You’re scouting soybeans and you find a lesion on the leaves. You think it is frogeye leaf spot, but you’re not sure. Wouldn’t it help to have a handy resource with you to help identify it?

Apps are coming that use artificial intelligence to help make an identification in real time. Until they’re more widely available, the Purdue University Corn & Soybean Field Guide is a handy aid.

“It fits in my back pocket and I keep it with me wherever I go,” says Steve Gauck, a regional agronomy manager with Beck’s, based near Greensburg, Ind. “It helps me confirm what I am thinking in many cases, right in the field.”

Corey Gerber, who heads up the Purdue Crop Diagnostic Training and Research Center, which publishes the 316-page pocket guide, says 2021 editions are available at $10 each. Order at edustore.purdue.edu.

Two apps based on the Purdue guide, one for soybeans, are available at the app store for $5.99 each. Gerber notes that these apps contain some interactive elements above and beyond what is available in the paperback guide. Versions of the apps are available for both Smartphone and Android phones. There is also a version of the Purdue Corn & Soybean Guide available for iPads.

Tons of other publications are also available at the Purdue Education Store website. Many smaller publications can be downloaded for free.

While there weren’t major revisions to the 2021 Corn & Soybean Guide, Gerber says changes are coming for 2022. “We will update it to reflect changes being made in the Tri-State Fertilizer Recommendations,” he says.

Also look for a new Purdue weed identification guide this summer, Gerber says.