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
Everything at a standstill due to heavy rainfall. Soybeans still need to be planted. Residuals are breaking, so many beans need post-emerge herbicides with more residuals. Nitrogen needs for corn and rice are spiking with no traditional way to apply. Spoon feeding aerial onto wet soils may be our only option. Always use a nitrogen stabilizer! — Perry Galloway
We are approaching 6-7 weeks out from 90% emergence date on rice and we have not been able to get the pre-flood nitrogen out because of wet soil conditions. If we are not able to get it out in dry ground before the next rain event, we will roll up gates, catch the rain water and spoon feed urea at 100 lbs a week for 4-5 weeks. Not ideal, but that’s where we are at. — Joey York
ILLINOIS
Georgetown, IL
If you have marestail that has slipped through your burndown, your best bet for control is FirstRate. Even with that you will probably only see about 50% control, but this is still better than no control. — Tyler Smith
Princeton, IL
You may have noticed some brown cotyledons of soybeans this spring. This is a “halo effect”, and can happen in soybeans treated with ILeVO especially when planting is followed up by cool wet weather. On many that I have looked at, the first trifoliate is emerging and they look fine. This has been an excellent spring for sudden death syndrome (SDS) in beans to develop and was an excellent year for your beans to have been treated with ILeVO. — Mike Denton
Black cutworms are working their way through the central part of Illinois. Please be diligent in looking for cut off corn plants. Some farmers are beginning to pick up an insecticide such as Asana XL for their treatment option. — Paul Becker
IOWA
Sheldon, IA
When scouting your fields for what stage your crops are in, remember that in corn the first leaf has a rounded tip while all others will have a pointed tip. In soybeans, V1 timing isn’t until the first trifoliate is exposed and unfolded. — Nathan Kloft
MINNESOTA
Breckenridge, MN
Now would be a great time to go out in your fields and tissue test your growing corn plants! When tissue testing corn in the seedling stage, remember to take the whole plant. — Tia Johnson
Fairmont, MN
Farmers in the area are asking about using Resicore as an early post application for the corn. Resicore is labeled for up to 11-inch tall corn. The corn in the Fairmont area has gone from 5 or 6-inch corn last Thursday to 10 to 12 inches on Monday. Make sure you scout your fields before spraying. — Hans Hinrichsen
Hancock, MN
Having compatibility agent on hand can be a big help in case you have mixing issues. It’s a good idea to have things like this on hand to avoid potential problems. — Aaron Giese
Janesville, MN
Many farmers are asking questions about whether they should be replanting their soybeans. In these cases, we can’t judge the replant just by driving by and looking at the field. The best thing to do is get out and do some stand counts and see what is actually out there. This is an article that I found to be very informative and helpful in these scenarios. — Josh Bruns
LeRoy, MN
Remember, products like Flexstar, Warrant Ultra, and Prefix have a 10-month rotation restriction corn. Don’t damage next year’s crop with something you’re doing this year. — Grant Lunning
Olivia, MN
The corn is growing very quickly due to the heat. One question I have gotten is, “Can I still spray dicamba on my corn?” In many cases it is getting to the point where you do not want to be spraying an unsafened dicamba. — John Scheibel
There may be some new fungicides available in the coming months or years for cercospora leaf spot in sugar beets. Some of these may or may not be ones that the sugar beet co-op is recommending. — Aaron Spronk
Waterhemp is starting to come up in fields. It is important to spray this weed when it is small because it can develop many growing points. In corn, Status at 5 oz/acre gives you two modes of action and is very affective on waterhemp. — Tony Hagen
Thief River Falls, MN
The Ag PhD Field Guide app for your smartphone or tablet is a great tool to help you identify weeds and insects in your fields while scouting. You can compare photos and read descriptions to help with identification. — Rachel Klein
Ragweed is becoming tougher to control with glyphosate alone in soybeans. A good choice is to tankmix in a half rate of Flexstar (6 oz/acre) on your first application. The key is to get the ragweed while they are 2 to 3 inches or smaller to get good control. — Jordan Swanson
Winthrop, MN
The first cutting of alfalfa is underway in our area. When regrowth begins, it will be a good time to scout for insects and test for nutrient deficiencies. Insecticides such as Kendo or Brigade are doing a great job this season for a low cost. Also applying a foliar micronutrient package has been popular this spring as it has shown good increases in tonnage and quality the last few years. — Dean Christiansen
Many growers have been coming in with thistle problems in their grasslands. If you have thistle problems in CRP type grasses, Stinger and Milestone are great options. If you are looking to spray your pastures, look at using either Tordon or Grazon as they are safer products to spray around livestock. — Matt Vogel
MISSOURI
Bertrand, MO
According to some area farmers I talked to, the wheat that was planted later last fall is yielding in the 90’s with relatively good test weight. I have no reports of 100 bushel/acre wheat at this time. There was some damage caused by a late freeze we had this year. — Albert Duenne
Farmers using QuickRoots on their soybeans have seen positive returns. QuickRoots is a live microbial that enhances root mass, stem mass, and vigor. Along with a good quality seed treatment, growers have noticed a healthier plant from the start. — Albert Duenne
MONTANA
Sidney, MT
It seems like we’ve had breezy conditions every day. Pulse crops are sensitive to small grain herbicides and with a lot of spring wheat herbicide spraying going on with, herbicide drift is something to be cautious of. I’ve spoken with several farmers who say adding a product like Latch at 4 oz/acre has been helping reduce fine spray particles, improving spray deposition and canopy penetration. — Chet Hill
I’ve received many calls from producers asking about which adjuvant to use with Assure II, Select, or generics. One of them needs to be used as it will increase the control of the grassy weeds, but check the label or talk with your agronomist as each will be used in different situations. — Chet Hill
NEBRASKA
Laurel, NE
Corn in the area is growing rapidly. Take some time to scout your fields and determine what post chemistry you will need to add to your glyphosate. — Kody Urwiler
I’m seeing some marestail coming back to life in the corn. Make sure you’re scouting your fields so you have the right herbicide in your tank when you spray. — Rusty Reifenrath
West Point, NE
We’re seeing a lot of marestail out in corn that needs to be cleaned up. Getting control of your marestail at this time is not cheap, but trying to cut corners can be very costly. I’m hearing a lot of guys who want to use just an HPPD (Callisto, Laudis, Impact, and Solstice). This is not the correct choice to take out marestail. A switch to other products like Status or DiFlexx would be your best choice. — Jacob Gubbels
NORTH DAKOTA
Hurdsfield, ND
Dry conditions and low weed pressure have growers questioning their usual wheat herbicide program. I haven’t been seeing a lot of grasses, so scout and be selective on which fields receive a grass herbicide. Weed control is a yearly commitment; skipping a year can lead to more challenges than it’s worth in the future. — Emily Kline
Lisbon, ND
Remember when spraying fungicides on corn early, such as V5 timing, you’ll only need a half rate since the plants are still small. — Adam Ladwig
Mohall, ND
The spring wheat in our area looks great. A lot of guys are getting ready to use 28% as a topdress foliar feed for wheat. Remember to add Agrotain or a generic equivalent to help minimize nitrogen loss and for qualifications in the conservation security program (CSP). — Ron Hefta
SOUTH DAKOTA
Aberdeen, SD
As I’m out in fields here in northeastern South Dakota, things seems to be stressing from the lack of moisture. The beans are handling the stress better but the corn is really starting to brown up. — Justin Hanson
Baltic, SD
Waterhemp is starting to show up in local corn fields. You have many options to control this weed. Some popular products to control this weed are Callisto, Laudis, Impact, and Status. — Tyler Koenig
Centerville, SD
We still have farmers in the area doing some burndown ahead of soybeans. Para-Shot or Helmquat, which are generic Gramoxone products, have been the go-to herbicide for a fast and quick burndown. These products work even better when the weather is really warm and with some crop oil spiked in. — Travis Petty
What stage is your corn at today? If you are in the V4 to V7 stages, you might want to consider using 2-4 oz/acre of Priaxor fungicide. Growers have noticed that when Priaxor was applied early, they have had good disease control and improved plant health. Priaxor has 2 modes of action for protection from early season anthracnose infections and has mobility within the plant. With the type of year we are having, added protection is a good investment. — Ryan Kusser
Freeman, SD
I got my first report of bean leaf beetles doing some pretty good damage on small soybean plants. Generic Warrior at 3.84 oz/acre will take care of them, but will only give you a little residual. — Lee Dockendorf
For the silage producers around the area: corn is right around that V3 – V5 stage. This would be a good time to spray RyzUp SmartGrass at 0.5 oz/acre to gain some additional tonnage. — Matt Zilverberg
Gettysburg, SD
I have been talking with a few producers and hearing of some buckwheat in the area on flower ground. One option to control this is to add Vida at 1-1.5 oz/acre along with AMS at 3 lbs/acre, plus MSO at 1 gal/100 gal. — Kyle Hawkinson
Huron, SD
Some of the pre-emerge herbicides in the area have not worked as well as anticipated. This is mostly due to the lack of rainfall that pre-emerge herbicides require for activation. Regular scouting will be very important in order to keep on top of the weeds that will start escaping. — Kyle Wiese
To keep algae from growing in your water supply, add some copper sulfate to keep the water clean. — Norland Hofer
Kimball, SD
Spartan Charge is a great option before sunflowers. 6 oz/acre gets you close to 1 oz of Aim. For the best burndown results, use an MSO and 15 gal/acre of water. — Mike Erickson
Watertown, SD
If you need some help on certain weeds like lambsquarters or waterhemp, you can add 0.5 oz/acre of Cadet with your glyphosate plus AMS and 1 qt/100 of NIS. — Jack Beutler
When you start picking up your post-emerge herbicides for Xtend soybeans, be sure to have your proper adjuvants on hand. Different tankmixes have different adjuvant requirements, for example: Roundup tankmixed with Xtendimax requires a drift agent like Intact plus a water conditioner like Correx. Also, you need to have the supplemental label, specimen label, and a printed copy of the approved tankmix partners 7 days prior to application. — Beau Wensing
WASHINGTON
Quincy, WA
Peas are blooming all over the basin. Spraying on a foliar fertilizer like AC-97 has really shown positive results in yield gain. — Danny Hopkins
