The Ag PhD Crop Scouting Reports are supplied by contributors to Hefty Seed Co., based in Baltic, South Dakota. Find more online at www.agphd.com and www.heftyseed.com.
ILLINOIS
Georgetown, IL
Remember that fungicides are to prevent disease, not to cure them. Getting fungicides out at full tassel in corn is the best time for your highest return on investment. — Tyler Smith
Princeton, IL
Don’t forget your volunteer corn control when spraying your beans. Spray it earlier rather than later because weed for weed, volunteer corn has been shown to rob more yield than 1 individual plant of any other weed. Fusilade is the best on volunteer corn, but Se-Cure has been providing a great value in recent years. — Matt Denton
I was out with a grower scouting soybeans and he asked how to differentiate between redroot pigweed and Palmer amaranth. One of the differences is redroot pigweed has small, fuzzy hairs and Palmer does not. Palmer stems are usually smooth and hairless. Either way, Cobra was the solution! Be safe! — Mike Denton
I’m starting to see Japanese beetles in soybeans fields this season. Start scouting your fields today and use Hero at 4 oz/acre for moderate pressure or use 5 oz/acre if you have heavy pressure. — Matt Denton
IOWA
Sheldon, IA
Many farmers are commenting how the soybeans are much shorter this year and they fear they are behind. What we are noticing is many of them just have shorter internodes, which just means less height overall versus last year. This usually has no correlation to yield. — Adam Sauer
MINNESOTA
Fairmont, MN
I have been in some fields this week that received moderate hail damage. On the corn, we recommend to hold off on any fungicide application because of the current growth stage. By applying fungicide at this stage, there may be a risk of crop injury of ear development, causing possible lower yield potential. Do not include any adjuvants if fungicide is applied as we are quite certain that you could cause heavy yield loss. We do recommend adding a fungicide at VT as we have seen very good yield bumps most of the recent years. You need to make this call based on the weather conditions. — Steve Draper
Hancock, MN
Area fields are suffering from weed escapes. With the contact killers, it looks like coverage is the issue on bigger weeds. With contact killers such as Liberty and Cobra, you have to completely soak these bigger waterhemp and lambsquarters to get them. I am seeing lower leaves and branches re-growing because of poor coverage. With the systemic killers like glyphosate, XtendiMax, and Engenia, some of the small weeds just are not getting hit and bigger weeds are only getting a couple drops to wound the weed. Raise the gallonage and spray pressures. It appears to me it all comes down to coverage. — Adam Gibson
LeRoy, MN
It is now time to start spraying fungicide on your beans. They are at R2 or R3, which is perfect timing. — Grant Lunning
Marshall, MN
Liberty has worked very well with the heat we’ve had the last few days. By now all Liberty applications should be wrapped up. Liberty is not a residual herbicide so there won’t be any chance of spraying any more Liberty on the soybeans if you have regrowth. Cobra would be your last option for waterhemp control. — Dave Timmerman
Olivia, MN
The last pass of herbicide is starting to go on the soybeans. AC-97 or MegaGro are good products to put in the tankmix to help stimulate growth. Many farmers I’ve talked to recently believe the beans could really use it right now. Both products also contain a patented safener for glyphosate that will help the plant process the herbicide. — John Scheibel
There have been reports of soybean aphids in soybeans and cercospora in sugar beets in the area. Make sure you are scouting your fields for these and other problems. While you need to see bugs before you spray an insecticide, fungicides are the opposite and are best used as preventative treatments before there is an infection. — Aaron Spronk
Waterhemp is really showing up in fields. No matter what you are spraying, this is one you definitely want to get when it is small. This is because the taller it gets, the more growing points you will have to kill. This weed can often grow one to two inches per day, so monitor it closely so you can spray while it is small. — Tony Hagen
Thief River Falls, MN
After scouting some soybean fields this morning, I am starting to see some leaf blight and septoria brown spot in spotty areas in a few fields. Soybeans are just starting to flower, so we are approaching the R1 stage. Now would be a great time to apply a fungicide to stop or prevent the spread of any more disease. — Jordan Swanson
Walking in some soybean fields today, soybean aphids are starting to show up in fields. The second spray of glyphosate will be happening over the next week or two, so be scouting your fields to see if you need to add an insecticide with the glyphosate. A product like Lorsban is a great knock on soybean aphids for a reasonable price. — Jordan Swanson
Winthrop, MN
With the flowers showing up in the soybeans, now is the time to start thinking of a fungicide application. We have seen a lot of benefit from an R2-R3 application. With a generic market, there are cheaper fungicides that are proven for a great ROI. — Tyler Gasow
MISSOURI
Bertrand, MO
On 7-7-2017, the Missouri Department of Pesticide Control issued registrants and/or distributors and retailers to immediately stop all sales of all dicamba containing products labeled for agricultural use, including new dicamba formulations: XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology, Engenia herbicide, and FeXapan Plus VaporGrip Technology herbicide. — Albert Duenne
Hayti, MO
Insect and disease pressures are building, and our current moisture levels and temperatures are conducive for both. Scout fields early and often. Japanese beetles and bean leaf beetles are being widely reported. These can be controlled for around $2.50 an acre and insecticide can be added with most other applications. — Danny Stevens
MONTANA
Sidney, MT
After visiting with a few producers this past week, I wanted to review a little on ascochyta blight on chickpeas. I have been seeing yellowing of the plant from the bottom which is more a wilt disease or root rot type of disease. The leaves I have been seeing may be from some herbicide burning or wind damage but not necessarily the circular lesions with the black spores. Please be scouting and talk with an agronomist with samples or pictures so they can verify if it is ascochyta blight. — Chet Hill
NEBRASKA
Laurel, NE
There are getting to be a few fields that are going to need another pass to clean up waterhemp. Likely you will be looking at either Ultra Blazer or Cobra. — Kody Urwiler
West Point, NE
We’re seeing escapes on the waterhemp and pigweed, and just like last year, the size of the weeds was a huge deal. Because of the size of our beans, guys wanted to hold off their last spray. This has proven to be costly for many as we can’t consistently kill 12-inch tall weeds with the tools we’ve got. — Jacob Gubbels
NORTH DAKOTA
Hillsboro, ND
We are seeing aphids in area fields. Either a 3.84 oz rate of generic Warrior or a 5.2 oz rate of Brigade would be good options. If going with Brigade, you will have spider mite protection and a little more residual compared to the Warrior. — Ryan Pierce
Webster, ND
Farmers have been seeing spotty, light colored corn plants in their fields. It is nothing to get excited about. Yellow top is caused by twisted whorls from rapid growth. Once the plants open up they are lighter colored. Photosynthesis will kick in and they will darken up. — Joe Ramer
SOUTH DAKOTA
Baltic, SD
I have been out in quite a few soybean fields and am starting to see flowers. If you are concerned about white mold, I would put your first pass of fungicide out now and then again at R3. — Tyler Koenig
Freeman, SD
With soybeans in the area hitting the R1 stage (first flower), applications of most herbicides will have to stop. Don’t take a chance and hurt the plant while in a reproductive stage unless weeds are out of control. — Matt Zilverberg
Gettysburg, SD
If you are spraying your beans for the last time and see any grasshoppers, a good option is to apply Silencer at 3.2 – 3.84 oz/acre, depending on size. — Kyle Hawkinson
Huron, SD
There are quite a few fields I’ve seen lately that would qualify for a re-spray on Liberty. Remember that Liberty is only labeled up until R1, which means our window is closing very soon when it comes to re-spraying. — Kyle Wiese
Kimball, SD
Soybeans are nearing R1-R2 in our area. Make sure you check your maturity before you spray. Many herbicides (including XtendiMax and Engenia) cannot be used after full flower (R1). — Mike Erickson
Watertown, SD
Corn in the Watertown area is reaching chest height and the rows are closing in. Seeing a few guys using Buctril at a rate of 1 pt/acre for those hard to control weeds. — Russ Werning
If you are spraying XtendiMax, make sure that you are increasing your water volume to 15 gal/acre. This will help with some of the bigger weeds. — Jack Beutler
WASHINGTON
Quincy, WA
Pre-bloom alfalfa seed sprays are going now. Cobalt Advanced for spotted alfalfa aphid and Dimethoate for lygus are excellent choices. — Danny Hopkins
I have been seeing some wheat fields that have a major Russian thistle problem and will be challenging come harvest time to get a combine through. A pre-harvest burndown with glyphosate is a good option in this situation. Most farmers are using 22 oz/acre of a 5.5 lb glyphosate product with 1 qt/acre of NIS. This must be 7 days before harvest, and not before the crop has dried down, otherwise injury will occur. — Devin Moon
