Scout’s Honor Weekly Report: June 26-30
This week our crop scouts experienced a much needed rain day and as always are excited to share their knowledge and findings from this past week and each week to come. *Every Friday during the summer we will feature their scouting reports on the blog and our social media accounts; check in to see what’s happening in our community. We look forward to seeing the changes in the agriculture world this time of year and hope that you find the information to be helpful.
Stage
Corn is now in stages V8 through V10. Soybeans are now moving into the reproductive stages throughout all territories. V9 is an important stage on a corn plant because the plant has collared about half of its leaves. This stage is also important because the growing point continues to grow up the plant and the brace roots emerge to help anchor the plant to the ground and take up additional nutrients. Lastly, the tassel can now be identified with dissection.
Plant Conditions
Corn and beans are looking better after some much needed rain. We are now starting to see signs of insect damage. Some damage to keep your eye out for is round holes in corn or bean plants which can be grasshopper feeding, skeletonized soybean leaves which is Japanese beetle feeding and lastly boring into the stalks which is a indicator of stalk borers. If you see anything that doesn’t look right, we encourage you to call your salesperson to get a better handle on the situation and identify whether you should take action or not.
Insects
Japanese beetles are still prevalent and grasshopper intensity is increasing. Stink bugs are starting to appear in higher populations and are causing damage to corn plants. A stink bug damages the corn plant by injecting its toxins while feeding on the sap of the corn plant. The damage can range from pinhole to 2 inch oblong holes in the plant and wrinkles around the margins of the affected area.
Weeds
Weeds in corn fields are now controlled thanks to the canopy closing. We were glad to see that the majority of the corn fields this spring and summer were exceptionally clean and managed wonderfully. Soybean post spray is about half way done throughout our territories.
Territorial Information
Thanks to the rain, crops are looking good across all territories! We do have some hail damage in Muscatine county that has caused moderate damage to the row crops.
Fun Facts
We’ve learned how to “swim” through the corn and go with the flow. Also, be sure to check out our video if you haven’t gotten a chance to watch it yet!
*Every Friday we will post The Scout’s Honor Scouting Report as long as there are new findings in the field.
Questions about this week’s scouting report? Contact your Stutsman Agronomist!