There have been reports of cutworm activity in Saline County.
Fields at greatest risk to cutting and economic damage are in the one- to four-leaf stage of plant development. An early warning sign of potential economic damage includes small pinhole feeding injury in leaves (caused by the first three instars). Do not assume that all Bt hybrids offer the same level of cutworm protection. A nominal threshold of 3% cutting of plants has traditionally been used as a point at which growers should consider a rescue treatment. For more information, go to extension.cropsciences.illinois.edu/fieldcrops/insects/black_cutworm/.

Cover crops and winter wheat have tripled in size over the past three weeks at our Macon County demonstration site, and beneficial insects are beginning to make their spring appearance. Field activity also is picking up in the area, with planters rolling and sprayers operating in fields I passed.

Temperatures this week ranged from the low 30s to low 80s, with strong winds up to 40 mph and the potential for patchy frost from Saturday night into Monday morning. We received 0.75 to 1.5 inches of rain over the past week, which continues to chip away at the drought, leaving an estimated 3 to 6 inches still needed. Fields have been too wet for much activity the past several days, and additional rain could keep things slow into early next week.

There was a burst of field activity late last week ahead of the rain, with some progress made on tillage, pre-emerge, and anhydrous ammonia applications, though overall activity has been lighter as growers wait for better soil moisture for planting. No known soybeans have been planted locally yet, early-planted corn has started to spike, and reports indicate wheat is already heading in southern Illinois, with several local fields not far behind.

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.

Started off the week with rain, so field conditions have not been optimal for fieldwork. Our area is officially out of the drought. With the ground being moist, people are still preparing for when it becomes dry. While expecting more rain this weekend, the hope is to get conditions dry enough for next week.

We have kept ourselves busy by helping with FFA events, “Land Use Council 4 Envirothon” for Fulton County, Hancock County, McDonough County, Knox County and Warren County, and Ag in the Classroom, “Ag Day for fourth graders.”

Soil temperatures have risen to around 62 degrees. Temperatures are staying warmer throughout the night, which will help keep soil temperatures up and continuing to rise.

Until last night, many farmers were in the field over the past eight days applying ammonia or burndown treatments, while others were tilling and planting. It was a very good run, but limited rainfall raised concerns about delayed or uneven corn and soybean emergence. Over the past week, about 135 GDDs have accumulated, with most occurring in the past three days due to warm temperatures. Just under an inch of rain fell overnight, providing needed moisture to support emergence. Field conditions are now too wet for fieldwork for the next several days, and it is too early to evaluate plant stands.

Planting is in full swing in southern Illinois, with some areas to the east finished or close to finishing. Many areas could use rain, which would help get the crop up and going.

“Work around limited rain delays” best describes grower activity in the west-central Illinois area.

Rainfall over the Easter weekend varied from a tenth to 3 inches across the region. By midweek, many of our drier areas were able to initiate fieldwork and rack up some impressive planting progress.

The period during and immediately following that rainfall resulted in lower temperatures, but conditions warmed by midweek, with the week ahead also looking warm.

Where fieldwork was delayed past midweek, efforts appeared largely focused on the spring battle to eliminate purple and green from the field. Disks, field cultivators and sprayers dotted the landscape.

Growers in drier regions made significant progress on soybean and corn planting over the past week, though activity was not limited to this period alone. Late March soybean planting appears to have increased in 2026, resulting in my west-central Illinois colleague, Andrew Malcomson, Beck’s agronomist, observing emerged, early-planted soybeans late in the week. An increase in stale seedbed preparation also appears to be at play, making it difficult to initially detect planted fields during windshield surveys.

The evening of April 9 brought additional rainfall that initially appeared poised to curtail most fieldwork heading into the weekend. However, growers were soon back at it, and an initial forecast for additional rainfall just ahead of Tax Day increasingly appears less likely to materialize.

Weather is warmer and drier than normal, and I think we will start to see planters rolling a little early this season. In this report, I would like to focus attention on the carry-over effects of 2025 trials on 2026 cereal rye cover crops. The first image is the 0-N treatment from a 2025 MRTN trial. The second image is a 0-N treatment alongside a 200-N treatment in the same trial. In both images, the biomass on the 0-N control is significantly less than where we used commercial nitrogen. This begs two questions: how much nitrogen would be lost from near optimum N rates if we weren’t growing a cereal rye cover behind it? And just as importantly, if we are trying to build soil health, how important is commercial nitrogen to drive biomass production? The last image is a little harder to interpret, but it shows the residual strips of greater cereal rye biomass associated with a 2025 in-furrow nitrogen fixing bacteria treatment applied with only water. This begs another question: what is the long-term value/impact of biological treatments in the soil biome? As usual, agronomy comes with more questions than answers and a lot of ‘it depends’, but we are seeing some clues to help us figure out what’s happening.

Daytime temperatures are fluctuating from the 40s to the 80s. With 3-5 inches of rain from last week and 0.4-1 inch this week, soil conditions have been moist. Due to cooler nights, soil temperatures are not optimal for planting conditions. While days become warmer and soil gets up to optimal conditions, we have laid out and accomplished proper protocols for the Sulfur 2.0 trial and HumiK trials.

With the Sulfur 2.0 trial, in one field we are comparing ATS vs. AMS vs. untreated. In another field, we are comparing AMS vs. 32%. With these comparisons, the goal is to find what better fits the sulfur. In another field, we set up our HumiK trial, which allows organic matter to build in the soil.

The field we are trialing has a very sandy-like texture, which lacks organic matter, giving us the opportunity to experiment on whether this product will benefit this field and how to build it up to get the most yield possible.