More in Crop Protection

Although Goss’s wilt has not been detected in any corn samples submitted to the University of Illinois Plant Clinic this year, U of I plant pathologist Carl Bradley said that the disease may be present in the state. The disease is most likely to appear in fields that had severe Goss’s wilt in 2011 and that were planted to corn again in 2012.   Goss’s wilt is a bacterial disease of corn caused by the bacterium Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. nebraskensis (Cmn). It was detected in several Illinois counties in 2011.  ...More

The Climate Corporation has published an Outlook Brief on the risk of early fall freeze for double-crop soybeans. This year’s abnormally early winter wheat harvest has raised the possibility of double-cropping for many growers who typically do not have enough time to bring a second crop to maturity before the first killing freeze of the fall. To help those growers decide whether to double-crop soybeans, The Climate Corporation has published an analysis of the earliest and median first freeze dates for nearly 1,000 locations across the Corn Belt....More

An increase of just one degree in the average nighttime temperature during grain fill can cost an Illinois corn grower 3.6 bu. per acre, according to a recent study by The Climate Corporation. Its newly released Outlook Report quantifies the historical impact of nighttime heat stress on length of grain fill period and corn yield....More

 ...More

Summer annual weeds in many soybean fields are almost 3 ft. tall, according to University of Illinois associate professor of weed science Aaron Hager.   1) The most common weeds include horseweed/marestail, common lambsquarters, and waterhemp. Hager said they may have escaped preplant tillage operations,  preplant burndown herbicide applications, or 2) emerged following the last preplant tillage operation and before planting.  ...More

During the later stages of June and early July, it will become increasingly important to monitor corn and soybean fields for some important pests, warned professor of entomology and crop sciences Extension coordinator Mike Gray.   “For many areas of Illinois, the dry and hot weather makes this recommendation even more important because crops are increasingly vulnerable to yield loss under these stressful conditions,” he said.  ...More

The “Stand and Be Heard Anthem Singing Contest” by FMC has a new deadline. Participants can now enter through July 15. Students involved in agriculture can upload a video of themselves singing the National Anthem to www.FMCcrop.com/contest for a chance to win one of four scholarships totaling $25,000....More

Drought conditions around Indiana took a turn for the worse with 88 percent of the state now affected by ongoing dry weather, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor (http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_state.htm?IN,MW) released Thursday (June 14)....More

The International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) released its Medium-Term Fertilizer Outlook 2012-2016 today. The report shows that demand for fertilizer is steadily increasing in response to supportive agricultural market fundamentals, while expansion of supply is still delayed because of schedule slippages for about half of projects....More

The western corn rootworm season is progressing at an unprecedented pace, reports Professor of entomology and crop sciences Extension coordinator Mike Gray.   Reports of severe injury to Bt corn that expresses the Cry3Bb1 protein targeted against corn rootworms have come in from western Cass County. In 2011, similar reports of injury to Bt hybrids expressing this protein surfaced in other North Central states, particularly in Iowa.  ...More