Several days of favorable weather and soil conditions had the planters rolling aggressively. More than half of the soybean acres were planted this week, and a few corn acres as well. Spraying has been hampered by consistent high winds, but there are some soil-applied, residual pre-emergence herbicides going down in the early morning hours before the wind picks up. The area received 0.72 inches of rain on Wednesday night, which put a temporary halt to fieldwork.

With the rapid accumulation of GDUs this spring, wheat has already reached growth stage Feekes 8, the critical stage of flag leaf emergence. This leaf is responsible for most of the photosynthesis that drives head fill and grain production. Protecting it against disease and insect damage is important to optimize yield. No visible signs of disease yet, but conditions have shifted toward being favorable for development of several foliar diseases, and storms blowing in from the south could be carrying spores. I will be applying foliar fungicide applications to research plots today, evaluating potential benefits of flag leaf protection. Overlap areas on the nitrogen application are looking prone to lodging at this stage. In the photos, we can still see the freeze damage on the lower leaf and also a little damage near the stem on the middle leaves that appears to be some very early windowpane feeding by cereal leaf beetle. There are a few stink bugs milling about, which could cause problems later as the heads emerge. Time to scout and be diligent.