Effective scouting during the growing season is the key to successful, integrated management of SCN, says Iowa State University plant pathologist Greg Tylka.

The increased use of no-till farming since the 1980s, and the increased use of glyphosate-resistant crops since 1996, has significantly turned farmers into environmentalists. Less soil has eroded, less chemicals have been applied, and less fuel has been used because of significant changes in farming practices.

Cover crops incorporated into a continuous no-till field crop rotation can produce enough nitrogen to complement, or in some cases, replace corn nitrogen fertilizer applications, according to long-term Ohio State University Extension research.

Many farmers are using section controls on field sprayers because of product savings and the ability to avoid doubling up on chemical applications on the overlap areas where diagonal rows meet and at the end of fields.

Plovers seem to be coexisting well with intensive row-crop farming methods. No-till farming methods seem to benefit the birds most because they leave organic matter on the surface. And no-till benefits farmers, as well, by reducing erosion and protecting the soil.

Strip-till lost the bragging rights about yields to mulch-till in a 4-year, onfarm study conducted in Illinois. But profits from strip-till topped thos of mulch-till and no-till in the study.

Jeff Housman, Mycogen Seeds customer agronomist, advises growers to consider all factors before deciding to replant to determine whether the yield advantage of a replanted field will offset the added cost and the lower yield potential of the first planting.

Like the swallows that return to Capistrano, it seems that purpling in young corn returns every year somewhere, says Bob Nielsen, Purdue University corn agronomist.

Freezing temperatures crept further south than normal. The main overwinter source of soybean rust, kudzu, was killed back in most places in the south.

Herbicide application restrictions exist for several reasons, but of particular importance is the increased likelihood of crop injury if applications are made beyond a specified growth stage.