This week came in as a warm one! Growers are finishing planting with the favorable conditions we have had here in Knox County. For me personally, we completed nine plots total last week, two of which are research plots for Western Illinois University and Williamsfield FFA a local FFA chapters Land lab. Sprayers stayed parked for most of the week, and we started to get them ready for post emerge applications.

It has been a very busy couple of weeks as growers in Champaign County are wrapping up corn and soybean planting. I would estimate planting is approximately 95% complete for both crops. We’ve been fortunate to have a stretch of beautiful spring weather—mild temperatures, low humidity, and minimal rainfall—which has allowed for excellent planting progress. Soybeans are at the emergence to VC growth stage, with unifoliate leaves fully expanded. Corn ranges from emergence through V2, with some early-planted fields nearing the window for post-emergence herbicide applications

Everyone around here is hoping to not get any rain, so we can dry out to be able to plant again, maybe this weekend. There has been no planting or other fieldwork here since Mid-April. I attempted to take soybean populations and found a few drowned out spots that may need replanted. Some slower soybeans still trying to emerge in cool, wet conditions. Populations were running from 103,000 to 131,000.

Rain the last few weeks has limited activity in many parts of LaSalle County, but this week it has dried out a bit and we’ve had perfect weather for planting. Most have completed any planned spring tillage, and since Monday (5/5/25) I have seen many planters/sprayers out in the fields. The research and demonstration plots at Illinois Valley Community College will be planted this Friday (5/9/25). I anticipate many growers will be taking advantage of the sunny, warm weather in the forecast for the next week to finish planting.

Corn and soybean planting in northern LaSalle county both seem to be 60-70% completed with some producers having all their soybeans planted and are now focused on the corn. I’m expecting to see most producers in the area to wrap up planting most of the 2025 crop in the next 2 weeks- maybe less.

Early planted corn and soybean plants have emerged. Corn is in the 2-leaf stage, nearing the 3-leaf stage. Soybean plants are in the unifoliate stage with their first trifoliates developing. Surveyed 200 fields across my 3-county area, and approximately 75% of the fields are planted. Planting progress did vary widely from 30 to 100% complete due the spotty nature of this spring’s rains.
Ponding is evident in fields where the heavier May 3 rains fell. My Black Cutworm monitoring, according to the IL Natural History Survey, predicts that feeding damage may become evident around the Memorial Day weekend.

Planting is progressing in west central Illinois, though at a slower pace as most fields are already planted and only a few remain. Corn has begun to emerge, and soybean rows are becoming visible.

Northwestern Illinois is in the home stretch of planting. I’ve been able to row quite a few corn fields, and beans have been reported as being up and out of the ground or just about. There are few fields that have yet to be planted.

Weeds such as giant ragweed and common lambsquarters are present in fields I’ve been in, and in one field that had not been worked yet, I saw the invasive weed poison hemlock, which was also present in the adjacent ditch. This serves as a reminder to maintain edge-of-field areas, as they can serve as entry points for invasive species.

This is a good time to scout for seedling pests, particularly in fields that have been slow to emerge/develop – as we get into warmer weather over the next couple of weeks, plants can outgrow a lot of seedling insect problems. So far, I’ve only received a smattering of reports.

It’s been wet. There were a couple of breaks in the rain long enough for anhydrous and burndowns to be applied, even a little early tillage, but no planting activity as far as I’ve seen. The wheat looks decent considering the 15+ inches of rain that have fallen since April 1st. In the last week, the wheat has headed out and started to flower.