack from limited moisture. Fields are considered mildly dry, which is not uncommon for this region that often misses rainfall events. Ground rigs and airplanes have been busy with fungicide and insecticide applications, while fields with significant weed escapes are receiving additional post treatments. Soybeans are generally at the R1-R3 growth stages. Areas that received heavy early-season rains have faced greater weed control challenges throughout the season.

Crops are generally looking good. The exceptions are fields that suffered earlier issues of waterlogged soils or storm damage. Amaranth weed control has been a problem for non-GMO soybean producers relying on Group 14 herbicides, with insufficient early-season herbicide control of these plants. Dr. Aaron Hager’s research shows improved amaranth control in non-GMO soybeans when metribuzin is applied at appropriate rates either PPI or at planting. Soybean fields vary from the R1 to R4 growth stages.
No-till double-crop soybeans are growing very well, reaching the V3 stage.
Corn fields vary from almost VT to R3 stage. Nitrogen deficiency is apparent in fields where there were waterlogged soils. Corn leaf diseases are beginning to appear – Gray Leaf Spot. Physoderma Brown Spot can be seen in a few isolated fields in the low areas where water stood earlier in the season.