In Northeast Illinois fortunate farmers and farms received measurable rain, those that didn’t continue to watch their crops struggle in drought conditions. While most are familiar with a corn plants defense mechanism of leaf wrapping to lessen moisture loss, soy has defense mechanisms as well. Under moisture limited conditions or excessive temperature, soybean plants will flip over their leaves. This exposes their silvery-green underside which reflects more light. This process can reduce temperature stress for the plant until it experiences more favorable conditions. Even under stress, I noted the first flowers on Soy plants this week. While our preference is to have a stress-free growing season, stress during the vegetative stages of both corn and soy are less likely to have yield impacts when compared to the reproductive stages if conditions improve. Scouting V10 corn, I noted an insect egg mass on an upper leaf hatching nymphs. What did I find? Confirmed by Dr. Nick Seiter, University of Illinois entomologist, as Stink bugs.