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
The rice is at green ring, and it is time for mid-season fertilizer. You may want to make any mid-season herbicide applications first or maybe a shot of 2,4-D amine with propanil on the levees. Make sure you are at least 3 weeks out from your pre-flood nitrogen application. Ordinarily this would not be an issue but with our delayed flooding from weather, you could look up 2 weeks into the flood and be at green ring! — Joey York
R1 and early R2 corn is looking good with very good soil moisture and rain on the way. Looks like we have made it a long way into the season without having to irrigate corn so that is a positive. It’s just about time to apply fungicide if you are an automatic fungicide guy; if not, make sure you are out in your fields scouting for disease pressure. — Joey York
ILLINOIS
Georgetown, IL
When applying fungicide to corn and soybeans, consider using a foliar fertilizer such as Sure-K from AgroLiquid instead of adjuvants. It is possible to have crop injury when spraying adjuvants after V8 and prior to full tassel in corn. — Tyler Smith
Princeton, IL
Continue staging your corn crop before spraying. Several fields I have looked at are quickly approaching 11 inches tall, which is the cutoff point for applying several post products. Be Safe! — Mike Denton
Walking a V7 stage cornfield with a grower, we found the presence of anthracnose leaf blight. 2 to 3 ounces of Stratego YLD will help with this type of situation. The field was getting resprayed for weeds, so his costs to apply the fungicide is minimal. — John Becker
IOWA
Sheldon, IA
XtendiMAX is being used around northwestern Iowa and early reports are looking good. A grower sprayed his bean field that was 10 feet away from a garden containing tomatoes, and the tomatoes showed no signs of drift. A week later they are still healthy as can be. The key thing is using the proper spray additives and nozzles as detailed on the label. — Adam Sauer
MINNESOTA
Fairmont, MN
When spraying Liberty soybeans, remember Liberty herbicide does not have any residual, therefore throwing in one of the Dual products that offers residual will help with control of late-season weeds. — Sam Geistfeld
Hancock, MN
With all the recent rain we have had in the area, it may be setting up the right conditions for white mold to develop at some point in soybeans. Although there are a few foliar options that are ok, the best option is Contans WG. This product kills the sclerotia in the soil. It should take out around 80% of the sclerotia, which will vastly decrease the likeliness of white mold the following year. The best way to apply this product is in the fall on crop residue and then work it into the soil. — Aaron Giese
Janesville, MN
R1 in soybeans is just around the corner. If you are worried about white mold, it is best to spray your fungicide at R1. One option is Domark at 5 oz/acre. It won’t take much yield increase to pay for this application. Once you see disease in the field, yield has already taken a hit. — Josh Bruns
LeRoy, MN
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
Hail caused some severe damage throughout the area during the overnight hours. A fungicide application to corn and soybeans should be the first idea on what to do to help protect the crop from disease entering through the hail damage. Fortix, Headline, and Equation, along with many other options, would work well for plant health and disease prevention. — Dave Timmerman
Olivia, MN
If you have big lambsquarters in your soybeans, many growers have said Treaty is the absolute best product to use on them in Roundup Ready or Liberty soybeans. If you have Xtend soybeans, Xtendimax or Engenia is the best thing. — John Scheibel
Thief River Falls, MN
Barley in our area is getting very close to heading out. Now is the time to be checking your fields daily for timing to apply your fungicide. The optimum stage for applying fungicides to protect the barley from fusarium head blight infection is when the spike is fully emerged from the boot. When the first spikelet from the boot is poking out, you’re only a few days away from spraying. — Jordan Swanson
Dry bean spraying is upon us, and when picking out which herbicides you will use, be sure to check the rotation restrictions. Herbicides like Raptor and Reflex have long restrictions to corn – 8.5 and 10 months, respectively. — Jordan Swanson
Winthrop, MN
Soybeans in our area are still under some stress in places. As you are spraying your herbicides, you can add in a micronutrient package at 1 qt/acre to supply needed plant food and potentially increase plant health. — Dean Christiansen
With corn being around the V5-V7 stage, farmers are sidedressing nitrogen. With the early rainfalls we have gotten, odds are that the fall and spring applied nitrogen has at least partially leached down in the soil. To be sure how much nitrogen is in your soil, it would be a good idea to take a soil nitrate test. For $5 per sample, it would be a good investment to see how much nitrogen is in your soil, and see if you’re short or not. — Tyler Gasow
If you are spraying Liberty, remember that you want it to be on a warm, sunny day to get a good burndown from it. 20 gal/acre of water is recommended to make sure that you get sufficient coverage since it is a contact killer. Do these things plus throw in 3 lbs/acre of AMS, and you will see great success from this chemistry. — Matt Vogel
MISSOURI
Bertrand, MO
If you have not thought about a fungicide yet on your corn or soybeans, you should. Consider using a product with two modes of action, with both preventative and curative activities and lasting disease control, resulting in higher yield potential. Many growers have seen good results with Stratego YLD at 4 oz/acre – in some cases a 3-4 bu/acre increase! — Albert Duenne
Hayti, MO
In southeastern Missouri, most of the Liberty Link soybeans are showing some leaf cupping, but new growth is not showing any symptomology. In one case, tissue samples have been sent off to lab to see if it is creating any difficulty. If so, what is creating it and what foliar blend would help stimulate plants? We are actively working to educate growers on the effects of temperature inversions on herbicide applications. — Danny Stevens
MONTANA
Sidney, MT
Growers who have Liberty Link crops should consider applying Liberty with 20 gal/acre of water and AMS at 3 lbs/acre for improved weed control results. Remember for canola, the application range is from cotyledons up to the early bolting stage. — Chet Hill
Consider adding something to your glyphosate when spraying your chem-fallow ground. Depending on weed pressure and weather conditions, farmers are using between 24-32 oz/acre glyphosate, plus 2,4-D along with a surfactant and AMS. The AMS has definitely been a big help with the control of weeds. — Chet Hill
NEBRASKA
Laurel, NE
Make sure you are doing a good job of cleaning out your sprayer between chemicals. A triple rinse plus a tank cleaner is advised. — Kody Urwiler
West Point, NE
It’s time to make sure you have your Flexstar products on as the rotation restriction to corn is 10 months. I really like Marvel as it does a great job, doesn’t give you such a high rate of Flexstar, but will still perform just as good as others. — Jacob Gubbels
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 Engenia or XtendiMax on acres that have volunteer corn, be sure to go out with a labeled product such as Volunteer or Select Max. Do not add crop oil as this may cause crop injury with the dicamba products. — Ryan Pierce
Hurdsfield, ND
Now is a great time to take some plant stand counts in soybeans, especially if you tried some check strips with different seed treatments or fertilizer. I’ve been out in the field this week and some of those differences are starting to show up. — Emily Kline
Lisbon, ND
If you have conventional or Roundup Ready soybeans planted and you have marestail growing, your control options are limited. FirstRate at 0.3 oz/acre will be your best option. It will also help control some of the large-seeded broadleaves like cocklebur and ragweed as long as the ragweed is not ALS-resistant. — Spencer Schultz
Mohall, ND
Barley flowers before the heads are emerged, so if you are a barley producer, keep an eye on crop development for proper application of Prosaro. — Ron Hefta
SOUTH DAKOTA
Aberdeen, SD
If you are looking for an effective 2nd pass option in your corn, many farmers have said Status is a very good way to go. These pictures are less than 24 hours after an application of Status at 4.5 oz/acre. — Tanner Johnson
Baltic, SD
The end of June is approaching quickly. If you are using Flexstar or a generic form of Flexstar, you need to finish spraying this by the end of June. The reason for this is Flexstar has a 10-month rotation restriction to corn. — Lee Fischer
Centerville, SD
There has been some top-dressing and sidedressing of nitrogen on corn. Be sure to run a pre-sidedress nitrate test to check how much nitrogen you need to apply to meet your yield goals. This test helps so you don’t over apply nitrogen and waste money or under apply nitrogen and run short when the corn needs it the most. — Travis Petty
Freeman, SD
Remember we are getting close to the Flexstar application cutoff time. There is a 10-month rotation restriction to corn. I don’t like seeing it sprayed out past about July 5th at the full 12 oz rate. A good program to run in Roundup Ready 2 soybeans is 32-44 oz/acre Powermax plus 8-12 oz/acre Battlestar (generic Flexstar) and 1 gal of Concentrated Crop Oil (COC) per 100 gal of water. Also make sure you are running a minimum of 15 gal of water. — Matt Zilverberg
Gettysburg, SD
Make sure when the corn gets past V5 that you are switching from Clarity to Status for crop safety. That said, it’s time to spray the weeds so get it done before they get too big. — Kyle Hawkinson
When spraying thistles in pasture or grass areas, GrazonNext at 24 oz/acre plus NIS at 1 qt/100 gal is the mix that’s been working the best this year. — Kyle Hawkinson
Huron, SD
If kochia is becoming a problem in your Roundup Ready 2 soybeans, using Cadet at 0.9 oz/acre will definitely boost kochia control. — Kyle Wiese
When spraying Liberty or Xtend beans, be sure to use the recommended nozzle to get good coverage on your target weeds. — Norland Hofer
Kimball, SD
New adjuvants are being added regularly to both the XtendiMax and Engenia labels. Make sure to check the websites frequently. For example, Ensure Elite (NIS, water conditioner, DRA and anti-foam) was added as a DRA to use with PowerMax and Select Max whereas before we would have had to run stand-alone products to cover requirements. — Jeremy Nedved
Watertown, SD
If you have algae in your water tank, use copper sulfate. It comes in a granular form. Farmer’s mix it in a gallon of water and then dump a little of that mix in with each fill of their water tank. — Russ Werning
The first cutting of alfalfa has been coming off now. Farmers in the area have been seeing a few aphids out there. A good and inexpensive option to use is a generic Warrior. Silencer or Kendo have been showing great results at a rate of 3.2 oz/acre. — Beau Wensing
WASHINGTON
Quincy, WA
Rabbit brush is becoming a real problem in areas that have a wheat/herbicide fallow rotation. It is hard to control once it’s in the fields because the chemicals that are effective have long residuals that are problematic to growing wheat. The best option is to control it at the seed source, which many times is in waste ground where residual is not a concern. Tordon 22k is a good control option for these areas at 1-2 qts/acre. — Devin Moon
