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Features

[MAY 29, 2001]  The big buzz in the state of Illinois Agriculture right now is armyworms. They have really made their presence felt in areas from Logan County to the southern border of the state. Logan County has had sporadic outbreaks the last week, involving everything from pastures to cornfields. So far the outbreaks have been rather limited in number compared to areas to the south and west, but area farmers should definitely keep an eye on things. Armyworms literally devour just about everything in their path, and they do it in a relatively short time.

The armyworm prefers grass plants for food. Included would be small grains like wheat and oats, pasture and hay fields, and corn. If there aren’t grass plants and if soybeans are next up in the path, they will eat the beans.

Generally control measures in wheat are warranted when there are six or more nonparasitized worms per foot of row and before head clipping occurs. In seedling corn, treatments should be applied when 25 percent of the plants are damaged. This year, fields that have armyworms really don’t have to have the thresholds applied to them. You treat at the earliest sign or there isn’t anything there to worry about treating in a few days.

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Rather than go into all the details about armyworms, I’ll choose to use the miracle of the "hotlink" and send you to the U of I entomology online fact sheet at http://www.ipm.uiuc.edu/
publications/infosheets/armyworm7/
armyworm7.htm.

If you have questions or concerns about armyworms, please feel free to contact the office at 732-8289.

[John Fulton]

[MAY 14, 2001]  Logan County has reached the magic level of 99-plus percent of the corn planted. We also have an estimated 85 percent of the soybeans planted. Now we are beginning to look at the fields and determine if there are an adequate number of plants to give us the kind of yield we will want to have. There have been some locations in the county that have had problems, and those producers need to look at some numbers and do some soul searching.

One of the first things to ask if the corn stand is not what you planted is, "What happened?" In some cases there were insect or disease problems, some select areas received a hard rain and had a crust keep seedlings from seeing the sunlight, and in other cases there were problems with equipment.

If problems were due to insects, one has to ask if they will get worse or if there is a "cure" for them. In the case of black cutworms, effective rescue treatments are available at a reasonable cost. If problems were caused by white grubs or wireworms, the options are to leave what you have or start over with an effective insecticide applied at planting. The other factor that is starting to come into play is time.

Believe it or not, there is already a small penalty for late planting. Most producers are now shooting for about 30,000 plants per acre. Maximum yields can be achieved with plant populations of 30,000 to 32,500 plants per acre planted between April 20 and April 30, according to the Illinois Agronomy Handbook. As we approach May 14 for a possible replant date, we can expect to lose about 5 percent of the yield we would have had planting two weeks earlier. If we go to the end of May for a replant, we can expect to lose about 20 percent of the yield.

This translates to dollars in the pocket. Losses could range from about $17 to $70 per acre. The one "wild card" is that there aren’t any guarantees on a replant either. Using the handbook figures, about 15,000 plants planted at the optimum time have a better yield potential than 30,000 plants planted the end of May. And you don’t have the time and expense of replanting.

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I should say there is another wild card. That would be that producers and landowner have to live with it. If the thin plant stand is right out the back window of your house, you may be more inclined to replant it so you can see a better-looking field all growing season.

When we look at soybeans, things get a little bit trickier. Soybeans have a better ability to compensate for thinner stands — as long as they are uniformly thin. If we start getting long spaces in rows, then definite yield loss can be occurring. To give some rough numbers, a 50 percent stand should yield around 80 percent of maximum yield. Soybean row gaps of up to 16 inches in 30-inch row beans have no effect on yield as long as the adjacent rows are complete stands. Also two- to three-week planting delays from mid-May can result in about the same type of yield reductions.

[John Fulton]

Honors & Awards

[MAY 10, 2001]  The Lincoln Community High School FFA Chapter had their end-of-year honors and awards banquet Tuesday evening, May 8, at the high school.

Chapter members who received awards and honors in the past year were recognized as follows:

John Davison

Breeann Werth

Betsy Bakken

Brett Conrady

Emily Bakken

Jackie Bakken

Sara Conklen

Amanda Davison

John Davison

Adam Freeman

Jeff Jones

Monica Short

Jackie Bakken — Diversified Agriculture Production

Emily Bakken — Diversified Horticulture-Production

Jeff Jones — Diversified Horticulture Placement

Jackie Bakken — Diversified Livestock Production

Breeann Werth — Equine Placement

Jackie Bakken — Forage Crop Production

John Davison — Mechanics

Monica Short — Sheep Production

Adam Freeman — Small Animal Care

Jackie Bakken — Specialty Animal Production

Sara Conklen — Swine Production

Geoff Brown — Swine Placement

Emily Bakken — Diversified Horticulture Production

Breeann Werth — Equine Placement

Monica Short — Sheep Production

Adam Freeman — Small Animal Care

Jackie Bakken — Specialty Animal Production

Sara Conklen — Swine Production

Section 14 Land-Use — 2^nd-place team

Blackhawk Land-Use State Invitational — 9^th-place team

ISU Crops State Invitational — 1^st-place team

Section 14 Crops — 4^th-place team

Lincoln Land Crops Invitational — 2^nd-place team

Section 14 Parliamentary Procedure — 2^nd-place team (advanced to district competition)

Section 14 Livestock — 7^th-place team

Lincoln Land Livestock Invitational — 6^th-place team

State Livestock and Dairy — No results yet

Jackie Bakken, president

John Davison, vice president

Amanda Davison, reporter

Adam Freeman, secretary

Sara Conklen, treasurer

Jeff Jones, sentinel

Emily Bakken, historian

Zac Tibbs, student adviser

Monica Short, chaplain

Breeann Werth, parliamentarian

Mr. Nordstrom, adviser

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Chapter members for 2000-2001

Brandon Babbs

Emily Bakken

Jackie Bakken

Jason Blanford

Geoff Brown

Austin Charron

Reid Conklen

Sara Conklen

Amanda Davison

John Davison

Matt Davison

Miles Ellegood

Adam Freeman

Michael Gasparini

Luke Gerardot

Corey Hassebrock

Jonathon Hinkle

Corey Holmes

Brittany Ingram

Kyle Janssen

Paul Johnson

Jeff Jones

Sara Koehne

Matt May

Devon Nicholas

Emily Patrick

Sean Rawlins

Monica Short

Amy Springer

Shane Steinberg

Andrea Swinford

Zac Tibbs

Breeann Werth

Foundation sponsors for 2000-2001

Croft Fertilizer Service

Al and Eileen Huelskoetter

G & D Four Farming, Inc.

Beason Ag Center

Taloma Farmers Grain Company

Marcia May

Tri-Pork, Inc.

Harold and Rosemary Apel

Gene and MaryAnn Apel

Darren Bakken

Leonard and Rita Bakken

Harold Begolka

Best Friends Animal Hospital

Bock & Associates-Realty

Bill and Pat Bree

Charron's Radiator & Auto Repair

Contractor's Ready Mix

Coy's Car Comer

Ed Hassebrock

Ralph and Joyce Eimer

Eugene Hassebrock

Frontier Mutual Insurance

Graue Pharmacy

Heritage Pork Farm, Inc.

Janet Henrichsmeyer

Jerry's Electric

Charles and Carol Jones

Woody Jones-State Farm Insurance

Kim Koehne

Bob and Sandy Meinershagen

Don and Rose Miller

Paulus Farms, Inc.

Kent and Lynn Paulus

Pegram Welding

Herman Schwantz

Sloan’s Fertilizer Service

State Bank of Lincoln

Town & Country Bank

Earl and Nancy Boyer

Mr. and Mrs. David Deters

William and Mary Jo Janssen

Don and Donna Wilson

Irwin and Lila Conklen

Rod and Pam Conklen

Ethelene White

Quint and Linda Harnacke

C.C. Hawes Implement Company

Mr. and Mrs. Rick Holmes

Michael and Janet Patrick

Lynn and Donna Miller

Mr. and Mrs. James Sheley

Jim White

John L. White

Ag Land FS

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