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Small Grains Disease and Pest Update 06/30/25

  Diseases Last week, the scouts continued to find a few fields with tanspot at low incidence and severity. Weather fronts continue to bring scattered showers across much of Minnesota.  Only the northern halves of Kittson and Roseau counties continue to miss these showers and thunderstorms, and wheat fields in that area are showing signs of moisture stress. Consequently, the conditions for developing small grain diseases, including FHB, are much more favorable for most. However,  as a consequence of the hit-and-miss nature of these rain events, both the NDAWN disease forecasting and the national risk model might be overestimating the risk for some of your fields if last week's rains kept missing your fields and fields are much drier (and therefor less likely to accumalate the needed leaf wetness duration periods) than estimated by the tools when the tools extrapolate the data from the data collection points to your fields in the coming days.  For oats and barley that...
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Register for the Irrigation and Nutrient Management Field Day - July 10th at the Sand Plain Research Farm!

University of Minnesota Extension and Minnesota Area II Potato and Research Council are hosting an Irrigation and Nutrient Management Field Day on Thursday, July 10th, 2025 from 3:30 pm to 7:30 pm at the Sand Plain Research Farm (SPRF) in Becker, MN. This free field day will include a complimentary dinner.  Location Sand Plain Research Farm - Operations Building 15003 157th St. SE Becker, MN 55308 Directions for the self-guided tour : 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm. Cost This free field day will focus on advanced practices and research conducted at the SPRF featuring researchers from the University of Minnesota and North Dakota State University. This event will include a complimentary dinner. Presentations 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm: Self-Guided Field tour (use your own vehicle and stop by at any study plots. See the plot map for study locations) 4:30 pm – 4:45 pm: Reach the SPRF building for presentations (15003 157th St SE, Becker, MN 55308) 4:45 pm – 5:00 pm: Potato Extension Update...
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Plan to attend the Rochester Crop Management Tour!

Be sure to put Tuesday, July 1, 2025 on your calendar for the Rochester Crop Management Tour! See what's new and on the horizon in corn and soybean weed management, tour herbicide and cover crop trials, and get updates on tar spot of corn from the experts.  Tour stops and topics 2025 Corn and soybean herbicide program trials Learn about experimental Convintro™ (diflufenican), a new herbicide pending registration Managing hard water when spraying herbicides Corn herbicide trial with AlpHa Shot, a pH adjuster and buffer Cover crops and weed management Reevaluating residual herbicides in soybean, a multistate trial What's new with corn tar spot? Extension updates from Olmstead, Houston and Fillmore Counties Onsite registration begins at 8:30 a.m. with presentations starting at 9:00 a.m.  There's no cost to attend and preregistration is not required.  The Rochester weed management trials are located just east of the Olmsted County Recycling site on County Rd 9 (Collegeview RD...
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Sulfur management: In-season, source, carryover, soybean & more

This month's episode of the Nutrient Management Podcast is all about sulfur. Fertilizer guidelines go through changes periodically, but are there any upcoming changes to the sulfur fertilizer guidelines specifically? What does current research tell us about managing sulfur for Minnesota crops?  Were there any surprising results? Should growers proactively add sulfur to crops out of caution, or is that practice unnecessary? What are some final takeaways that our panelists want Minnesota farmers to know about?  TRANSCRIPT Guests: Jeff Coulter, Extension corn agronomist (St. Paul) Jeff Vetsch, U of M researcher (Waseca) Seth Naeve, Extension soybean agronomist (St. Paul) Daniel Kaiser, Extension nutrient management specialist (St. Paul) Additional Resources: Sulfur for Minnesota soils Is it worth applying sulfur to your soybean crop? Sulfur fertilizer application: Does S carry over from one year to the next? Video: What source of sulfur is right for you? Fertilizing Corn in ...
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Small Grains Disease and Pest Update 06/24/25

Diseases Last week, the scouts continued to find a few fields with tanspot at low incidence and severity.  Widespread rains across much of Minnesota have allowed for much longer leaf wetness periods. Only the Red River Valley north of Hwy 200 continues to miss out on any measurable amounts of rain.  Consequently, the conditions for developing small grain diseases, including FHB, are much more favorable for most. For oats and barley that will be reaching  Feekes 10.5  (or fully headed), switch to a fungicide labeled for the suppression of FHB, as the risk forecast for the remainder of the week remains moderate to high across all but the most northern counties in NW and the most southern counties in the SW corners of the state. Likewise, apply a fungicide labeled for the suppression of FHB in wheat when the crop reaches  Feekes 10.51  (or beginning of anthesis). Choose one of the premium fungicide products when your variety has a FHB rating of susceptible to ...
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Field Notes talks cover crops and nutrient interactions

Angie Peltier, UMN Extension crops educator, Northwest Research & Outreach Center, Jeff Vetsch, UMN research supervisor, Southern Research & Outreach Center and Axel Garcia y Garcia, UMN Extension, sustainable cropping systems specialist, Southwest Research & Outreach Center Cereal rye cover crop seeded at 50 lb/a in the fall and terminated at planting. Photo: Liz Stahl, UMN Extension The following information was provided during a 2025 Strategic Farming: Field Notes session. Use your preferred podcasting platform or listen online to a podcast of this Field Notes session hosted by UMN Extension crops educator Liz Stahl. Note : Join us this week on Wednesday when we welcome Dr. Dean Malvick, Extension plant pathologist, and Brad Carlson, Extension educator, to discuss What to expect after heavy June rains in terms of crop diseases and nutrient management.  With Cover Crops, Flexibility is a Must Liz visited with the guests who had just presented some of their research...
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FieldCheck: A tool to protect pesticide-sensitive crops and beehives from spray drift

By Larry VanLieshout, MDA Research Scientist, Tana Haugen-Brown, Sally Raymond, and Jolene Warnke, UMN Pesticide Safety and Environmental Education Extension educators Figure 1. FieldWatch map. Protecting your neighbors’ crops and beehives from pesticide drift starts with knowing where they are located. FieldCheck , from FieldWatch® Inc ., is a voluntary online program designed to help pesticide applicators view potentially sensitive crops and beehives in their area so they can take extra precautions when making pesticide applications. To reduce potential offsite injury due to pesticide drift, follow all label requirements. In addition, scout the surrounding area and check the FieldWatch Map (Figure 1) prior to application to see if there are pesticide sensitive sites in the area. Zoom in on areas of interest to see the field borders (Figure 2). Selecting a pin on the FieldWatch map brings up additional crop or apiary information and contact information for that producer (Figure ...
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