Regional Crop Update 5/28
May 28, 2024
Cedar/Scott County
With 99% of planting completed post herbicide applications have started. While the wet weather has held sprayers off for the time being, it looks like we will get a window in the next week to make most of those applications. Corn has been growing rapidly as we are roughly 100 GDUs ahead of average since April 15th. Pre herbicides should be active with the rain we’ve received but don’t let the lack of weeds prevent you from making that post herbicide application. Continue scouting for early season disease pressure as we continue to have ideal conditions for disease growth.
Jackson/Clinton County, Iowa
Planting has all but wrapped up around the area as well as pre emerge herbicide applications. Memorial Day weekend brought some more rain into the forecast and the area seems to be experiencing a variable crop season due to variable weather conditions. Intermittent heavy rainfall and moist planting conditions in some areas have caused emergence issues due to crusting, but if we continue to catch some rains, those problems should correct themselves. There are some corn fields across the region approaching the V4 stage and I am confident when the fields dry up once again, sprayers will begin rolling on the first of post emergent herbicide applications.
Sperry, Iowa
Southeast Iowa has been playing a game of cat and mouse with the weather this past month. Through the intermittent rains growers have managed to get 95 percent of the crop in as of Friday. Most of the early crop looks really good, but there are select cases where growers pushed the envelope on planting and caused some emergence and root issues. SE Iowa has just over 660 GDUs as of Monday along with over 17 inches of rain in some places. Looking forward most growers need a couple more gentle rains to soften the ground and help get soybeans up and running. Rain along with the heat this next week will push the crop along rapidly as we approach post-emerge spraying.
Galva/Camp Grove
Rain in Northern Illinois was sparser over the last two weeks, with areas accumulating 1.2-2.2”. This allowed most growers to finish planting the rest of their acres, or at least reach the home stretch. Corn planted on April 24th has accumulated approximately 430 GDUs and is staged at V4. Soybeans planted on the same day are reaching V2. Most fields are 30 days removed from their PRE herbicide pass, so it is time to start evaluating acres for a post herbicide application. Layering residual herbicides is critical, especially with the wetter spring we’ve had. When the crop is big enough, even if there aren’t any emerged weeds, don’t be hesitant to pull the trigger.
Kasbeer & Annawan
The 2024 crop continues to progress quickly thanks to above normal temperatures up to this point for the month of May. Several soybean fields across the region have their second trifoliate opened and the earliest planted corn fields have entered the V5 growth stage. Pre-emerge residual herbicides applied prior to the last week of April have ran their course and control from the latest April applications is beginning to dwindle as well. Adequate soil moisture and heat units have helped accelerate microbial growth, thus increasing the degradation rate of residual herbicides. Several weeds including waterhemp have also been taking advantage of the warm days by growing much quicker than we are acclimated to for late May. Be on the lookout for increasing weed pressure, as some post emergent herbicide passes will be best served to increase rates, as long as the label allows, to ensure a good kill. Total GDU’s for the month of May sits at 392 or 98 units above the average, 539 since April 15th compared to the average of 426 and 785 in 2024 well above the average of 572.
With 99% of planting completed post herbicide applications have started. While the wet weather has held sprayers off for the time being, it looks like we will get a window in the next week to make most of those applications. Corn has been growing rapidly as we are roughly 100 GDUs ahead of average since April 15th. Pre herbicides should be active with the rain we’ve received but don’t let the lack of weeds prevent you from making that post herbicide application. Continue scouting for early season disease pressure as we continue to have ideal conditions for disease growth.
Jackson/Clinton County, Iowa
Planting has all but wrapped up around the area as well as pre emerge herbicide applications. Memorial Day weekend brought some more rain into the forecast and the area seems to be experiencing a variable crop season due to variable weather conditions. Intermittent heavy rainfall and moist planting conditions in some areas have caused emergence issues due to crusting, but if we continue to catch some rains, those problems should correct themselves. There are some corn fields across the region approaching the V4 stage and I am confident when the fields dry up once again, sprayers will begin rolling on the first of post emergent herbicide applications.
Sperry, Iowa
Southeast Iowa has been playing a game of cat and mouse with the weather this past month. Through the intermittent rains growers have managed to get 95 percent of the crop in as of Friday. Most of the early crop looks really good, but there are select cases where growers pushed the envelope on planting and caused some emergence and root issues. SE Iowa has just over 660 GDUs as of Monday along with over 17 inches of rain in some places. Looking forward most growers need a couple more gentle rains to soften the ground and help get soybeans up and running. Rain along with the heat this next week will push the crop along rapidly as we approach post-emerge spraying.
Galva/Camp Grove
Rain in Northern Illinois was sparser over the last two weeks, with areas accumulating 1.2-2.2”. This allowed most growers to finish planting the rest of their acres, or at least reach the home stretch. Corn planted on April 24th has accumulated approximately 430 GDUs and is staged at V4. Soybeans planted on the same day are reaching V2. Most fields are 30 days removed from their PRE herbicide pass, so it is time to start evaluating acres for a post herbicide application. Layering residual herbicides is critical, especially with the wetter spring we’ve had. When the crop is big enough, even if there aren’t any emerged weeds, don’t be hesitant to pull the trigger.
Kasbeer & Annawan
The 2024 crop continues to progress quickly thanks to above normal temperatures up to this point for the month of May. Several soybean fields across the region have their second trifoliate opened and the earliest planted corn fields have entered the V5 growth stage. Pre-emerge residual herbicides applied prior to the last week of April have ran their course and control from the latest April applications is beginning to dwindle as well. Adequate soil moisture and heat units have helped accelerate microbial growth, thus increasing the degradation rate of residual herbicides. Several weeds including waterhemp have also been taking advantage of the warm days by growing much quicker than we are acclimated to for late May. Be on the lookout for increasing weed pressure, as some post emergent herbicide passes will be best served to increase rates, as long as the label allows, to ensure a good kill. Total GDU’s for the month of May sits at 392 or 98 units above the average, 539 since April 15th compared to the average of 426 and 785 in 2024 well above the average of 572.