Southern Clinton County and into Washington has seen harvest begin more than the north half or Marion county. Quite a few farms are working on corn fields here. Corn throughout the region seems to have hit black layer and is still a little on the wet side for the most part, but harvestable. First crop soybeans are defoliating quickly and double crops are just beginning to see a few tinges of yellow while still filling those top pods thanks to the rains the last couple weeks. This late season moisture is delaying harvest now but will surely boost double crop yields. I have seen one bean field harvested and drilled (presumably to wheat) as of today.

The tropical storm blessed most of southern Illinois with somewhere between a quarter or even over an inch of rain, which is especially helpful to the double crop beans still filling their top pods. First crop soybean fields are yellowing but still a ways off from physiological maturity for the most part. Corn is still drying down; most is still not quite to black layer. Lots of silage has been cut in the past couple of weeks. Still not much in the way of harvest occurring in southern Illinois; I’ve only seen one corn field shelled and heard of one soybean field being cut.

Corn is solidly into dent(R5) but later planted fields still have milky kernels. First crop beans are still filling out pods, or aborting at the uppermost nodes due to the consistently dry weather. Just in the past week, some fields have started yellowing. Double crop beans are also in R6, and could benefit from rain if this tropical storm does blow up from the Gulf.

Most corn is settling into dent(R5) at this point. Haven’t found any to black layer quite. First crop beans are around R6, haven’t seen any fields with yellowing leaves this far south yet.

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.

Southern Illinois is wet. SIUC’s Belleville Research Center has measured over 12″ of rain so far in July, with >6″ coming Monday of this week. Fields that aren’t flooded are still heavily waterlogged. Most corn fields are at VT/Silking. About a quarter of fields were still in vegetative stages and one field with browning silks but that was an outlier. First crop soybeans are either starting to flower or are fully in R2 already. Double crop soybeans are V3-V4 and trying to get above the wheat stubble.

In St. Clair county, just about all of the corn has been planted, including some replants. Most corn is in V2-V4 range with a few outliers at V6. The majority of the first crop soybeans are in the ground, and I’d venture to say that by the end of the week the rest will follow. Most soy fields are VE-VC with a couple of outliers at V1-V2.

Over the past week wheat harvest has started across the Route 50 corridor and is well underway farther south. Some early reports show that despite fungicide application, the wet weather this spring has reduced yields below the expectations of early scouting reports. I’m sure by next week we will have a much fuller picture of that situation.

In western Clinton County, there is quite a bit of corn out of the ground, almost all of which is between V2-V4. I saw no beans past VC in the area.

I drove down to Carbondale earlier this week and would venture to say that almost all of the corn in the western side of southern Illinois has been planted, and around 75% of first crop beans. South central Illinois is farther behind.

While many fields were planted between rains during the last few weeks, there are still many unplanted fields in the region. Of the non-wheat acres, roughly a third of fields are out of the ground, mostly corn ranging from V2-V6. Another third have been planted and have not yet emerged or are just spiking, reflecting the recent planting push. The final third is unplanted, presumably left for first-crop beans since most of the standing crop is corn.

Strong winds from the last round of storms have contributed to a large amount of lodged wheat this season.

Last weekend conditions started drying up enough to allow field activity to kick off throughout southern Illinois. Since last report, early beans have been emerging and reaching ~V1-V2.

Also wheat has begun senescing throughout the region, about 1-2 weeks ahead of the usual pace. This could translate to an early harvest and double crop but weather over the next 3-4 weeks will have the final say.