Scout continuously in corn and soybean field. Corn is the hot topic for the week. Corn Aphids have continued to move in the area and are taking their toll on certain hybrids. Soybeans have been fairly clean overall from insects or disease pressure

Continue to scout soybean fields for regrowth on waterhemp. Be on the lookout for aphids in corn fields. Scout corn fields once a week for disease presence. Soybeans are adding regrowth of vegetation but will return to R1/R2 in the near future. Be ready for applications when we reach R2 growth stage.

Million dollar rain, corn tassels, soybean blooms, Japanese beetles and more!

The last two weeks have been hot and basically dry. A rain shower 2 weeks ago has kept us going but we have been included in the drought monitor areas again. Crops are continuing to hold their own and look decent for what they have been through. With dry weather, roots are going downward, but with high temperatures this corn crop is growing upward in a hurry. A field I scouted the other day is 7 leave away from tassel. I saw another field with tassels just spiking out. Soybeans continue to be in their ugly slow growing stages. Hopefully some rain will come, and they can keep on growing.

After a busy week of finishing up planting, replanting and every other aspect of farming, we received a rain last night that will help us make it through the approaching heatwave.

After receiving and unexpected 1.5-5 inches of rain last Friday and Saturday, it has again been the waiting game to allow things to dry out. Top soil is extremely hard after the pounding rains we received last Friday. Crops are struggling to get out of the ground and very uneven stands. We could use a light rain to help with emergence.

Well, I wrote this on Thursday night and lost what I had written. I had not made it back, and what I had written last night was completely different. We were off to the races with a lot of growers finishing up, planting in mild to ideal conditions after the rain last week. Today, we got slammed with a huge rain, and more on the way.

It has been a whirlwind of a week. Cooler weather to begin the week and growers taking advantage of windows of opportunities to plant and finding fields that will plant.
Finishing the week with what was supposed to be a dry spell, but areas ended up getting rained out!

We are slowly starting to dry out. Areas are starting to miss the higher rain totals and there are a few more areas finding the opportunity to get into the field.

Unfortunately, very little to report this week, but I believe most of the surrounding areas of Champaign County are in the same situation. The good news is, we have warmer temperatures, so even as it rains, it will dry the top soil out quicker than when it was cooler. Stay patient with the soil. If you can, allow it to dry to ideal conditions for planting to avoid sidewall compaction when you plant or overall compaction.