ILSoyAdvisor Blog

Last week, symptoms of sudden death syndrome (SDS) began to appear in April 15-planted soybeans at the University of Illinois’ Northwestern Research Center in Warren County. Weather during the 2015 growing season has been favorable for the development of SDS: cool, moist soils after planting and frequent rains ever since. Symptoms began appearing approximately 3 weeks earlier than in 2014.

While the fungus that causes SDS (Fusarium...

As I type this, it has just finished raining again. As I look at my weather station statistics here in my office I see that year-to-date we have had 32 inches of rain so far. Eighteen inches has fallen in the last 60 days. I don’t even remember a year close to being this wet, or continuing to be this wet.

The soybean crop continues to struggle along in many places. The hotter temperatures of the last two weeks along with the humidity...

After 60 to 70 day high rainfall, farmers in many area were significantly delayed in getting back into the field to spray soybeans. Even those who could get in the field got chased out many times by rain or a pop-up storm. In many instances the environment in which the spraying took place wasn’t ideal for good coverage or control of weeds.

I have gotten many calls this spring on what to do about delayed spraying, ineffective weed...

This was a year to see yellow soybeans in Illinois. There are a number of possible causes of this “symptom.” However before deciding the cause, take a close look at the symptoms and determine if the yellowing is on new foliage at the top of the plant or older foliage below, general leaf yellowing or interveinal (leaf tissue yellow and veins green) chlorosis. Before you attribute yellowing to nitrogen realize other factors can contribute to...