Harvest Started Near You?

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

Some combines are rolling along I-80 in eastern Iowa.  Mostly corn be a few beans.  I haven't heard any yield reports yet. 

Some are still chopping, so I'd think th emoistrue could be rather high.  I wonder if there are some September contracts out there to fill?  We've had good drying weather lately, so maybe the moisture is getting down there.  I"ll have to check mine.

[ECIN]

Bean harvest under full swing here - - I would guess - and this is a guess that 15 to 20 % is in - IF good next week that will go right up - quick - - some corn started this week - waiting on the next round of beans to get ready = from wet spring -  senery is starting to change - what a pretty past few weeks here - low 80's nice breeze every day - low humity ( 30 % )  - wish is would say like this all winter -   Very light rain here this morning .

[Milligan Hay - Iowa d:^)]

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@JIM Meade / Iowa City wrote:

Some combines are rolling along I-80 in eastern Iowa.  Mostly corn be a few beans.  I haven't heard any yield reports yet. 

Some are still chopping, so I'd think th emoistrue could be rather high.  I wonder if there are some September contracts out there to fill?  We've had good drying weather lately, so maybe the moisture is getting down there.  I"ll have to check mine.

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Corn harvest started yesterday on several farms around Indianola, just south of Des Moines and going east. Anything west of there, and the ground is too wet. Western Iowa got nearly ten inches of rain the other day. Beans are still too green to cut. 

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

Harvesting is getting started all around, though not in full swing yet. I'm betting by the end of the week everyone will be in the fields around I-80 in eastern Iowa.

[Wind]

Yes, about 5% done around here.  Most beans are ready but the fields are too wet from recent rains.  One farmer "hand shelled" a few ears and it test 18% 5 days ago, way too low, for 110 day corn. Stalk quality is a concern.  Yields so far 160 to 220 for corn  and beans I heard of a 51 bu yield.

We will start harvesting today for the first.

Rain forecast for tonight.  I enjoyed watching the lunar-eclipse last night.  A real "Faith builder."

[sw363535]

Great comment Wind,

The eclipse was beautiful here as well,  total for a while...  

swks 25% done on corn, running below normal.  20 bushel below normal..

Harvested the first beans today--- one variety of shorter maturity..  average irrigated yield for us 68...

Been three weeks of hot weather and very little rain..... drying everything too fast

Corn drying (and shrinking) down 1 to 1.5% moisture per day... 

[ECIN]

Looked like the farm progress show here yesterday - had 8 combines running with in a half mile - my God the dust !  2 shelling corn and the rest of us cutting beans  -  Then as the sun set --- the breeze laid - what there was - and you couldn't see anything - I came home early and the neighbor was shelling right in front house - and guess which way the dust wa moving ???  Looked out the window ans was like looking out at fog = zero 

My beans are running in the low 50's - not as well as them cheaters that use sprinklers !!! lol  yes sw - I'm talking about you lol   glad to hear yours are doing good !

Corn is all over the place in yield - 220 + to zero . Some coming out at 13.5 = 103 - day - planted end of April -   110 day - 20 %

Light rain this morning - Good thing - need to fix some things - well -- many things - lol 

B Safe !

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

Started beans on the 30th of September. Moisture about right. Yield monitor not set yet so don't know the yield until I get them in the bin.  Corn started across the road.  Beans going down the road.  Looks likek everyone is at it or getting ready as of the 1st of October.

I heard from a farmer by Waterloo that beans are doing in the high 50's, very good for that soil type.  These are 1.9 and 2.4 beans.

My broker says beans yield reports are on the high side.

[Wind]

Jim, my BIL did a field of beans Monday that came out 64 bu. per A.  Had another inch of rain Tues morning.  Yesterday we were doing some corn (custom work) for a farmer who had applied only liquid N in the Spring.  Monitor was reading only 110.  Very disappointing.  This field had died very early from something, Northern leaf blight?  It was testing 16%. There will be much better corn than that around here.  

Ken, is there some new corn disease cropping up around the Midwest?  Some fields like the one above died very early, like in Aug.  Others stayed some what green a few weeks later.  Those fields will do much better.  As you know, we did have almost double rain fall since May.

sw, your bean yields did surprise me coming from hot swks.  Just curious, how much water did you have to apply to get those yields?  Your soil must be good.   

[ECIN]

Yes Wind there is - It was first found in NW Indiana county's - I believe I read it came out of Mexico - and may have made its way to that area by a storm - Here's a read of of IL on it .

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Suzanne Bissonnette

Tar spot confirmed:  Announced by the Illinois Department of Agriculture today. Corn leaf samples from 3 northern Illinois counties have been confirmed positive for the fungus Phyllachora maydis by Megan Romby National Plant Pathologist with the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service in Beltsville, MD. Positive counties in Illinois are LaSalle, DeKalb and Bureau. The samples were collected from commercial fields by Monsanto breeders and pathologists and sent to Dr. Kiersten Wise in response to her inquiry for samples and distribution information of the Tar spot pathogen. Dr. Wise and Purdue Plant Clinic director Gail Ruhl initially identified the pathogen which is new to the United States 1 ½ weeks ago and submitted confirmation samples to the USDA http://extension.entm.purdue.edu/pestcrop/2015/Issue24/ . Upon receipt of the Illinois samples, they diagnosed the fungus, contacted us at the University of Illinois Plant Clinic and submitted the Illinois samples to the USDA for confirmation at our request.

Scouting for the disease has been active in Illinois. Jennifer Chaky , Pioneer Plant Diagnostic Clinic, also has samples from Bureau County diagnosed with Tar spot and we have additional LaSalle county samples from our University of Illinois Extension Agronomist in Northern IL, Russ Higgins.

Figure 1. Symptoms of Tar spot on corn leaves in LaSalle County, IL. Note that orange rust pustules are also present on this leaf. Photo courtesy of Russ Higgins University of Illinois Extension

Tar spot has distinctive symptoms. The fungal fruiting body, called an ascomata, really does look like a spot of tar on the leaf. Lesions are black, sunken oval to circular. They can be small flecks of about 1/64” up to about 5/64”. The lesions can merge together to produce an affected area up to 3/8”. If you run your finger across the leaf you will feel tiny bumps.

Figure 2. Microscopic view of fruiting structure of Tar spot from Bureau County, IL. Photo courtesy of DuPont Pioneer Diagnostician, Jennifer Chaky

Prior to the Indiana finding, Tar spot was known to occur only in cool humid areas at high elevations in Latin America. There are actually 2 fungi that cause Tar spot disease on corn Phyllachora maydis and Monographella maydis. While Monographella maydis is known to be able to cause economic yield losses in Latin America, Phyllachora maydis is not known to significantly reduce yield. Other pathogens may be confused with Tar spot, especially the overwintering teliospore (black) phase of corn rust. Also, there are many fungi, called saprophytes that feed on dead corn tissue and form black splotches on the leaves.

To date only one of the pathogens, Phyllachora maydis, has been found in IN and IL. If you suspect Tar spot please submit a sample to the University of Illinois Plant Clinic. We would like to get a comprehensive idea of distribution in the state. For more information on tar spot of corn, please see the USDA-ARS Diagnostic Fact Sheet: http://nt.ars-grin.gov/taxadescriptions/factsheets/index.cfm?thisapp=Phyllachoramaydis