Pests and diseases sometimes develop in patterns, and sometimes not. To get a sampling of what is happening in the Midwest, Michigan Farmer, Indiana Prairie Farmer and Ohio Farmer editors have teamed up and lured in, or more accurately roped in, a couple of observers in key parts of their states to report every two weeks on what's happening in their fields. Click on the map to see where each reporter is commenting from.

Bill Pickart: We are in very good shape here, but everything is not perfect. Some corn is knee-high, but some fields are also uneven, probably because they were planted a little wet. Rain has become spotty, with some areas getting 0.75 inches earlier this week and some places received basically none.
There was a week of no rain before that so it gave guys a window to get caught up on spraying, and let other guys finish planting beans. There certainly is no prevented planting in this area. It's also totally different so far from 2012. Stands look pretty good, although a few cool, cloudy days slowed growth and caused some purpling to appear.
There are isolated cases of chemical carry-over due to extreme drought last year. We also have some soybean fields that need to be sprayed very soon. It's always amazing to me how weeds grow well no matter what!
I realize in some places people have problems. We hope they're resolved soon because we need a good production year for 2013!
I've seen a couple of no-till fields hard hit by slugs in the area from when it was cooler and wetter. They say May was above normal on temperature here, but it doesn't seem like it compared to last year. We've had very few 'hot' days yet. Based upon how the planting season started, the area seems to be in decent shape right now on crops.
Luke VanTilburg: Sidedressing is completed for the most part in our area. Quite a bit of post spraying is being done. We noticed a lot of corn that was planted the week before Mother's Day leafed out underground. It seems the sudden 20 degree drop in high and low temps on Mother's Day weekend caused that corn to leaf out underground. I have not noticed it in the fields that were planted afterwards. I am doing standard deviation tests on corn stands now to calculate the differences. I flagged several plants that leafed out underground several weeks ago. Some made it up and some did not. I am going to watch them throughout the growing season to see what, if any, kind of ear they put on. This past week we put out several test strips of RyzUp and Stratego on corn and beans to see if it has any effect on performance. Some post spraying of beans in our area, but not much. Haven't noticed any insect pressures yet. Overall, things look very good in our area. Hopefully, we continue to receive ample rainfalls and moderate weather.
Our hay progress has slowed but looking for the next dry spell to finish first time. Our alfalfa will be ready soon for second cutting.
Janna Fritz: For the most part, planting has wrapped up around the Thumb area. In between the rain showers, farms have struggled to get the dry beans and remaining soybean acres planted. There are some replant concerns where there were significant rains. There has been a significant push to apply the first round of herbicide to the sugar beets, corn and soybean acres. Wheat is headed out and seems to look good now as a result of the rain. Fungicides have also been applied on the wheat. Our corn is between the V3-V4 stage. First cutting for hay is also coming off.
We did have some weed escapes, and we did a small amount of re-spray.
We just received anywhere from 1/4" to 3/4" rain on the 10th.
We sprayed half our soybean crop with glyphosate and our residual spray. I've noticed other farmers also spraying soybeans.
Even though it's been fairly dry, the crops are looking pretty good in our area. In the past week, a lot of first cutting of alfalfa has been baled in our local area.
Related Field Watch Articles
Friday Field Watch: Conditions Are Spotty - (May 31)
Friday Field Watch: Corn Planting About Done; Beans Underway - (May 17)
Friday Field Watch: Preparing For Planting Dash - (May 3)
See Season Through Farmers' Eyes On Web