Not much has changed in the way of crop growth across Logan, Menard, and Sangamon counties over the last week. Nearly all of the earlier-planted corn has tasseled, with the rest of the corn crop not too far behind in some areas. Soybean growth remains strong as well. Some insect damage can be found on leaves, but nothing that will affect yields at this moment.

This past week I had the opportunity to travel a larger area of northern Illinois. Generally, both corn and soybean crops appear to be in good shape. This comes as somewhat of a surprise when considering what the crop has endured to this point (near midway) in the growing season. Earliest planted crops include R1 corn and R2 soy. In recent trips across the countryside, I see acres of soy and often come across a field that from a windshield survey appears to be suffering from dicamba drift, so much so that I stop and visit the field. I recognize that we are far removed from the June 12th application deadline of Soy dicamba chemistry and most post corn applications. Yet the HG 4 (growth regulator) symptoms are showing up on new trifoliate leaves in many northern Illinois fields. Some fields I know, and most I expect, are Enlist beans. Why are we still getting the wrinkling and white tipped leaves? This may turn into an insect year, while scouting this week my checklist included Western corn rootworm beetles, Northern corn rootworm beetles, Bean leaf beetles, Japanese beetles, Potato leafhoppers and Grasshopper nymphs.

The rainfall has been quite variable across my 3-county area with some areas receiving less than 25% of normal and other areas with near-normal precipitation. In the dry areas, crops are showing the moisture stress in the heat of the day. Early planted corn is in the R! stage, silking. Wheat harvest is done and double-crop soybean planting is finished, this is early for my part of the state.

The rain that we got late last week was welcomed with corn starting to tassel. This week, most of the corn around here has tasseled and has silks out. Soybeans are entering the R3 stage as plants are putting little pods in the upper nodes. For the month of June at the Orr center, rainfall was less than 50% of what we normally get. Hopefully we get more rainfall this week to further help the crop.

I took a loop around northern Champaign County this week. With the exception of seed corn fields, all corn I saw was at least V7 or larger, with most in the V10-V12 range. Many fields are showing tassels, and I found one field at full R1 with silks emerged and pollen shedding. Soybeans were anywhere from recently emerged, generally in an apparent replant situation, to R2. Despite the wet conditions that caused these delayed plantings, conditions are now a bit on the dry side in that part of the county. Although not visible in every field, a good portion of the corn fields were showing some rolled leaves in the mid-afternoon heat. The issue was not widespread quite yet, and soil moisture could be found only a few inches deep in most fields I visited. But that said, I think most would welcome a nice 0.5-1 inch rain shower in the coming days.

There has been almost no rain for a month. Early planted corn is pollinating. Japanese beetle populations are building and more being in field edges. Mid-May planted soybeans are just R1 and recently had a post herbicide application. The only disease found on corn was Physoderma brown spot. No fungicide needed or applied. Fingers crossed for some rain in the coming week.

The last two weeks have been hot and basically dry. A rain shower 2 weeks ago has kept us going but we have been included in the drought monitor areas again. Crops are continuing to hold their own and look decent for what they have been through. With dry weather, roots are going downward, but with high temperatures this corn crop is growing upward in a hurry. A field I scouted the other day is 7 leave away from tassel. I saw another field with tassels just spiking out. Soybeans continue to be in their ugly slow growing stages. Hopefully some rain will come, and they can keep on growing.

Goodfield had 3.6” of rain over the last week. Ponds are once again visible in the fields. The moisture will help alleviate the Dicamba damage on the soybeans locally. Lower temperatures this week will give some added relief. The moisture and low temps may set up for a conducive disease environment. Scout fields and evaluate disease progression.

The rain that hit this week has made the county extremely variable field to field on moisture levels, but the crops said thank you! Wheat is being harvested and/or was harvested before the rain. The heat is taking a little break, but the sun is still shining!

Corn fields are showing signs of stress and leaf rolling during this high heat environment. Several fields were observed with tassels appearing and some silks. Another good indicator of how even fields will be are how uniformly we see tassels. I suspect there will be fields with non-uniform flowering. Soybean fields are growing nicely. I observed one 30″ field that was near closing the row. Soybeans will be flowering very soon if not already. Fungicide applications for corn will start soon. Soybeans still have some time. Spider mites could be a potential threat if the continued hot and dry weather persists.