Both corn and soybean fields are maturing well and looking promising… or they suffered from recent heavy rains/winds and are visibly struggling. While flooded fields have mostly drained over the past week, you can still see the evidence of high waters in bean fields where plants were drowning and are now painted in a layer of soil, or in corn fields showing N deficiencies and early dry down. Some areas that needed the precipitation have soaked it up and appear dry again. The precipitation received this month, coupled with the more mild temperatures, will really help the soybeans as they finish off grain fill. As the saying goes: Beans are made in August.

One insect I’ve seen a lot of lately is thistle caterpillar. Thistle caterpillar, the larval stage of the painted lady butterfly, will build a very distinctive web in soybean leaves and cause defoliation. Threshold levels for control have not been met in fields I’ve scouted, but one double crop field I visited had notable pressure. Per Iowa State University Extension, these caterpillars are a migratory pest, coming north from the southern United States and Mexico, and likely do not overwinter in our climatic region.