Blog
Summer is upon us with warmer temperatures, corn pollination underway, and corn grain fill beginning. That also means talk about estimating corn yields come fall. I’m involved in two yield forecasting projects. One is out of ISU and is led by Dr. Sotirios Archontoulis using the APSIM crop model...
I am seeing some really good crop development progress in my area. Most of the corn is tasseled out. I am thinking...
Yesterday during my class at FEEL, I asked participants to go out in the corn and soybean plots and find pests. It didn’t take too long to find a few plants loaded with soybean aphid. It was the largest natural colonies I have seen this summer (potentially exciting for my research but not great...
In case you want to try something a little different, you may be interested in listening to a podcast about field crop pest management. If you are new to podcasting, it is basically an audio file. Some people listen to podcasts on their computer/smart device, in their vehicles while traveling,...
I have just got back from the ISU Southeast Research Farm near Crawfordsville. I was assessing my Cardinal fungicide trial. With all the reports of northern corn leaf blight (NCLB) in SE IA I decided it was probably worth the drive to get some "disease at VT" data.
The crop in the...
Every summer since 2001, Iowa farmers have to think about soybean aphid. Well, I hope you are thinking about our primary soybean insect pest!
Aphids have been detected throughout the northern counties this year, and some are asking if it will be a "bad" aphid year. I have to say it's too...
Last summer, I posted an ICM News article about how scouting for alfalfa weevils in southern Iowa. It doesn't take too many accumulated degree days for them to start moving around and laying eggs. If you grow or scout...