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.

Those that were able to plant early are seeing emergence. The recent wet weather has created some planting challenges as farmers are trying to work around the stormy weather. The recent rain in west central Illinois has resulted in some standing water in fields and muddy field conditions.

The start of another growing season! Limited field activity for nearly two weeks, our most recent precipitation event on May 7th will continue this trend. Planted corn is reaching V1 and planted soybean emerging, but plenty of seed can still be found in bags. Unworked or sprayed fields are full of winter annuals including Butterweed. Reports of significant alfalfa leaf feeding in regional hay fields. In the two most recent growing seasons farmers harvested almost 100% of planted acres with few drowned out areas, that is not likely in this region in 2024.

Planting has paused due to wet conditions, but corn has started to emerge in fields that were planted earlier.

Some farms have been able to take advantage of dry pockets to get out in the field. Fields are still pretty wet this week from multiple rain events but warmer temperatures will be helpful in drying out.

Over the past week, the rainfall in my 3 counties – DeWitt, Piatt & Macon has varied from less than 0.5 inch to over 1 inch. Planting started again at the end of last week for a couple days then started again on Monday after the weekend rains.
Corn planted the week of April 10 is in V1 stage approaching V2 and soybean plants are in the unifoliate. About half the fields are planted at this time.

Much like many areas of the state, northwest Illinois has received plenty of rainfall in the past couple of weeks, but there have still been enough dry days that have allowed for decent planting conditions. About 10-15% of fields in this area have visibly emerging corn, and planting is still ongoing. Low spots in some fields do have some standing water.

Conditions in central to southeast Vermilion County are a little dryer than we are a bit further west in Champaign County. I did not see any ponded areas in fields during my transect, although there were some low areas that were a bit on the muddy side. In that part of the county, approximately 30% of fields have emerged and another 30% has been recently planted. Of what has emerged, fields tended to be fairly evenly split between corn and soybeans, with possibly a few more corn acres out of the ground. Of the remainder, most no-till ground has been sprayed, with a few exceptions. Emerged corn and soy fields ranged from VE to V1-2 for corn and VE to VC for soybeans. I did stumble upon a couple wheat fields, both of which appeared to be at full flower or just past. I also found several cover crop fields in the south-central part of the county, most of which had been terminated a week or two prior. The remaining cover crop fields I saw were likely recently sprayed or on the docket to be done soon, as I saw one rig running and the operator hoping for the rains to hold off a bit longer.

Rains over the last few days have prevented farmers from finishing planting their crop acres for 2024. The National Weather Service in Lincoln reported 0.38” of rain in the last 24 hours, and many low spots on fields have standing water. More rain is predicted for 5/7 and 5/8. Much of the soybeans and corn that were planted in mid-April have emerged. Soybeans in the area are in the VE growth stage, while corn in the area is in the VE to V1 growth stage.

Early this morning, a storm went through and left 7 tenths of an inch of rain at the Orr Research Center outside of Perry, IL. Many crop acres were planted early to mid April and appear to be doing well. Corn that was planted the week of April 8 is at the V1-V2 growth stage while soybeans planted that same week have their unifoliate leaves unrolled.