Northern Illinois Agronomy Research Center

Department of Crop Sciences---University of Illinois

COLLEGE of AGRICULTURAL, CONSUMER AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

JULY 2002 Newsletter Issue 19:4 Lyle Paul - Agronomist David Lindgren - Farm Foreman 14509 University Rd. Shabbona, Il 60550 Phone/Fax 815/824-2029 e-mail lylepaul@uiuc.edu

/research/rdc/dekalb

2002 Weather Data:

2002 Precipitation (Inches)

2002 Growing Degree Days (Base 50)

June Weather:
June is recorded having near normal rainfall and growing degree day accumulation higher than any other year in the past 26 years. The problem with averages, is they do not reflect the real conditions of the crop and weather. Of the month's rainfall, 89% was received on June 3 & 4. There was a total of 3.15 inches those 2 days. During the rest of the month, there was a total of 0.39 inches on 5 different days with the highest total in any day of 0.22 inches on June 26. July did not fair much better with a total of 0.47 inches received in 4 rains by July 24. Another about 3/4 inches fell in the past 4 days, July 25 to 30.

June was a hot month with good accumulation of growing degree days. The period with the heat and lack of rainfall was most of the crops were under some stress for over a month. The growing degree accumulation was higher than year in our records going back to 1976. The second highest GDD accumulation was 1991 with 650.9 GDD. Even in the drought year of 1988, we only have GDD accumulation of 592.5 GDD.

Wheat Variety Trials:
The strong wheat producing country of northern Illinois again tops the University of Illinois Wheat Performance trials at the six sites used by the variety testing group. Although not the 101 bushels per acre average yield of 2001, the average at the Center this year was 89.4. The average yield results at the other locations in the trials were:

Complete details on six harvested variety trials, this year's yields, test weights, heights and 2 & 3 year yield averages for the entered varieties are available on the web at: http://vt.cropsci.uiuc.edu/ . The printed booklets will be available from Extension offices and at the Center soon.

Oat Harvest:
Oat harvest was finished at the Center was completed on Friday, July 26. Early estimate of the average yield is about 130 bushels per acre with some varieties yielding about 170 bushels per acre. Complete yield results in the "Oat Decision Maker" will be put together over the next couple of weeks. Results will be shared when they are available.

Pest Management and Crop Development Bulletin
PMCDB (for short) is available on the web at http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/cespubs/pest/. In this weekly publication are some excellent updates on what is going on around the state in the growing crops and what pests are of concern. You can also get an idea of weather and activities that are happening in other areas of the state. If you have not used the site, you may want to in the future.

Corn rootworm insecticide efficacy trials:
Monday, July 22, the corn rootworm digging crew, lead by Dr. Michael Gray & Dr. Kevin Steffey dug the plants for evaluating the corn rootworm efficacy trial at he Center. If the researchers had not needed to evaluate the roots, the crew could have probably have pulled the plants by hand. With the combination of severe pressure, dry weather and following a trap crop, none of the products appeared to have worked very well. The roots were washed and evaluated in Urbana on Wednesday. When the results of the evaluations are available, they will be shared in the PMCDB. There will be some differences in the treatments, but when the plants were dug, none of the products seemed to have given excellent control under the severe pressure we get with using the trap crop.

Corn rootworms in soybean fields:
There are several reports in the area near to the field of first year corn with rootworm problems. To be sure what the problems with first year corn are, the plants need to be dug to be sure that there is rootworm feeding. If you are concerned about your fields for next year, you need to be using yellow sticky traps in each of the soybean fields that will be planted to corn in 2003. These need to be used for a period of 4 weeks and the timing has arrived to have gotten these out.

Soybean Aphids:
Soybean aphids have been found at the Center. As of the 19th, there no soybean aphids caught in the suction trap. On the 23, Dr. Kevin Steffey and I found a couple of aphids. On the 29th, there were a couple of hot spots with high numbers on a few plants in a row. The numbers over the whole field was not very high, but there were aphids in almost every soybean field that was checked. The number of aphids, in general, this year is lower than last year, but that could change and will bear watching for the rest of the season. Reports form other states are showing a general lower number of aphids this year. Michigan has shown some very large decreases in number this year compared to last year.

Upcoming In-Depth Workshops:
August 14 8:30 - Noon
Crop diseases- Details still in process- Dr. Terry Niblack will be talking about nematodes and Dr. Dean Malvick will be talking about current diseases and present conditions.
For complete details and to register for this program, contact the Quad Cities Extension Center - 309-792-2500. Advance registration is required to reach the minimum of 20 participants to hold the program.

NIARC Field Day Wednesday August 7:
4:00 PM- 5:00PM. Last tour leaves the buildings at 5:00. See and hear about the current research and conclusions to date in the following areas from Extension Specialists, Educators and Researchers on the hour and ½ tour -
Current Insect situation and implications for 2003. Dr. Kevin Steffey
Dr. Kevin Steffey
Keeping nitrogen in the field and not in the tile line. Dr. Robert Hoeft
Dr. Robert Hoeft
Crop rotations - what can improve the various rotation yields.
Dr. Emerson Nafziger
Giant ragweed control Dr. Christy Sprague
Calculating yield lose to disease Lyle Paul

An opportunity to also see other research studies being conducted at the Research Center.

Special offer- The Troop 39 Boy Scout will have a dinner available at ½ price. (While supplies last)

Remaining University of Illinois Research Center Field Days

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