More From Crops

Widely varying crop conditions, tough weeds, volatile markets and dicamba drift are on the mind of farmers as August begins.

In this week's Crop Tech Corner, researchers dig into bacterial leaf streak of corn, a new disease-resistance corn gene and oil-producing sorghum.

Remember the Golden Rule, and think of your neighbor when it comes time to control volunteer wheat this year.

Some retail fertilizers -- mainly nitrogen fertilizers -- continued to see significant price decreases the fourth week of July 2017. Despite the lower prices, some farmers say they will wait until later in the year to start buying fertilizer for the 2018...

Domestic wholesale prices for most fertilizers are expected to run mostly steady to slightly firmer in the short term as retailers prepare to restock supplies ahead of fall.

Between southern corn rust, pyrethroid-resistant soybean aphids and a recovering rootworm population, Midwest growers have plenty to scout for this week.

An overall yield of 38.4 bpa marks the tour's lowest overall yield estimate since 2008, a sign of the severe drought in the western Dakotas this year.

Tools such as nitrogen modeling are becoming more popular as farmers want some help to assure nitrogen is available for rapidly growing corn plants.

Drought continued to drag down yields on the tour's second day, which ended with an overall estimate of 35.7 bpa, down from 46.5 bpa last year.

For the third week in a row, average retail fertilizer prices continued to decrease. Anhydrous, urea and UAN28 saw the biggest price drops.

Yields from the first day of the tour averaged 38.8 bushels per acre, down from 42.9 bpa last year, as scouts saw an average crop in the eastern half of the state and a droughty one on western routes.

The disease is in the Midwest in plenty of time to do economic damage to cornfields, particularly late-planted ones.

Southern growers should be prepared to scout and spray most varieties of Bt cotton, including Bollgard II, WideStrike and TwinLink.

Average retail prices for all eight of the major fertilizers were lower the second week of July 2017 compared to a month earlier, with anhydrous and urea seeing the biggest price declines.

Agrisure Duracade will continue to be sold under stewardship agreements in 2018, even after Chinese import approvals came through Monday morning.

The Kansas State findings raise concerns about the widespread use of fungicide seed treatments and the risk of fungicide resistance.

Remember that the Cry1F (Herculex) Bt trait won't necessarily protect your corn from damage, particularly in Nebraska and the Great Lakes region.

The Missouri Department of Agriculture has released the stop sale, use or removal order on herbicides approved for Xtend trait system.

Dicamba continues to be a hot topic as symptoms begin to show in other states. Weed scientists are skeptical that applicators can meet proposed additional label restrictions.

All eight major fertilizer are priced lower, but for the first time in nearly five months a fertilizer was actually down a significant amount.

Dicamba continues to be a hot topic as symptoms begin to show in other states. Weed scientists are skeptical that applicators can meet proposed additional label restrictions.

Domestic wholesale prices for most fertilizers weakened in June and will likely continue to hold steady or move slightly lower during July as sidedress demand tapers off and as wholesalers prepare for summer fill.

The states of Arkansas and Missouri both took action Friday to ban the use of dicamba-mix herbicide applications in their respective states.

Average retail fertilizer prices showed little movement in either direction the fourth week of June 2017, according to fertilizer retailers surveyed by DTN.

Debate over applying nitrogen (N) on beans still rages, though low commodity prices have dampened expectations of a return. There are a few tips to consider if you are thinking of giving beans an extra shot of N.