6/3/04: Corn V5. Soybeans V2. No insects reported. Both corn & beans have yellow cast. Wet areas are showing stress.

6/11/04: Corn V7. Soybeans V4. Crops have progressed well with warm weather & sunshine. Can find from 0-4 aphids per soybean plant. Found 1 bean leaf beetle per 34 foot of row. Corn still lagging in wet areas.

6/18/04: Corn V8. ECB = 0.3/10 plants, Instar 1. Soybeans R1. No insects reported. Soybeans beginning to flower, still on short with short internode length. Corn is looking better, still variable in wet spots.

6/25/04: Corn V10. ECB=.2/10 plants, Instar 1. Soybeans R1. No insects reported in soybeans. Corn is chest high in the tallest areas to knee high in the wet, stressed areas. Seeing some waterhemp show up after all the rain. Beans are flowering with 8-9 nodes. Seeing some pythium in the no-till beans with 2-5% plant loss.

7/2/04: Corn V12. ECB=.5/10 plants, Instar 2. Soybeans R1. Corn is uneven, waist to head high and from 2-5 leaves from tasseling. From the road it looks good as it has dark green color. Soybeans are in full bloom with 9-10 nodes. Starting to see the first pods being set.

7/9/04. Soybeans R2. Soybeans are in full bloom with some pods being set. Beans are knee high with 11 nodes. Corn V16. Corn 2 leaves from tasseling, pollinating near the building site. A few leaf diseases starting to show up in corn.

7/17/04. Soybeans R2. Corn R1. Corn tasseling although somewhat uneven. Beans setting pods and in full bloom. Finding a few bean leaf beetles as well as grape colaspis beetles in beans.

7/24/04. Soybeans R3. BLB = 1/sweep. Corn R2. Beans are 28 - 30" tall with 14-16 nodes. Seeing some white mold and SDS symptoms as well as some other leaf diseases like downy mildew. Corn is in the blister stage. Pollination good. A quick check of a couple of ears found 16 kernel rows with 32 kernels per row. Not hard to find some leaf diseases in corn starting to show up.

7/31/04. Soybeans R4. BLB=1/sweep. Beans fully podding --Very few flowers. Not too hard to find White Mold. Corn R2. Corn in blister stage. Some eyespot showing up.

8/15/04. Soybeans R5. Corn R3. Some SDS and Whtie Mold showing up in beans. Beans are filling pods. Corn late milk to early dough stage. Some GLS & rust showing up. Ear lengths are 6-7" with 16-18 rows with 30-34 kernels per row.

8/22/04. Soybeans R6. Corn R4. Soybeans starting to take a yellow cast to them. White mold and SDS can be found in the field. Corn starting to dent.

8/30/04. Soybeans R6. Corn R5. Soybeans are yellow and maturing. Scattered diseases still easy to find -- white mold and SDS. Corn is denting but slow in development with cool temps. Yield estimate coming in around 170 bu/acre.