In previous weeks, we were praying for rain and battling windy conditions. Thank goodness our hopes came true! Last week, we didn’t have a single day without rain from Sunday through Thursday. In common wet spots in fields, there was standing water for a few days. These conditions brought all sprayers and field work to a halt.

Before the rain, there was a large window and no rush to apply post-emergence chemistries. Now, that window has drastically narrowed. As of midday Saturday into Sunday, we’ve started to see a little field activity pick up. Hopefully, by Tuesday—following the busy holiday weekend—field and environmental conditions will be favorable for getting the post-emergence chemistries on!

For us, this past week was full of inventory, organizing, and catching up on projects around the plant before the next big push.

There were still planters and sprayers going over the weekend, but planting is getting closer to being finished. Obviously, crops are at all different growth stages, but the weather has hindered growth of early planted crops. Waterhemp is making its debut in early planted soybean fields and post herbicide applications will be needed soon.

It has been quite a week weather-wise. May 16 severe storms caused a Haboob that wind-whipped crops across east-central Illinois. May 20 severe storms brought hail in parts of the area. Currently, all the corn crop has its growing point below ground, so the hail-damaged crop should recover well. Soybeans, on the other hand, may be a different story especially if hail cut the plants off below the cotyledons.
Nearly all cropland is planted with crops stages varying from just emerging to V4 almost V5 stage corn and soybeans nearly at the V3 stage of 3 fully developed trifoliate leaves.

Still wet. We were briefly dry enough at the end of last week to allow some planting, especially on no-till or lightly worked ground. Then, most of the area received 1-2″ of rainfall on May 19-20, which has paused field operations again for now. I have seen a couple of fields in Clinton County with emerged corn and beans that must have been squeezed in a few weeks ago. Hopefully, we will see some emergence in Marion County soon. It is supposed to be windy and sunny for the next few days. We’ll see if any ground can get dry enough to plant before the next forecasted storm rolls through, predicted for May 24-25.

The Illinois Wheat Association had its annual wheat tour on May 20, and estimated an average yield of 106 bu. Considering how wet it has been, the wheat looks pretty good, where it hasn’t been drowned out.

This past week was a rollercoaster for weather. Rain came on Thursday (5/15), but it also brought hail to parts of Logan, Menard, and Sangamon counties. There were reports of two-inch diameter hail in the Athens area. Friday (5/15) saw a significant dust storm impact several parts of Central Illinois. Tuesday (5/20) again saw major storms move through the area, with more hail impacting the Springfield area and around an inch of rain falling. Despite the hail and high winds, not much crop damage has been observed or reported. Crop growth continues to be strong, with some corn and soybeans in the V2 stage.

Widespread precipitation this week in NE Illinois along with much cooler temperatures. Most planting is starting to wrap up in the region. I visited several soy fields that after an initial rain event went weeks without additional precipitation leading to emergence issues. When visiting the field after recent rains, some emergence is still taking place while other soy seedlings simply couldn’t push through the crusted soil. Soybeans have epigeal emergence which means the hypocotyl arch pulls the cotyledons through the soil surface. Crusted soil can make this a challenge. Finer textured soils with low organic matter that have limited residue are more prone to crust. Crusting is also more likely following a heavy rainfall event causing soil aggregates to move into the open pore space. Limited rainfall after the heavy rainfall event intensifies the chance for soil crusting. Soil crusting causes soybeans to use all their energy trying to emerge from the soil and can result in a poor stand. What soy population is needed before considering a replant? Dr. Emerson Nafziger addressed this issue for both corn and soy in a 2020 farmdocDaily posting https://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2020/05/replanting-corn-and-soybeans.html . In his article Dr. Nafziger shared an adage for soybean stands, ” When plants are easy to count without bending over, there aren’t enough of them”. While we are cognizant of lower soy population’s remarkable ability to compensate yield, growers are still encouraged to scout fields that are prone to crusting or emergence issues for adequate stands. NE Illinois alfalfa fields are starting to blossom, I expect the season’s first cuttings to take place as soon as window of favorable weather for drying and harvest takes place.