Taranis was showing areas in a double-crop soybean planting population on farm trial that had lower populations. Final stands ranged from 104,000 to 194,000. Overall, this ISA double-crop soybean (V4 growth stage) on-farm trial looked great; however, in some areas of the field, emergence could have been hindered by compaction. Corn had completed pollination and had entered the grain fill stage. Regular crop soybeans were at the R1 to R2 growth stage. No disease was found in both the corn and soybeans. There were minor signs of Japanese beetles in both corn and soybeans. Overall, it appeared to be dry at this location, but crops had not quite started to show signs of stress. It rained a bit during my field visit.

This week farmland in the northeast region received additional precipitation and winds over the July 4th weekend. Rainfall totals reported ranged from 1+ inches to isolated fields that received 9+ inches. When sharing an update, the challenge is whether to report on the part of the field that has been unaffected (or even enhanced) by the rainfall, or the parts of the field that have been killed or damaged by ponding or saturated soils. Depending upon where you look, there are outstanding portions of fields, but if you evaluate the field as a whole and note the unevenness and drowned out areas the field overall rating diminishes. Soybean are at R2 or full flower, at this stage the plants begin a period of rapid dry matter and nutrient accumulation. This week shorter season or earlier planted corn hybrids have reached R1 or pollination and scouting for foliar leaf diseases has intensified. This job will soon be less pleasant when pollen shed increases. In fields scouted, I have yet to find symptoms of Tar Spot. I have noted black specks on corn leaves, but the Tar Spot stromata (lesions) cannot be brushed off. What I have found are either wind deposited dirt or possibly insect frass or excrement. If you can wipe off the black spot on a leaf it is not Tar Spot. Follow our weekly reports for updates on Gray Leaf Spot, Tar Spot, Southern Rust and other diseases found in both corn and soy across the state.

With the ample rainfall received over the past month, some fields in the area with low spots still have standing water and areas where the crop will not recover. It is advised to be diligent about scouting as fungicide application decisions are being made. As has been shared in other reports, the Crop Protection Network has useful resources that can aid in that decision making process. These include disease maps, the crop risk tool, and a fungicide ROI calculator: https://cropprotectionnetwork.org/

The corn in this field is exhibiting some potassium flashing on older leaves, which is a common occurrence in this field and tends not to have a negative effect on yield for this particular field. Little to no disease presence was noted, as only one northern corn leaf blight lesion was found.

The soybeans in this field (R2 growth stage) are exhibiting cupping on the upper canopy, and the cupping is widespread across the entire field. These are Enlist soybeans that were sprayed with Enlist + Liberty ten days prior to this field visit. There are other soybean fields within a roughly three-mile radius that are also exhibiting widespread cupping, along with fields that are not exhibiting any cupping. This could potentially be due to off-target dicamba movement.

The warm temperatures across the County over the last few days appear not to have slowed down crop progress at all. At the Hartsburg Research Plot in northern Logan County, soybean growth is mixed throughout the field. In the parts where there was standing water, plants are in the V5 stage, while the rest of the field is at V10. In the parts of the field that had standing water, there are many empty spaces where plants have not developed or failed to emerge. Volunteer corn is the most present weed at the Hartsburg Research Plot this year, given the late planting date. Other weeds such as Palmer amaranth, Redroot pigweed, and Common waterhemp are also starting to show themselves. While there are Japanese beetles in the field too, they do not appear to be causing significant damage to the leaves, with only a small handful of plants and leaves showing major signs of damage.

From late April to late June, this area was one of the wettest areas of the state according to Trent Ford. Crops were planted in the early window in April and look great. Later planted crops had much more difficulty emerging between heavy rains. Lots of delays and replant decisions have been made through this region between I-70 and Rt 50. The precipitation also stymied the harvest of what was otherwise a relatively early maturing wheat crop. Heavy winds and hard rains battered kernels from heads even if the wheat avoided lodging. Subsequently, planting of doublecrop and even some first crop soybeans stretched into the first week of July. I saw a drill still running on July 7th, planting first crop beans and not replants. Folks had to decide whether to mud in double crop soybeans or wait for rutted fields to dry. Thankfully the moisture persisted long enough that those mudded in plantings didn’t turn to concrete before emergence. I’ve seen more tilled double crop fields this year than I can ever remember, which is a testament to the wet conditions during harvest.

The good news is our subsoil moisture is fully recharged after a dry winter. Corn that got planted in our early window is at VT or even on the verge of R2. Despite the recent hot temperatures, it has established a good root system and does not seem to be showing signs of heat stress. Late planted corn (Late May to June) didn’t have as much time to establish a strong roots and shows some signs of heat stress, sometimes just in patches of thin soil and some entire fields.

At the beginning of the week, we still struggled to find field conditions good enough to make post emerge soybean herbicide applications. With the warm temps and rather windy days, we were able to sneak in a couple dry days to finish our herbicide applications the 4th of July long weekend. We focused some time on doing some extensive crop scouting in corn and soybeans due to the weather patterns we have experienced and the disease model tools. While crop scouting, we did unfortunately find some insects such as corn aphids in the lower part of the canopy paired with diseases like common rust, grey leaf spot (GLS) and northern corn leaf blight (NCLB). Scouting over the next few weeks will be critical as we gear up to make recommendations on fungicide and insecticide applications whether by ground or aerial. Rain started off the long weekend on last Thursday night, with accumulations between .5-3.5 inches of rain across the region, with the northern part of our territory receiving the highest amounts. Our focus this week is to continue to scout and respray any escapes we have had from our post applications on soybeans. Wheat is very close to mature, if not ready or harvested already. The wheat that is not done already will be harvested this week. A little relief in temperatures, into the 80’s, will make for more desirable baling weather.