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.

It has been wet and very little if any planting has occurred in the last few weeks. Corn planted in April is up, although standing water has created dead areas that will require spot replants at very least. I’ve heard reports of 3″-7″ of rain throughout southern Illinois since May 1. Given the forecast, it may be a while before fieldwork can resume on non-tiled land.

Most acres still unplanted. This V4 corn is by far the largest I’ve seen. Other emerged corn is spiking-V2 at most. Have seen no beans emerged yet.