Iroquois County, IL
It has been dry this past week except for last night, July 7. We received 0.1 in. of rain on a couple farms with the rest of our farms receiving nothing. After the soil dried out this week, farmers were busy applying postemergence herbicides in corn and soybean fields, row-cultivating in soybean fields and harvesting wheat.
Area cornfields range from the V7 growth stage up to the R1 stage. Only a few fields are beginning to show tassels and begin pollination. Those are the fields that were planted the first week of April. Most corn is V10-V15. At V10 the corn plant begins a rapid steady increase in nutrient and dry matter accumulation, and in water usage. We finished our herbicide application in corn and now will wait for our corn to reach R1 to begin applying fungicides. At this point in 2010 corn growth ranged from V11 to R2, and in 2009 it ranged from V9 to R1. 
Area soybean fields range from the V5 growth stage up to the R2 growth stage. Soybean development is similar to 2010 and ahead of 2009.
The local closing bids for July 7 were $6.54 for nearby corn, $5.85 for new-crop corn, $13.51 for nearby soybeans and $13.06 for new-crop soybeans.
We’ve had wonderful weather, and received 1.2 in. of rain on the 3rd, 1.05 on the 5th and 2.05 on the 6th. All the rain has come in the evening or early morning hours and left us with heat and sun during the day. We have had 1319 GDUs from the time we started planting corn on April 13; still a little behind but not by much.
The corn looks the best at this time than I can ever remember, and will look for tassels within a day or two. Beans have had their best start in years also, but with all the moisture they have not had to set roots as deep as I’d like to see at this time. Beans are made in the last 60 days and we like them to have every advantage at that time, roots are key for using available moisture.
I have about 150 acres left to control weeds on; though there’s not much pressure but it needs to be done ASAP. Wheat harvest started in the area but is slow and with the wet/humid weather the grain has some issues. We have been mowing roadsides and continue to keep weeds down in driveways and field boarders. ET gauges show a 1.8-in. a week usage of water a week in the corn and we have a full soil profile with 2.7 in. available in 3 ft.
Local new-crop corn closed yesterday at $5.62, soybeans at $12.50.