Corn is in the dough to dent stage and generally looking good. Fields that have experienced hail after the ear formed are showing ear rots. Corn leaves tattered in every field across the area. No tar spot evident, yet.
Full season Soybean are in the R4-R5 stages and plant health is good. Double crop soybeans are in bloom with small pods forming at the lower nodes.

First crop soybeans range from beginning to set seed at R5 to some fields still in late R2 just starting to think about putting out pods. Double-crop soybeans are in R2, full of flowers.
Some corn is full dough stage and starting to firm up kernels but not quite to R5 yet. Later planted corn is still transitioning from the blister to the milk stage, R2-R3.

As we move into the later stages of grain fill, the corn and soybean crop in Douglas County is currently looking very healthy, overall. During my drive around the county, I saw very few soybean fields with drowned out areas. Soybean maturity in fields surveyed ranged from R5 (beginning seed) to R6 (full seed), with some more mature fields starting to show leaf senescence in the lower canopy. Most corn fields surveyed were in late R4 (dough) to early R5 (dent) and had full ears with minimal kernel abortion at ear tips. Soil moisture conditions were good, with drying in the top couple of inches but still plenty of plant-available moisture in the root zone.

We have reached that time of year that we sit back and see how this crop is going to continue. We have several weeks for fungicide applications coming to an end. The aphids have disappeared, leaving behind some disappointing carnage in some corn fields. We will see how much damage was done come fall.

Milder temperatures this week are great for pods and kernel fill. A few sprayers/airplanes in the air. Keep monitoring for insects and disease.

This week precipitation has been mixed in northeast Illinois, areas north of the Rte. 80 corridor have received multiple rainfall events while areas south have received limited to no precipitation. Soy continues to progress, reaching R5, beginning seed stage. Depending upon variety maturity and planting date, most corn fields visited were R3-R4 to R4-R5. An unwelcome discovery this week was significant Tar spot symptoms in several corn fields. The decision on using a fungicide treatment is difficult in later maturity stages, especially when we are near R5, the dent stage. A reminder that grain fill in the dent stage often extends to 30 days or more. However, with declining commodity prices farmers need to consider their ROI (return on investment) when considering a or additional fungicide applications. A tool available to aid in the decision making is the Corn Fungicide ROI Calculator from the Crop Protection Network. The purpose of the Corn Fungicide ROI Calculator is to share results from university uniform corn fungicide trials conducted in the United States and Canada and allow farmers and others in the agricultural industry to calculate the potential return on investment (ROI) for corn fungicide application across a variety of user-defined factors, which is based on research data included in this calculator. The two variables needed are expected corn yield and marketing price. The calculator can be accessed at https://cropprotectionnetwork.org/fungicide-roi-calculator

This past week has brought some drier weather to east central Illinois than the week prior. In the eastern half of McLean County, soil moisture conditions looked good, overall, during my survey. Most fields have started to dry in the top couple of inches of the soil profile, but some parts of low-lying and/or poorly drained fields still had soils that were at field capacity. Compared to some of my surveys in recent weeks in neighboring counties, I saw very few soybean fields showing spots of plant stress due to waterlogging and/or soil-borne pathogens. A few of the corn fields I visited were showing early signs of stalk rot in some plants, although this seemed to be largely limited, at this time, to those wetter fields I mentioned earlier. Something else I saw in several of these wetter corn fields was corn ears containing both brown, senesced silks and unpollinated silks. The tassels in these fields did not appear to be shedding any viable pollen, which may mean it’s too late for these silks/ovules to make grain. Most corn was in the late R3 (milk) to early R4 (dough) range, but I did find one field at early dent (R5) and another still at blister (R2). Soybeans ranged from R3 (beginning pod) to late R5 (beginning seed), with most falling in the latter half of that range.

Crops across Logan, Menard, and Sangamon counties continue to grow and develop nicely, thanks to last week’s rain showers. Despite having high winds during some storms, there does not appear to be any wind damage to the crops. Many soybean fields are in the R4 stage, with some earlier planted fields beginning to develop seeds (R5). Much of the same can be said for the corn crop as well. Most fields are in the R4 dough stage, with some of the earlier planted fields beginning to dent (R5). The alfalfa across the area has grown back nicely as well, with last week’s rains and this week’s cooler temperatures helping. Most fields look to be in Stage 3 (early bud).

The season is winding down but diseases seem to be flaring as previously applied fungicides fade. Tar spot is gaining ground with cooler temps. It will flourish on corn that is in later growth stages. As corn approaches R5, many may choose not to spray. Downy mildew appeared in soybeans. Fungicides are useless against it. Overall, crops appear in good shape with April corn still looking better than Mid-May planted corn.

In general, all the crops are looking good with very few issues other than weather related problems. Last week’s surge in aphid populations is now a thing of the past with rainstorms, disease and predators sending the populations into a nosedive.