steve.crafton's blog

Northern Illinois started out wet again this spring then most of the region experienced drought conditions.  The corn north of I-80 went in pretty good and received good timely rains.  The corn from I-80 South to SR-136 received a lot more rain early - especially the Eastern side.  Corn really didn’t get rooted down good due to the wet conditions this spring.  We had a storm North of I-80 and one that ran North of SR-24 which produced 70 mile an hour winds that pushed some corn over.  Also during grain fill period we received a lot of 90 degree days and 70

Scouting for Rootworm Damage

Several rootworm events have been launched since the first event was commercialized back in 2003 - mCry3A, Cry34Ab1/35Ab1 and Cry3Bb1 just to name a few. Growers should never take for granted the level of protection provided by the rootworm trait product planted, because Bt corn product failures have been reported sporadically since 2003.

Northern Illinois

Lots of variability across the Central & Northern part of Illinois this year.  I-80 & North was probably the garden spot. When they experienced rain this spring they were mainly getting 1- 2 inches instead of 4-5 inch rains further south. Also didn't have the extreme heat after pollination like we did in the eastern side of the state. Eastern half of Illinois was wet early then experienced extreme heat at the grain fill period.

LG2620VT3 is in the History Books! NO Hybrid in the 14 year history of the F.I.R.S.T. trials has Placed 1st in the Illinois North trial, 1st in the Illinois West Central trial and 1st in the Illinois East Central trial summaries like LG2620VT3 has this year! LG2620VT3 FIRST in the ILNO 6 locations, 72 entry summary - LG2620VT3 FIRST in the ILEC 6 locations, 72 entry summary - LG2620VT3 FIRST in the ILWC 6 locations, 81 entry summary. LG2641VT3 is not far behind placing 5th in each late summary in the east and west.