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
Scouting your fields regularly often gives you big returns. Catching insect outbreaks early reduces stress on your crop and protects your yields. Plus, with rock-bottom insecticide prices it won’t take too many bugs to justify the added expense. If you have another application planned for weeds or disease protection, scout first as you may save a trip if harmful insects are in the field and an insecticide could be added to the tankmix. — Tyler Smith
Princeton, IL
When scouting fields, try to walk in a zigzag pattern instead of straight lines. This will help you get a better representative look at the whole field. — John Becker
IOWA
Rockwell, IA
Please review and double check the adjuvants taken into your personal inventory from prepay versus the needs for “plan C” from recent weather events and planting changes that have occurred. Adjuvants are cannot be used apples to apples in what they do for assisting crop protection chemistries. Different adjuvants are required by different tank mixes. — Paul Helland
Sheldon, IA
When switching from pre chemicals to post, make sure you are getting your sprayers fully cleaned out. Doing a triple-rinse in your tank may get a majority of the residue out, but adding a tank cleaning product will help even more! When doing this, remember to charge and clean your booms and pull your screens to ensure that you don’t have any excess buildup or blockage. Wear your proper PPE while doing this as many of these tank cleaners are corrosive. — Nathan Kloft
KANSAS
Garden City, KS
With a late first cutting and high hay prices, this would be a great year to try to push yield and quality on the remaining cuttings. One way to do that is with a top dress on regrowth. Pro-Germinator and Sure-K coupled with some micros (depending on what your soil tests show) have proven to increase yield and hay quality. — Chris Lobmeyer
MINNESOTA
Fairmont, MN
Corn spraying is approaching fast. Giant ragweed always seems to be a weed issue in this area. Stinger at 4 oz/acre is a good tankmix when going against giant ragweed. — Sam Geistfeld
Hancock, MN
Many growers are using the HPPD chemistry family in corn this time of year (Callisto, Laudis, Impact etc.). If temperatures are very warm when spraying, you may want to reduce the amount of surfactant you are using slightly. For example, 1 gal/100 of crop oil concentrate is generally recommended with Callisto. If the temperatures are pushing 85 plus degrees, you may want to drop that to around a half gallon per 100 gallons of water. Check the label of the product you are using to see how low you can and should go. — Aaron Giese
LeRoy, MN
There is going to be a lot of sidedressing soon, and it would be a great idea to do a pre-sidedress nitrate test. That way, you will have a great idea of what you have in the soil and what you don’t. — Grant Lunning
Olivia, MN
There is a lot of volunteer corn showing up in soybean fields. I would suggest using Volunteer at 4 oz or Se-Cure at 5 oz per/acre with 32 oz of PowerMax and 1 gallon of crop oil per 100 gallons of water. If you are not spraying a dicamba product, adding AMS in with a volunteer corn killer helps as well. — Brandon Howard
Quadris or a generic is starting to be applied on sugar beets. The rate is 12- 14 fl oz per acre. This helps with rhizoctonia pressure. Rhizoctonia can be even more prevalent as temperatures begin to rise. — John Scheibel
Thief River Falls, MN
Spring wheat spraying will be in full swing this week. Be checking for any leaf disease that might be present but keep in mind that fungicides work much better at preventing disease than they do at curing it. An application of a propiconazole at 2-4 oz can provide some great early protection again rust and tan spot. For just a couple bucks more, we’re seeing some growers choose Nexicor that contains three modes of action and provides even more protection. — Jordan Swanson
Winthrop, MN
There are sensitive crops that have emerged in the area. When spraying your herbicides, make sure to use a drift control product to avoid off target movement. Intact, Lockamba 2.0, or Sedate Max all do a good job. — Dean Christiansen
MISSOURI
Bertrand, MO
I think we will begin wheat harvest in our area the first week of June. I am looking forward to hearing wheat yields. — Albert Duenne
Hayti, MO
Some wheat in the area is nearly ready to harvest. For double-crop soybeans, a good bradyrhizobia inoculant is recommended at planting. This can be applied as part of your seed treatment or as a planter-box product that contains talc and graphite, such as ABM’s GraphEx SA. Along with the rhizobia, which creates additional nodulation, inoculants usually contain other beneficial bacteria like various strains of trichoderma to aid the crop through different adverse conditions. Multiple strains are used so they can flourish in different soil conditions. A few extra investments in your double-crop beans this year, along with a decent wheat price, can help make your double-crop acres more profitable this season. — Danny Stevens
MONTANA
Great Falls, MT
With the recent rains and cool weather, many growers are choosing a protective fungicide application to keep rust out of their wheat fields. Nexicor has been the most common choice. It is a 3-mode of action fungicide used at a rate of 3.5 oz/acre. — Cory Ballard
Sidney, MT
I am getting many questions on control of wild buckwheat and field bindweed in small grains. The herbicides farmers say have been working the best this year include Affinity BroadSpec + LV6, GoldSky + LV6, Huskie Complete, WideMatch, Supremacy + LV6, Wolverine Advanced, and Talinor to name a few. Make sure to check on crop rotation restrictions on some of these herbicides if pulse crops, for example, are in the rotation. — Chet Hill
NEBRASKA
Seward, NE
We are quickly moving into soybean post season. While this may seem early, a lot of the weeds we have in the area can be difficult to control. We need to get out there in the next couple weeks to control these weeds now and then mix in some form of residual to carry you further into the year – hopefully into canopy. — Devin Prochaska
West Point, NE
Volunteer corn is getting thick and large in some of the soybean fields in the area. If your pre-emerge herbicides are keeping your broadleaf weeds in check, one option is to go ahead and just spray for the volunteer corn alone. This may be more effective because a lot of the PPO products on the market will have some antagonism with the performance of your volunteer corn products like Clethodim or Select Max. Use the labeled rates and make sure to add crop oil and AMS for best results. — Mike Wiese
NORTH DAKOTA
Mohall, ND
After past rains and the higher temperatures, the wheat crop has dramatically changed for the better. We also have a new flush of weeds that are growing at a tremendous pace. In almost every field, kochia is the number one problem. It is old hat, but keep WideMatch or Starane in the tankmix. Rates should at a minimum of 12.8 oz per acre and are much better at a pint. — Ron Hefta
SOUTH DAKOTA
Freeman, SD
A lot of guys are cutting alfalfa in the area and many are finding alfalfa weevil larvae. Generic Warrior at 3.84 oz/acre is a great cost-effective way to get rid of them. — Lee Dockendorf
Gettysburg, SD
Kochia plants in our area are growing with a vengeance. Water is your cheapest and most effective tool in the sprayer. Make sure you are using enough water volume and the right adjuvant for your application. As we get hot and dry, it will be even more difficult to control these weeds. Get a good kill now while weeds are smaller and easier to control. — Eric Butz
Huron, SD
The storm system last Friday evening that moved across central South Dakota packed little rain but lots of wind. Many soybean acres lost stands due to wind/dirt shear. Stand counts for those fields are a necessity to figure out the plan of action for the affected fields. — Alan Williams
Kimball, SD
The wheat is rapidly approaching heading in our area. Don’t forget to get out at 10-15% flowering and get that fungicide on to help prevent diseases such as head scab. Products such as Prosaro or Caramba will work great. Generic Folicur products are good on rust prevention but a definite step down on head scab protection. — Jeremy Nedved
Watertown, SD
If you missed your pre on your soybeans, consider doing Warrant at 3 pints per acre. This is a residual only with no burndown activity. If you have weeds up, you may have to spike in Cadet at 0.5 ounces per acre or another herbicide that fits your weed spectrum. — Beau Wensing
WASHINGTON
Quincy, WA
Cereal leaf beetle is showing up as far north as Almira. 1.92 oz of a 2 lb Lambda product is effective with two cautions. 1) Spray early in the morning when CLB is actively feeding and before they seek shelter from the heat of the day. 2) Be very aware of neighboring bees. Spraying early will help protect bees as they are not as active in the early morning. — Dave Dye
