Live from the Field: June Scouting Report
The month of June has been a dry, hot, and quiet one for our 2016 interns. The scouts have really enjoyed watching the crop take off and grow out of its ugly duckling stage. They are doing a great job of finding issues and keeping us on our toes with questions. They were also very excited to enjoy their first rain day this season on June 22nd after mother nature dumped buckets of rain on us over night.
The yellow and stressed corn that we were left with at the end of May was not the same crop we saw across our territory in June. Our corn hit its growth spurt and brightened back up to that dark rich green color we all know and love. After receiving minimal moisture, we did observe some shriveling of leaves or ‘Onion Leafing’ as some choose to call it. This is the corn plants way of retaining the moisture within the plant and shading itself from the sun.
Our soybeans also look like a completely new crop compared to where we left off in May. The slow emergence we were seeing has been replaced with adequate stands that are on the verge, if not already, flowering in most areas. Percent of emergence has been consistently low across our territory and hopefully the plants that are growing healthy and strong will compensate for that so we can reach more record soybean yields come fall.
Looking forward into the month of July, insect and disease management become our big concern. Japanese beetles and European corn borers are just two of the many insects that could infest your corn fields. Japanese beetles are an iridescent copper and green color. These insects feed on the silks of the corn ear which prevents pollination from occurring on severe cases. European corn borers reproduce rapidly and feed on any above ground tissue in a symmetrical pattern. Gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight are a couple of the diseases that could also start to infest your corn fields in the coming weeks. If you think your soybean fields are safe out of harm’s way, they can easily be attacked by pests this coming July as well. Japanese beetles, grasshoppers and aphids are just three of many insects that enjoy feeding on soybean plants. Japanese’s beetles and grasshoppers feed on the leaf tissue while the aphids can be found under the leaves and on the stems feeding on the phloem or juices of the plant. Regular scouting of your own fields will give you a great idea of changes occurring and possible damage arising.
For help with insect or disease management in the upcoming month contact the Stutsman Agronomy team!