Southeast Iowa

The corn crop in southeast Iowa is expected to be highly variable this fall. Areas that got excessive rainfall this spring (the southern two tiers of counties) are suffering from poor final stands and inconsistent ear sizes. Moving north, the yields will pick up significantly. Most of southeast Iowa has been on the dry side since mid-July, with high heat to go with it. This has caused the corn crop to speed along, and some of the earlier maturities are suffering because of it. Plants with good health and stay green have been able to capitalize on recent rains, while ones with poor health were already too far along when the rain came to make much difference. Harvest should be starting here in mid-September for the corn crop.

The soybean crop in southeast Iowa is a similar story as the corn. The southern areas had a difficult time establishing their soybean crop, and many acres were replanted well into June. Once again, in July things turned hot and dry. This took a toll on some of the earlier varieties, as they had no moisture to pod fill until about the end of August. The group three beans seem to have capitalized on recent rains and the group two beans are expected to be inconsistent based on moisture holding capacity of the soils they we planted on. The area has seen sudden death syndrome and brown stem rot start to show itself in the past few weeks, but nothing widespread at this point. Soybean harvest is expected to start in mid-September for the earlier varieties.

Northeast Iowa

Many corn fields in northeast Iowa were hit with a one-two-punch lately: 80 mph winds tore through six counties. A week later, flooding covered many low-lying fields. However, despite all this, yields are expected to be high. Many early yield checks range from 200BPA to 240BPA. Silage reports are very good with high yields and good tonnage. Standouts in corn are the LG5525VT2 and LG54C76VT2 – two very different hybrids that are both going to yield very well this year. On the later side, LG60C47STX looks amazing, and LG62C52TRC is still standing in those hard hit wind blown areas. Many diseases are ramping up, with tar spot being the most prevalent.

Soybeans are in an interesting state in northeast Iowa. Early planted beans suffered more from the limited rainfall and are senescing earlier. Later planted or longer maturing beans have caught the August rains and are really filling out the pods. All trait platforms of LG Seeds soybeans are performing very well. The area has seen some sudden death syndrome and brown stem rot, but overall beans should yield well.