By Rebecca Vittetoe
Regional Update:
As June comes to an end, corn fields around the state are in the mid to later vegetative stages and soybeans are now mostly in the reproductive stages. Field activities this past week have included starting to make second cutting hay, post emergence herbicide applications, and in-season nitrogen applications. Observations or issues being seen in fields include yellow looking crops in the wetter parts of the state, herbicide injury, Japanese beetles, soybean gall midge, and low disease levels (anthracnose leaf blight, bacterial leaf streak, tar spot, septoria brown spot, and bacterial blight). Read on for more specifics on what extension field agronomists are seeing and hearing around the state.
"Most herbicide applications have wrapped up as soybeans enter reproductive stages and corn reproductive stages are not too far away. Most calls last week were on chemical misapplications or spray drift issues. Insect and disease calls have been low, but I suspect those will pick up soon. Gray leaf spot will be one to keep an eye out for in corn. Soybean gall midge is a pest to keep an eye out for in soybeans. Use the Crop Lookout tool on the Crop Protection Network to stay in the loop on what’s being seen across the state and U.S.! Corn and soybeans are both looking strong at this point, although lack of moisture has been a concern in some areas of the NW region. Precipitation over the weekend and the beginning of this week was welcomed, but these systems brought along some storm damage as well. Wind and hail damage have been reported. Severity has been extremely variable. Depending on the stage of the crop, extent of damage and crop insurance plans, next steps will look different for different fields/farmers. Talk with your agronomist and crop insurance agents to walk through your specific situation.
One of the big questions we often get with hail damage is whether to apply a fungicide because of hail, to go forward with a planned application or whether to forego the application completely. A common misconception is that hail-damaged crops will be at a higher risk for disease infection. Note that our fungal diseases like gray leaf spot in corn or frogeye leaf spot in soybeans do not require wounding to infect the plant whereas bacterial diseases will more commonly infect the plant through open wounds
Source : iastate.edu