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.
ARKANSAS
Augusta, AR
Corn is tasseling everywhere you look now. Folks have done a good job with irrigation with all that has been going on. We are getting ready to start watering soybeans and are still putting rice to the flood. A lot of bean planters have had to stop due to the lack of enough moisture to get beans up. — Joey York
Foliar disease is on the rise in corn. Common rust as well as isolated southern rust is beginning to show up. This is very early for southern rust in central Arkansas by about a month. Corn fungicides should be going out both as preventative and curative. This could be the perfect storm for disease with the tropical system coming up from the south. Any of the strobilurins with a triazole should be sufficient. Keep in mind a stand-alone application of propiconazole has not offered acceptable control in recent years. — Perry Galloway
ILLINOIS
Georgetown, IL
Septoria brown spot has been found in a few fields this week. With septoria being found early, some farmers have decided to go with a half rate of their desired fungicide now and a full rate later at R3. They are doing this to stop the septoria from progressing further up the plant and possibly destroying pods later in the season. — Tyler Smith
Princeton, IL
I have had a couple calls this week on spray compatibility issues with some generic post products. Many times, these problems can be avoided with the proper mixing order. Precision Labs has a neat app for your smart phone to help with this. Search for “Mix Tank” in the app store. This app also has the ability to integrate weather into it, capture use rates and maintain spray logs for easy record keeping. Be safe! — Mike Denton
The weather forecast has temperatures in the mid-nineties and little to no chance of precipitation. Weeds will harden off and be much tougher to kill. Different adjuvants may be required to get good performance. — John Becker
I looked at a non-GMO cornfield with a grower this week. He had yellow nutsedge in pond areas of the field. We decided to go with Permit at 2/3 oz/acre to get a handle on the problem. — John Becker
IOWA
Rockwell, IA
It’s important to keep track of when you are spraying your Flexstar on your beans. There is a 10-month rotation restriction on planting corn after applying any product with Flexstar in it. — Mike Jaeger
Sheldon, IA
Flexstar is a great product to use on soybeans for broadleaf control but be cautious with how late in the year you spray it. For northwest Iowa, you can spray up until July 1st. If you go past that point, you run the risk of carryover problems into your corn next year. — Adam Sauer
MINNESOTA
Fairmont, MN
Do you have a field with a history of sudden death syndrome (SDS) in your soybeans? Using the fungicide Preemptor at R1 (flowering) and again at R3 (pod set) with your post soybean application should help reduce or delay the situation. — Hans Hinrichsen
Hancock, MN
Area fields are seeing the peak flush of waterhemp right now. Strong residual products sprayed earlier have held these very well. For those acres with no residual, make sure to get good spray coverage and spray weeds when they are tiny so they don’t compete with the crop. — Adam Gibson
When spraying Liberty, it has been shown that spray coverage is improved by adding Latch (a drift control and canopy penetrating agent) to your tankmix. Adding 3-4 oz/acre to your tankmix will be beneficial, especially if you’re spraying when the wind is blowing at up to 10 miles per hour. — Aaron Giese
Janesville, MN
Today there were pop-up showers in our area that may have affected the chemical sprayed this morning. Be sure to check the radar before spraying and understand the rain fast times of the chemicals that you are spraying. — Ray Johnson
LeRoy, MN
Many of the corn herbicides are labeled to V8 corn. After that time we have to quit using surfactants. Without the right adjuvant, many herbicides don’t perform well. Make sure you are aware of what stage your corn is before spraying and what the label says about that product. — Grant Lunning
Weed for weed, volunteer corn can be the most costly problem out in your fields today. Volunteer corn killers cost a couple bucks and can be added to almost any tankmix. — Grant Lunning
Marshall, MN
In a number of the fields I have looked at in the last couple days, waterhemp is getting to the 2 to 4-inch range with a few closer to 6 inches tall. Now is the time to try to get control. In Liberty Link soybeans, use 32 oz and 3 lbs/acre of AMS. In any glyphosate-tolerant soybeans, use fomesafen at 12 oz/acre plus glyphosate at the full rate. Be sure to use AMS at 2 lbs/acre plus crop oil at 1 gal/100 gal. — John Wiese
If you are planning on spraying any form of Flexstar on your soybeans, it needs to be done before July 1st. There is still a 10-month rotational restriction going into corn next year and spraying fomesafen later in the season definitely enhances the risk of carryover into next year’s crop. — Jeremy Jensen
Olivia, MN
Taking tissue samples is a good way to check your fertility program. Send in samples multiple times each season as this will tell you what nutrients are likely limiting your yields. — John Scheibel
If you are using a volunteer corn killer in your soybeans, NIS will usually be the surfactant of choice in tankmix situations while crop oil is better with most straight volunteer corn applications. — Aaron Spronk
Thief River Falls, MN
I have been walking a few Xtend soybeans that were recently sprayed with XtendiMax and Roundup in the last couple of days. I have seen great results with weed control. Just remember to use the right drift reduction agent (DRA), correct nozzle, the correct pressure for that nozzle, and 10+ gallons/acre of water like these growers have done and you should have excellent results. — Jordan Swanson
Winthrop, MN
Soybean post-emergence herbicide spraying is starting up. Most post-applications are still tankmixing glyphosate in the spray tank. The other product we’re seeing farmers request is MegaGro. At 2 oz/acre farmers have observed a reduction in yellow flash, improved soybean growth after application, and improved weed control. — Tyler Gasow
We had areas hit with hail last week. Make sure to get out to assess damage, and talk to your agronomist to see if replanting is needed. There are still good varieties of soybeans for replant acres if needed. — Dean Christiansen
If you are looking to add a residual product to your tankmix in soybeans, look at adding Dual II or a generic version. This product can be applied up to the V5 stage and will give you added soil activity. If you already have some weeds that are emerged, you will have to tankmix this with a product with some burndown activity. — Matt Vogel
MISSOURI
Bertrand, MO
By the end of this week I would say that 90% of the wheat field soybeans will be planted in our area. We have experienced less replants at this point than at this time last year so far. — Albert Duenne
Several farmers are applying Liberty on their Liberty Link soybeans right now. They are seeing better weed control when they add some AMS in the mix. Check use rates on the AMS for dry or liquid. — Albert Duenne
MONTANA
Sidney, MT
A first for me, I found verticillium wilt on chickpea here in Richland county. Many producers don’t realize that many of the wilts and root rots come about during dry conditions as well. Please scout fields. — Chet Hill
NEBRASKA
Laurel, NE
If you are thinking about using Flexstar or Marvel post on your soybeans, now is the time to start getting it on as these products have a 10-month rotation restriction to corn. — Kody Urwiler
West Point, NE
After walking fields last week, here are some notes to remember for next year. Resicore looks great. Solstice has superior broadleaf weed activity compared to the rest of the HPPDs. Adding a little atrazine to these products is a huge deal! — Jacob Gubbels
Remember when running Roundup, it is always a great idea to add in MegaGro. This is a patented safener for Roundup. — Jared Steffensmeier
When running Flexstar we are up against the window for this product. There is a 10-month rotation restriction back to corn. Flexstar is a great product to use and alternatives can be a lot more expensive. — Jared Steffensmeier
Farmers looking to save money on a corn fungicide are often choosing Equation fungicide this season. Not only is it cheap, Equation offers great disease protection and plant health to add in with your corn post-chemicals. — Jared Steffensmeier
NORTH DAKOTA
Hillsboro, ND
When spraying Liberty, make sure to go with 20 gallons of water per acre. Better results are also being seen when adding 3 lbs of dry AMS per acre. — Ryan Pierce
Mohall, ND
Dicamba-tolerant beans would be the answer for the tough questions we have been getting. Growers like Xtend beans as XtendiMax will offer excellent results for kochia, buckwheat, and a lot of other weeds that Roundup is becoming ineffective on. Some products that we have been using locally have tremendous responses, and with adverse weather, tremendous crop response can’t be outgrown. — Ron Hefta
SOUTH DAKOTA
Aberdeen, SD
In fields with Liberty Link Soybeans, we are seeing great success with 1 qt/acre with 3 lbs of AMS. To get you through to canopy, consider a residual product like Zidua or Outlook. — Justin Hanson
Baltic, SD
We had big issues with white mold last year and local growers are starting to ask questions about it this year as well. When it comes to white mold, an option for the best attack is to put Contans out in the spring or fall of the year to actually kill the spores. Post-emerge, I would start spraying for white mold at R1 then again at R3. Taking a two-pass approach will give you the best plan to control white mold this year. — Tyler Koenig
Gettysburg, SD
When switching from DiFlexx or Status to spraying beans, use a good tank cleaner. Many farmers in the area like Erase. — Kyle Hawkinson
Check your nitrate levels in your spring wheat before baling it. — Kyle Hawkinson
Huron, SD
Don’t forget about Buctril or a generic option as a post product in corn. Although this product has been around a long time and there are many new and improved products, Buctril has two things that can make it a good choice. One is it has an aerial label; most of the newer products do not. Second, it has a large application window – up to tasseling. If you have to use Buctril, the weeds are probably getting big, so bump the rate to a pint and half. Also make sure you are spraying on a warm, sunny day. — Garritt Dykstra
There seems to be some confusion as to what adjuvants we are running when it comes to XtendiMax and PowerMax. When we are spraying the two at the same time, use a water conditioner such as Correx at 2 qts/100 gal as well as an NIS such as Intact at 2 qts/100 gal. When spraying straight XtendiMax, use a product like Lockamba at 2 qts/100 gal of water. — Kyle Wiese
Kimball, SD
Now is the time to get a fungicide on your corn crop. We have seen great returns on a V6-V8 application. Half rates show return on investment at this timing in this area. Priaxor, Stratego YLD, Preemptor, or Quadris are some good options. — Mike Erickson
Watertown, SD
Don’t forget about the additives when using Roundup and Callisto. A farmer I talked to forgot the additives and didn’t have a good kill. Use AMS at 1.7 lbs/acre and NIS at 1 qt/100 gal of water. — Russ Werning
Corn in the area has been growing fast. When picking your herbicides, make sure to follow the label’s height restrictions. Many herbicides are now past labeled heights. — Beau Wensing
WASHINGTON
Quincy, WA
Wheat harvest is fast approaching and growers are making sure that their machinery is in top condition. Now is a good time to look over those yield monitors and take the time to calibrate them when you do finally get in the field. This is a great way to quantify those things you did a little differently this year. If you’re not equipped with a yield monitor, a good plan is to harvest your “test plots” separately, and get a scale weight, so in the heat of the moment it doesn’t get forgotten and you miss out on this year’s data. — Devin Moon
