Rebecca Vittetoe
Rebecca Vittetoe is an extension field agronomist in east central Iowa. Educational programs are available for farmers, agribusiness, pesticide applicators, and certified crop advisors.
Areas of expertise include agronomy, field crop production and management of corn, soybeans, and IPM/crop scouting. Vittetoe joined Iowa State University Extension and Outreach in April of 2015.
Subscribe to the Southeast/South-central Iowa Crop Connection newsletter for current topics and agriculture events in the area.
Subscribe to RSS FeedDrought continues to expand across the state, and August 2020 came in as one of the driest Augusts since 1893 across the state. Crops appear to be racing toward maturity, with several reports of both corn and soybean very near harvest-ready. While...
Rainfall still eludes most of the state of Iowa, and drought has continued to envelope the state, with the driest areas expanding from the west central part of the state. Crops continue to go downhill in the...
While some rainfall has come to the droughty areas of the state, drought intensified to D3 (extreme) drought in parts of central and west central Iowa. Unfortunately, a large swath of the state is now facing...
Drought conditions persist in western Iowa and have expanded further into central and north central Iowa this week. Common issues reported by ISU Extension field agronomists this past week included poor grain fill and fast reproductive development in corn, increasing disease pressure in some...
While the drought concerns and drought impacts on row crops and forage crops seems to be the big issue especially in western Iowa, other common issues or questions reported by ISU Extension field agronomists this past week included corn rootworm activity, earworm feeding, Japanese beetles...
One option to consider in fields with severe storm damage with no or limited yield potential is annual forages. This option may especially be of interest to livestock producers who could utilize the forage or may be short on forage or feed as a result of the storm damage. The following...
While parts of southern Iowa did receive some much needed rain, the western part of the state continues to be dry with parts considered to be in a D2 or severe drought. Besides the weather concerns, other common...
While the western part of the state continues to be on the dry side, parts of central and eastern Iowa got hit with some storms this past week resulting in wind and hail damage. Besides the dry conditions and storm damage, herbicide injury in soybeans, gray leaf spot, potato leafhoppers, and low...
The storms that moved across Iowa late last week and over the weekend brought rainfall, but they also brought some strong winds and hail. For those folks dealing with wind or hail damage, the first step should be to communicate with your crop insurance agent. Additionally, below are some...
Limited rainfall and the warmer temperatures causing crop stress, herbicide injury in soybeans, soybean gall midge, and Japanese beetles were some of the common issues or concerns that ISU Extension field agronomists saw in fields across the state this last week. Read on to see what’s happening...
Lack of moisture in the western part of the state to excess moisture in the eastern part of the state, herbicide injury in soybeans, and bacterial leaf streak in corn were the common issues or concerns that ISU Extension field agronomists saw and heard about this past week. Read on to see what’s...
Spotty rainfall across the state, herbicide drift, “Rapid Growth Syndrome” in corn, and shorter beans were common issues or concerns that ISU Extension Field Agronomists saw and heard about this past week. Read on for more specifics about what’s happening in different regions across the state....
Reports of soybean gall midge adults emerging, rainfall or lack of rainfall, weed management concerns, and herbicide drift were some of the common issues or concerns that ISU Extension field agronomists saw or heard about this past week. Read on for more about what's happening in specific...
Sidedressing nitrogen, post emergence herbicide applications, and putting up hay were the main field activities that took place over this past week across the state. Some of the issues ISU Extension and Outreach field agronomists saw this past week ranged from dry conditions in the western part...
The crops have really started to take off this past week with the warmer temperatures. While rainfall limited field activity in parts of the state, where fieldwork could be done many got started on sidedressing, post herbicide applications, and putting up hay. Yellow and uneven corn, weed...
Last week brought little sunshine, cooler temperatures, and soggy conditions across much of the state. Yellow-looking corn, slow growing crops and forages, and uneven or poor stand establishment were some of the common concerns ISU Extension field agronomists have been hearing and seeing. Read...
Some much-welcomed rain fell across the state this past week. Prior to the rain, farmers continued to make progress on getting the crop in the ground. According to the...
What a difference the year makes! According to the May 11th USDA Crop Progress Report, 91% of the expected corn crop and 71% of the expected...
Last week provided another big window for planting and other field activities across the state. According to the May 4th USDA Crop Progress Report...
Late last week, Dr. Justin Glisan, State Climatologist of Iowa for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, wrote some really interesting comments about the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center monthly outlooks. We’ve...
The past week provided a big window for fieldwork ranging from tillage and fertilizer applications to spraying and planting across the state. According to the...
While the cooler and snowy weather may have limited field activities last week, farmers are getting back to the fields across the state this week, with many getting started on planting. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach field agronomists share reports on what they are seeing and...
Spring has sprung! Preparations for planting across the state are in full swing. Conditions over the last 30 days have been unseasonably warm across the Midwest with positive departures of anywhere from two to four degrees. Early March had a good stretch of dry conditions; the second half of the...
In 2019 Iowa had over 460,000 prevented plant acres. As we prepare for the 2020 growing season, one concern we sometimes hear about with prevented plant acres is fallow syndrome. Fallow syndrome happens when the populations of “good fungi” known as vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) are...
Now is the time to be thinking about improving pasture stands by either the frost seeding method in February and early March or interseeding later in the spring months. Below are guidelines and considerations when it comes to frost seeding or interseeding.
Frost seeding...