From The Rows | Aug. 23, 2023 — Mark Bernard (East)
Day three of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour had us deadheading south of Springfield IL an hour to get a look at the farthest south route the Pro Farmer Crop Tour runs in IL. The driver was experienced scout Kristi Goedken from Pioneer working out of Earlville IA. We started near Blue Mound, went south to Taylorville, across then up to Jacksonville, finally cutting our route off in Beardstown. We pulled samples in Christian, Sangamon, Morgan, Macoupin, Greene, and Cass counties.
The corn yields on our route today continued a trend of slight disappointment overall. One has to realize that some of the area sampled, while it raises respectable crops, probably isn’t considered the best ground IL has to offer. The samples from our route today were all from cropping district 6. Our high corn yield was 223 bu./acre high in Morgan Co. The low on our route was 144 bu./acre in Cass Co. Our route average today on corn in IL was 190 bu./acre. Nearly all the corn samples were half milk line or better in maturity. No rainfall necessary to get this crop to the finish line.
The soybean pod counts in the 3’x3’ were more impressive today, even though we had a double crop sample that pulled the average down significantly. The high sample for our route was 1663 in Christian Co. with a low of 120 in Macoupin Co. Our overall average was 1382 pods with the majority of the beans well into the R6 stage. Again, rainfall won’t impact the soybeans we saw on our route today very much. What you see is likely what you’ll get.
Disease pressure in both crops was generally light as was insect pressure. There were some corn fields exhibiting very low levels of gray leaf spot, northern corn leaf blight, physoderma and some of the newcomer, tar spot. Given the advanced maturity of the crop we saw on our route, the diseases should have little economic impact. Fungicide applications were likely made on many of these fields. Most of the disease was limited to below the ear.
We discovered something in the corn by accident. When exiting the vehicle to sample fields today, our glassed steamed up immediately due to the high heat and humidity. Since it was impossible to see, I headed into the corn using the Braille method. I stumbled over a stalk, and it immediately snapped. I hit another one and the same thing happened. Given the prior moisture stress these plants have been under, they’ve cannibalized the stalks as they often do. The recent heatwave will only expedite that process. Something to keep an eye on as we near harvest moistures. No one enjoys harvesting down corn.
On the soybean side, very little disease was noted. Some occasional SDS was apparent on a few stops. Not enough to be a problem but still there. Japanese beetles were occasional guests in the fields but nothing like they were back in the earlier years on Tour. Kristi’s sharp eyes spotted some small insects that had just hatched out of some eggs on a soybean pod. They were stink bugs, likely the green variety. While they generally are non-economic, they can damage pods and cause them to abort.
Time to head off to sleep as we make the final push for this year’s Pro Farmer Crop Tour. See you tomorrow night.
