What a roller coaster. We had extreme high to extreme cold temps; too wet to the verge of being too dry. “Soypocalypse” occurred at the U of I plant clinic, caused by phytophthora and rhizoctonia in soybeans. We experienced new diseases — tar spot and Physoderma brown spot — and unexplainable dry down in corn. Early soybean planting had a great advantage. Corn and soybean yields were the best most growers have produced in this area. And corn fungicide and soybean fungicide/insecticide ap…

November overall has not fared well for fall fieldwork in east central Illinois. This week turned out to be no different, between cold weather and snow. Little to no fall anhydrous has been applied and the extended forecast does not look favorable at this point. Growers have tried to do a little tillage when the ground has been firmed up, but with a wet 2-inch snowfall Wednesday night (Nov. 14), this may come to an end. The last of the crops will have to wait for a good freeze to be harv…

Another unproductive week in the area. Wet soils and cool weather kept growers out of the field. A few growers decided to go ahead and make some progress ... it was by no means fit! Some headway was made on finishing up harvesting and working on tillage west of I-57, where they missed the majority of the last rain. Unable to go to the field, growers are starting to consider seed selection for 2019. A lot of choices and considerations to be made. Outlook looks good for progress this next week. 

It was a damp week, and unfortunately not a lot of progress was made. Many growers still have a lot of tillage work to do and little to no anhydrous has been applied in the area. The 4-inch soil temperature finally fell below 50 degrees this week. We received 1 to 2 inches of rain this last week, and the forecast is not favorable for the soil to be fit for progress this week. Let's hope we get one more run and the last of the crops can be harvested. 

A beautiful week to wrap up the majority of harvest 2018. You can drive miles before you see a field that has not been harvested.  Lots of tillage work taking place, as many pushed to get as much done before the rain moved through over the weekend (one-tenth to a half inch). The soil temperature is approaching the steady 50-degree mark, and fall ammonia applications will begin soon. Growers are reassessing their year, and I believe most are more than pleased with one of the best crops th…

This week's description: progress, dusty sunsets and night lights. By mid-week the weather and the ground shaped up and allowed everyone to start rolling again. Several mornings we had frost that had to burn off, but the evenings usually had a nice breeze and allowed late-night soybean harvest to continue. Saturday (Oct. 20) brought gale force winds to the area which helped dry things but also caused some issues — field and combine fires as well as downed power lines and accidents. A goo…

It was a slow week in the area for harvest progress as fall has finally arrived. We started out the week hot and humid and finished the week with snow! Drying out has been difficult since the last heavy rains. Areas that received less rain continued with harvest early in the week. There were also guys playing in the mud, attempting to make progress. I only see issues with next year’s crop coming from that choice. Corn is the only crop making a lot of progress with the fall weather we are…

Many guys are done with either corn or soybeans, and progressing on the crop they have left. I have not heard of anyone completely finished at this time. Lots of winter wheat went in the ground early last week, and what I have seen up already looks great. Tillage work has also began. All work came to a halt on Thursday and Friday (Oct. 4-5) as rains began to move through the area. Areas further south did not receive as much and are already running again. Northern areas received from 1 to…