The heat has the early April planted crops growing fast. The corn has grown 2 growth stages in a week. Weeds are also coming on strong in the corn and it was just sprayed with post herbicides. The soybeans remained clean. The wet holes in soybeans that were replanted on Mother’s Day have already emerged. No signs of disease or pests. Many had a chance to get in the field again.

We are just about dry enough to begin fieldwork (again) on Mother’s Day weekend. Morningglory showed up in corn after last week’s report. Soybeans are clean. Only one cutworm moth was caught in trap and a few corn plants had wireworm injury. Next up will be spotting in soybeans in drowned out areas of various fields.

There is a lot of fieldwork going on including planting. It is very, important to be on the lookout and cautious when driving because of the high number of farm equipment moving about the countryside. We are hoping to miss the rain today (if possible) to have a wider planting window, which has not been possible the last several weeks due to rain. I have been finding 3 to 7 black cutworm moths as well as 1 armyworm moth in traps this past week.

After the recent heat, it appears that most crops have turned quickly over night. Early April planted corn is almost to black layer and early April plants soybeans are turning. Harvest will be here soon. Be sure to check corn stalk quality to know which fields to harvest first.

It was a hot one and the early planted/earlier maturity corn and soybeans are starting to turn quickly. Corn is 1/2 to 3/4 milk line depending on maturity. Thus, far grainfill seems to be just fine, but would really like some rain to finish out the season. Many have started to watch out for stalk rot to know which corn fields to harvest first. Cercospora leaf blight started to show up in soybeans.

Corn and soybeans are approaching the R5 growth stage. As I type this, we are finally getting a significant amount of rain. Dryer weather, hybrid resistance, and fungicide have kept diseases like gray leaf spot and tar spot at bay in corn. But Goss’ wilt and Northern Corn Leaf blight have just started to show up. Soybeans are loving the rain and could have potential to yield if diseases stay away. One plant was found that had stem canker.

It was a good sign to see that the corn canopy was collecting as much sunlight as possible with little sunlight hitting the ground. We can’t complain, but would love more rain for corn grainfill. The insecticide application eliminated Japanese beetles and most disease. If you visit field edges where fungicide coverage was a scarce, you will find tar spot on lower leaf and gray leaf spot moving up the plant. Soybeans are hanging in there with no more insect pressure thanks to a recent insecticide application. Septoria brown spot is in the lower canopy.

Abigail Peterson unfortunately found red crown rot when scouting one of here cover crop side by side trials. I went there to investigate further and it is coming to light that this disease may have spread across Shelby County. We also found it in one field in Macon County.

Corn pollination is complete. The cracks in the ground have me hoping for rain soon for grainfill. I unfortunately found that spot for the first time on our farm on a few lower leaves. We will continue to scout to see if the disease progresses and if the fungicide application holds. No report on our soybeans this week, but instead I headed to scout soybeans in Shelby Co.

Corn is almost fully pollinated and recently had a fungicide/insecticide application. Soybeans have just reached R3 and Septoria brown spot is showing up in lower leaves. It’s almost getting dry again and we will need moisture for corn grainfill. High smoke in the air.