Owen Taylor, Editor

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OVERVIEW

Dryland corn is suffering on a wide basis. Rain continues to be mostly scattered and light.

Lack of moisture is delaying remaining doublecrop soybean planting. Dry weather, combined with herbicide resistance, has led to poor weed control, especially with pigweed.

Soybean insects are being treated on a wider basis in the Midsouth, with scattered treatments in the Southeast. A corn earworm moth flight is taking shape in Arkansas.

Corn harvest could start in the lower South in 2 weeks.

Disease is turning up in corn. Some Southern corn rust was found in southwest Georgia last week.

CROP REPORTS

John Raymond Bassie, Bassie’s Agri-Service, Cleveland, Miss.: "Herbicide work and irrigation are about all that’s going on in beans right now (7/1). Beans planted in the first part of April are fully podded, and we’re just waiting for pods to fill. This has been a light insect year in beans, so far. We’re irrigating corn and applying some fungicides. The earliest high-moisture corn could be harvested in the latter part of the month. Compared to last year, we’re finding longer ears with more grain on them. I can count 35 per row, leaving off the bottom 3 and top 10. That’s encouraging, but it’s still a long time until the combine runs."

David L. Wright, Florida Extension Agronomist, Quincy, Fla.: "The main thing in soybeans right now is weed control. Up until this weekend (6/27-28) it was dry, and we had a record 7 days with highs above 100. So, herbicides weren’t working well. It’s in the mid 90s now (6/30), and we’ve generally gotten good rains in the past few days. Dryland crops needed it, especially corn. We’ve gotten 2 inches here in the last 2 to 3 days from mainly afternoon showers. We’re 3 weeks or so from any grain corn harvest starting. Northern corn leaf blight has been turning up. I haven’t heard of any fungicides going out yet."

Scott Stewart, Extension Cotton Entomologist, Jackson, Tenn.: "I’m getting calls about Japanese beetles in soybeans and am mostly trying to convince people not to spray. So far, I haven’t seen a case this season that justifies treating. This insect tends to make you think more is going on than might be the case. It congregates on upper leaves, and if you bump the plant, they fly everywhere. But the threshold is 30% defoliation on prebloom beans and 20% after blooming starts, and we don’t often hit that point. They are getting a little worse every year, as invasive pests do. We’re seeing stink bugs in our earliest soybeans. Check podding beans closely."

Barry L. Freeman, Extension Entomologist (Retired), Belle Mina, Ala.: "We’ve had scattered rain. One farmer got 2 inches, but that was a rare case. Corn is losing yield every day, and growers are desperate for rain to get some doublecrop soybeans up."

Angus Catchot, Mississippi Extension Entomologist: "Soybeans are relatively quiet. Bean leaf beetles are increasing in the Delta, and a few treatments are going out."

David Butcher, NC Ag Service, Inc., Pantego, N.C.: "Our earliest beans are flowering and some early podding has started. A lot of doublecrop beans are just emerging."

Gus Lorenz, Arkansas Extension IPM Specialist: "Corn borer trap counts went way up last week in parts of the state, with some running over 300. Bean leaf beetles are building. They can sneak up on you pretty quickly. We’ve also got a worm complex in places that could build the same way. Don’t go more than 7 days without scouting beans. If you can’t stay on schedule, get somebody who can. Stink bugs are increasing. We’re not seeing a lot of fields at treatment level, but some early planted fields will likely require it before long. Most of our early fields are moving from R3 to R4, with a few at R5. Grape colaspis numbers are up in soybeans, and the adults can feed on beans like bean leaf beetles."

Jeremy Greene, Clemson University Cotton Entomologist, Blackville, S.C.: "I looked at some soybeans today (6/29) that had grasshoppers flying everywhere. We’re finding them on some of the real young soybeans in the later maturity groups, and they’re bad in places. They’re pouring out of field edges and ditches, and a few whole fields have been treated, so far."

Dale Wells, Ind. Consultant, Cotton Services, Inc., Leachville, Ark.: "Our earliest beans are at R3, and we’ll start making fungicide decisions next week. With it being so hot and dry and not conducive to disease, we haven’t felt rushed. We’re picking up a few stink bugs and bean leaf beetles, nothing treatable. In our later beans, the MG Vs, we’re trying to get Roundup and Dual out to control pigweed. It’s been hot – upper 90s to low 100s and a heat index one day at 112. Plus, no rain in a couple of weeks. All the pivots are going, and furrow irrigation, too. We’re catching a little break this week because temperatures are suppose to go down."

Kyle Skinner, Skinner Ag, Starkville, Miss.: "Except where we’re watching a couple of spots with bean leaf beetles, we’re not finding many insects in soybeans, maybe just a stink bug here and there. Our beans range from just emerging to some up to R2. We need rain. Corn is kind of twisting up on the ends now. (6/29)."

David Holshouser, Virginia Extension Soybean Specialist, Suffolk, Va.: "Corn hasn’t had rain in some places for over 3 weeks. Rains over the weekend (6/27-28) missed most areas but did hit the Eastern Shore and the northern Piedmont. Overall, though, rain lately has been spotty, at best, and most corn needs water. Other crops are holding their own. Generally, we’ve got a good looking bean crop. Most doublecrop bean planting finished last week. Wheat yields were low, and the crop finished maybe a week early in places, which at least allowed us to start planting doublecrop beans sooner. I think most people are coming in with a residual in beans. Palmer pigweed is knocking at our door from the south, plus glyphosate-resistant lambsquarter was identified in one place in northeast Virginia, so people are trying to stay ahead of problems. I’m seeing marestail scattered around, which may be where growers didn’t burn down with 2,4D."

Brent Lassiter, ProAg Services, LLC, Newport, Ark.: "We’re about to the point that we’re not killing pigweed or much of anything else because it’s so dry. Where we can irrigate and then spray, results are better, but we’re dealing with some resistance issues, plus the weather effects. Quite a few three-cornered alfalfa hoppers are showing up on some beans and have started girdling plants, so we’re treating some of those fields, running a pyrethroid with Roundup."

Rome Ethredge, Seminole County, Georgia, Extension Coordinator: "A lot of corn is in dent, so we’re in the short rows with that crop. At this rate, we could see our first corn harvest in mid July. Last week we found Southern rust on corn, so people need to scout closely and protect it, especially younger corn and particularly the susceptible varieties."

David Hydrick, Hydrick’s Crop Consulting, Inc., Jonesboro, Ark.: "A couple of days ago we got 3 to 4 inches of rain down through the middle of Mississippi County and maybe 1.5 inches in some of those areas a day or so before that. That helped us get up some wheat beans. Other areas, though, missed it, and we’re either watering or setting up now. We’ve sprayed stink bugs in maybe 20 fields at mid R3. We’re dealing with pigweed. I’m 80% happy with results. We did a good job where we caught it early, and in some cases we killed pigweed that was bigger than 12 inches. I never dreamed that beans would turn into rice in terms of weed control and all the herbicide combinations it’s taking now. It’s not simple anymore."

Ron Smith, Alabama Extension Entomologist: "The drought is really taking its toll on corn, more so than any other crop. It’s impacting soybeans because growers can’t plant the late beans. There’s not enough moisture for germination."

Steve Schutz, Ind. Consultant, Coushatta, La.: "Some soybeans are unbelievable. I just finished checking 400 acres of MG IVs that are on old cotton ground on 38-inch rows, and they’re anywhere from shoulder high to above my head. They’re full of pods. Why they didn’t throw blooms and pods, I have no idea. They’re not filling pods yet, and these are dryland beans, so we’ve still got a lot of summer to go. On a 70-acre field we’ve had huge red shouldered stink bug counts, 7 to 14 in 25 sweeps. Dry weather has really hurt corn. We haven’t had a rain in over a month."

Joe Townsend, Ind. Consultant, Coahoma, Miss.: "We’re starting to find three-cornered alfalfa hoppers and bean leaf beetles in soybeans. We treated stink bugs earlier. We’re at a point on a lot of beans right now (6/29) that without rain soon they’re not going to make anything anyway. We’re still checking, but it will take a huge population of anything before growers spend additional money on them. A large percentage of our non-Bt corn was treated for corn borers. Captures and egg counts are real low this week. We had to treat some corn for northern corn leaf blight, just one variety. With the heat, I’ve expected pollination problems on corn but it appears to be minor. We’ve had horrible problems in all crops with Roundup-resistant horseweed and now resistant careless weed."

Pawel Wiatrak, South Carolina Corn and Soybean Specialist, Blackville, S.C.: "No rain lately. Corn is pollinating, so lack of moisture is critical. We’re delaying some herbicide treatments because activity would be poor."

Charles Denver, Denver Crop Consulting, Watson, Ark.: "Beans range from still being planted up to pretty good-sized pods on late MG IIIs and early MG IVs. Stink bugs are sporadic. We’ve treated maybe one field out of every 80 or 90. Irrigation is the main thing on everybody mind in corn. Other than some common rust, we’re not seeing any disease in corn, and we’re pretty much past the point that insects would be a problem with the older corn. But we’ve got some late corn that still could be susceptible to Southern rust if it decides to start."

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