Now that it’s August, a good percentage of the corn has tasseled, and it’s time to be scouting for foliar disease in your corn fields.  There are two main foliar diseases in the Western Corn Belt: Gray Leaf Spot and Southern Rust.

Early frost damage is a concern for growers throughout the Western Corn Belt each Spring with the unpredictability of Midwest weather. With many of our producers finishing up planting, we understand the importance of knowing how the freeze impacts your plants.

The degree of stress, and potential damage from stress is determined mostly by soil and water temperatures during imbibition and seedling emergence.

At the beginning of every growing season, we have hopes and goals in maximizing our yields.  In many instances, we only have one chance of planting a field correctly and if we don’t have the planter in tip-top condition we will miss out on achieving our goal.

Volunteer corn with herbicide resistance traits can be difficult to control after a strong wind or hail event causes ears to drop on the ground. Some areas can till these fields after fall harvest and irrigate to promote corn germination during the fall.

The state of Iowa is one of the best corn producing states in the Unites States. With the potential for increased corn acres across the state and increased corn after corn acres managing corn rootworms is a major concern.

Soil nutrition is very important for us to grow healthy and productive crops. In our November blog, we recommended growers to have your soil sampling done this fall, so now that you have had that done, let us dive into why we need the nutrients that you tested for.

Corn maturity may be delayed by late planting and/or below normal summer temperatures. When slow corn development continues into the fall, corn grain may be significantly wetter at harvest. This can result in higher drying costs, mechanical damage to grain, and if a killing frost occurs before corn reaches maturity, yield reductions.