Be prepared

• Web Soil Survey or download the Soil Web phone app (Apple, Android)
• Tool Checklist & Reporting Template

Understand the growing season

• Badger Crop Connect Webinar Series/Recordings
• Wisconsin Crop Manager Newsletter
• DATCP Field Notes
• Wisconsin Ag Weather Outlook
• Wisconet
• Ag Forecasting & Advisory System – Disease Pressure
• Insect Pest Text Alerts

Pest & crop management calendars

• Alfalfa Pest Management Calendar
• Corn Pest Management Calendar
• Soybean Pest Management Calendar

General crop scouting resources

• Crop Scouting Basics for Corn & Soybean – Crop Protection Network
• Crop Scouting Educational Resources – Iowa State University
• Growing Guides – UW Madison Integrated Pest & Crop Management
• UW Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic
• UW Soil & Forage Lab – Soil Sampling
• UW Madison Department of Entomology – Insect Diagnostic Lab
• UW Plant Disease Diagnostics Clinic

0:06
So we’ll kick off the webinar at this point.

0:08
We do have a couple of people monitoring the chat, so definitely feel free to put any questions or challenges you have into the chat.

0:14
But really why you’re here is to learn a little bit more about crop scouting.

0:19
And why is it important for us to provide crop scouting consulting for our farmers?

0:29
Well, it is a key and important part of integrated pest management.

0:35
We continually think about how we can use less resources, use less chemicals, really target and identify where we actually need to put our input costs.

0:45
And one of the best ways we can do that is by getting out into the field and scouting.

0:51
So this is one of the key ways that we can really provide a complete assessment of what the pest populations are.

0:57
And when we think about pest populations in a scouting situation, it’s typically going to be something like a weed or an insect pest or a disease.

1:07
And when we do this complete assessment of the pest population, it really helps not only the growers that you’re working with determine what they should do, but it also helps the managers for the Agri businesses that are applying a lot of the chemicals and the inputs in order to determine if they should be doing that to improve crop performance.

1:27
Now, one of the keys to agricultural production, of course, is having an eye on protecting yield.

1:33
But we don’t want to protect yield at all costs.

1:36
If it doesn’t make financial sense to make an application of a particular weed killer or insect pesticide, maybe it’s not a necessary thing that we have to do.

1:48
So we always want to really think of the holistic situation and identify where it makes the most sense to put on a pesticide.

1:58
We also want to identify any issues that can reduce crop potential.

2:02
And this might not be a pest situation.

2:05
It might be something like compaction that we’re seeing in a field.

2:09
We also, as I mentioned before, we want to optimize the use of not only pesticide applications, but fertilizer and nutrient applications or identify areas where nutrient applications might even be excessive.

2:22
And then of course, we want to determine if the pest levels meet that economic threshold that we need to be concerned about.

2:30
So one of the other things that I always like to keep in mind when I was doing crop scouting is I was really the eyes and the ears of the grower.

2:39
I was the one that had that extra time during the season to get out into the field and see what was going on.

2:46
And that really allowed for the opportunity to do troubleshooting in real time.

2:50
So if I have time to go out and scout the field, I can report back to my manager who can communicate with the grower what they need to do out in that particular field.

2:59
And then when we think of early season scouting, managing pests in the early stage, that’s where we can really see the advantage as far as economic return goes.

3:09
So there is a value to this service and many of you are probably getting paid to do this job as well.

3:16
So as we get into scouting, we don’t start scouting by just hopping out into a field.

3:21
There’s a lot of preparation that goes into this process.

3:25
And really the first thing that you need to do is talk to your manager, talk to the consultant that works with the grower, talk to the agronomist that you’re working with.

3:34
You will find out that every farm is different, which is, you know, exciting and fun, but it also creates challenges when we’re trying to identify the best way to do something.

3:44
So you need to understand what is important to that grower, What issues have they had in the past?

3:50
What issues do they concerned with getting taken care of?

3:56
And additionally, who is your go to on the farm?

3:59
And as we see farms getting larger and larger, the owner of the farm might not be the one that actually manages the crop situation.

4:07
So you need to be connected with that person on the farm that you need to be communicating with.

4:13
And then you also want to figure out what is the action plan for the scouting season?

4:18
How often do you need to be out on the farm or in a particular field?

4:22
What crops am I looking at?

4:25
I was in situations where I might only crop, I might only scout alfalfa fields.

4:30
So I was only scouting, you know, a couple of weeks a year in that particular growers alfalfa fields and either somebody else did the other ones or I had specific jobs in those fields at different points of the year.

4:44
And then there might be specific needs that a grower has.

4:47
Maybe they know they have a water hemp problem.

4:49
So that is your one job is to figure out what fields have water hemp in it and how we can best manage that water hemp.

5:02
The next thing that you likely want to do is to contact the grower and you likely would want to let them know when you’re going to be out in their fields scouting.

5:13
And one thing that I’ll extend this to is there’s a lot of farmers that rent land.

5:19
I have been in situations even in this extension job where I’ve had land owners that have come out to check on me to see what I’m up to because they’re not sure why this strange vehicle is parked in their field.

5:31
So let the grower know when you’ll be scouting so that they understand that if they see a strange vehicle, especially early in the season when you haven’t been out there that much, they know exactly what happens to be going on.

5:43
So it’s important to share your vehicle or your contact information as well.

5:48
So if you let them know, particularly if you don’t have a marked vehicle, let them know, hey, this is my license plate.

5:55
This is the vehicle make and model that I drive.

5:58
And if you have any questions, here’s my cell phone number, give me a call or give me a text if you’ve got questions about what I happen to be out there.

6:07
Now, I told you to talk to your manager or the agronomist regarding what specific concerns or instructions they might have for a grower.

6:15
Never hurts to ask the grower this question as well because it gives them an opportunity to share anything that might have been top of mind that has come up since they’ve maybe talked to their agronomist or consultants.

6:26
Maybe they noticed something in a field that morning when they drove past that they want you to take a look at.

6:33
All of these things are really helpful when we’re trying to build a relationship with a grower and when you are out in that field and when you’re on that farm, you’re a representative of whatever company you’re working for or we as extension educators, we represent the university.

6:48
We want to make sure that we’re above board and doing our job and building that relationship with that grower so they get comfortable with us and they see value in what we’re doing.

6:59
And then finally, something that you want to do with the growers, set expectations.

7:03
How do they want information reported back to them?

7:07
And when you’ve got a situation when a grower is paying for scouting services, they want to see that value as well.

7:14
So you can do a really good job of meeting or exceeding those expectations by knowing if they want you to call and give them the rundown on what’s going on in each field or if a written report is OK or if a text or an e-mail is OK.

7:27
Don’t assume.

7:28
Make sure that you know what each grower would like you to do.

7:34
And just some things to consider.

7:36
As I mentioned before, you’ll encounter all sorts of people when you’re out scouting that want to check out what you’re doing.

7:44
It does add credibility if you have the ability to wear logo wear or a t-shirt with the business that you work for marked on it, something with a logo up in the top corner of your shirt.

7:58
It just, you know, kind of adds that credibility that you should be there and you belong there.

8:03
I have a picture of a university vehicle.

8:06
I don’t have one of those.

8:07
So when I’m out in the field, I’m driving a personal vehicle, but it adds credibility to what you’re doing if you’re able to drive a vehicle that is already marked with your company logo.

8:18
And then it, it also helps to carry an ID.

8:21
And I would assume most people do this anyways, but just in case somebody asks, I have my university ID with me most of the time.

8:29
So that if somebody would, you know, challenge me on the fact that I don’t belong there, I’ve got the opportunity to prove to them that I definitely do belong there.

8:39
Next up, we want to collect a field history or identify seasonal information.

8:45
And clearly we are in the thick of planting season.

8:48
So a lot of this information is being generated at this point, but when you’re getting out into the field and looking for specific things, you’re going to want to understand when was this crop planted?

9:02
In some cases, if you’re working for an AG retailer or a cooperative, you might want to know what variety is in, what variety of bean or corn is in that field.

9:12
You want to take a look at some maps and maybe identify what the problem areas or the challenges might be in that field.

9:21
Have there been any pesticide applications along with planting?

9:24
We might have some herbicide applications that have been made at this point.

9:29
What’s going on there and being aware of your entry intervals when it comes to getting into that field, identifying the soil types or the tests that might have gone along with that field.

9:42
Soil test data would be housed at whatever business you’re working for so that you could take a look at that information.

9:49
But a really cool tool which should be going into the chat is the Web Soil survey.

9:55
And even cooler is an app that you can use for your phone where you can stand in the field and it will identify where you’re at and it can tell you what the soil type is and some important information about that soil type in real time.

10:11
So check that out via the link in the chat.

10:14
You may want to understand what previous crops are because obviously as we go through different rotations, we’re going to see pest issues that crop up in certain situations.

10:23
You see a no till field here.

10:24
We have all sorts of issues that pop up in no till and cover crop situations.

10:30
So definitely things to be aware of.

10:32
And again, knowing what type of tillage that farmer is or is not using is key information as well.

10:39
And Next up we’re going to talk about gathering your scouting toolbox.

10:44
And this truly is one of the first things that you probably need to do is to get this list of tools together.

10:51
And again, there’s a link going into the chat with the, a link to a actually a checklist that you can use to gather these items.

11:00
I’m not going to dig into every single one of these, but this list of tools is really what I would consider the stuff that you need to have to technically complete your job.

11:13
I really like the storage clipboards.

11:16
Some of them are metal, some of them are plastic, but you can stick a stack of report forms in there.

11:21
You can put pens and pencils or sharpies in there.

11:25
It’s really nice for carrying through the field and then protecting, protecting that paper because of course we’re never out there when it’s dry.

11:33
It always seems to be dewy or wet or rainy.

11:36
So it’s important to protect that information as well.

11:39
I’m old enough to have, I had to use a plot book, I had to have a plot book for each county that I worked in when I was scouting.

11:48
But obviously a lot of that information is available online for field maps.

11:53
So whatever resource is provided to you, make sure that you have a copy of that when you’re out scouting.

11:59
We’re going to talk a little bit about crop development or pest ID guides in a little bit.

12:04
But some key things that are just easy to keep in the truck are easy to keep in a tote include things like pens, pencils, sharpies.

12:11
I really like carrying a steno notebook and I still carry one today because I could always tuck that into the back of my jeans when I was about scouting.

12:20
It was a lot easier than a bigger notebook and I could jot information down.

12:23
I could tear the page out if I needed to, but those are always really handy to have.

12:29
Things like pocket knives, shears, scissors, trowels, anything you can use to dig up plants or cut plants open.

12:36
If you’re doing insect scouting, sweep nets are important.

12:40
A lot of your bosses or a lot of your managers probably have those already.

12:46
Hand lenses are great, especially when you’re looking at insect pests.

12:50
When you’re doing stand counts, you’re going to need a tape measure or a reel.

12:54
A big long reel tape measure is nice for marking plots off seed depth finders.

13:01
It’s kind of nice to carry either flags, stakes, flagging tapes along with you because if you need to, you can always mark a spot in the field where you found something that you want to get back to.

13:11
Obviously, in today’s day and age, we’ve got GPS pins we can drop.

13:14
That’s also a good tool to use as well.

13:18
And then in that second list, there’s a couple of things related to sampling and we’re going to have a discussion about sampling in the next webinar.

13:26
But some things that I think are really important to have along too, you know, water, small cooler, ice pack.

13:32
If you are collecting samples, make sure that you think about how you’re going to preserve those samples as you get them back to the office.

13:40
And then this list of tools is really stuff related to kind of your personal care.

13:45
And these are things that you definitely should not ignore.

13:49
Again, having a small tote with some sunscreen and bug repellent.

13:53
I am not a bug person, and the number of deer flies and mosquitoes that I encountered while I was scouting was awful.

14:00
But being prepared does help you manage some of that.

14:03
Keep the sun off of your face.

14:05
So a baseball cap or a sun hat is really important.

14:09
Comfortable walking shoes or boots.

14:12
I would always have a change of shoes and a change of socks with me because again, a lot of times we’re scouting in areas that we’ve got high dew or we’ve got moisture down on the ground.

14:24
So you want to be able to change and be comfortable.

14:26
I have a pair of rubber boots that I wear, especially when I’m out in alfalfa fields.

14:31
The waterproof bib overalls.

14:33
There’s a couple of different varieties out there.

14:36
They’re pretty popular and pretty easy to find.

14:38
Those are nice.

14:40
I like to have a bottle of water with me, not only for personal consumption, but there’s times that we get out into the field and especially when we’re doing soil sampling or something like that.

14:50
It’s nice to have something to wash your hands with because hand wipes or wet wipes aren’t quite good enough in some situations.

14:57
I definitely have a first aid kit or at least some bandages with you.

15:02
If we’re working with knives and sharp soil probes, there’s definitely the opportunity there to create some injuries, so you want to be prepared for that.

15:13
I mentioned guides, and I know in today’s digital age, it seems silly to carry some of these guides with you when you get out into the field.

15:22
But in rural Wisconsin or rural America, period:

15:26
Smartphones are not going to work everywhere.

15:28
So you can’t always rely on being able to pull up a picture of something on your phone to confirm what you’re actually seeing.

15:37
So your employer is likely to have some guides or some resources that are specific to what they want you to look for.

15:44
So be sure to ask about those things.

15:46
We have a lot of great resources at Extension that can help you manage through some of this as well.

15:52
And we’ll be sharing a lot of these tools as we as we go through the webinar series that you can utilize over the next several weeks.

16:00
But here are a couple of guides that we have found very helpful when we think about scouting resources.

16:11
So not only do you have to know all of those things, I hope I’m not scaring you quite yet.

16:15
Every growing season, particularly here in Wisconsin, is different.

16:20
So it is important for you to understand what this year’s challenges are.

16:25
And I’ve been with Extension for two years and I’ve been in agriculture pretty much my entire life, and it feels like no two springs or no two summers are ever the same.

16:39
So there are some great resources I’m going to put in my shameless plug for some of the extension resources we have available.

16:46
The Badger Crop Connect webinar series is every second and 4th Thursday from 12:30 to 1:30, and we try to tackle some of the really timely events that are going on in that growing season in that webinar series.

17:00
We do record those and post those webinar recordings as well.

17:05
Please sign up to receive the Wisconsin Crop Manager newsletter.

17:09
Same deal.

17:09
We try to provide as much timely information as we can.

17:13
And then DATCP’s Field Notes is a weekly newsletter that really targets, they target kind of what’s going on in the fields as far as planting and those kinds of things, but really a focus on insect pressure and what they’re seeing in their trapping network.

17:30
So there should be some links going into the chat on that.

17:35
Weather conditions are important to understand soil moisture.

17:40
Talk to the other agronomists, talk to the growers, talk to other consultants and ask them what have they been seeing.

17:46
And if you are starting your scouting maybe a little bit more into the growing season, if you’re not starting till like June, you’re going to want to get a little bit of an understanding of what happened in the early season and what might I have to look for because of what happened during that time.

18:03
Growing degree days are key pieces of information when we think about the emergence of a lot of insect pests.

18:11
And there’s a couple of ways that you can find out more information about growing degree days.

18:16
There is a Wisconsin Mesonet called WiscoNet, which is a series of weather stations across the state where you can look at real time information and past information as far as weather goes.

18:29
And I’ll have a screenshot on that in just a second.

18:32
And then you can also sign up for the Wisconsin Ag Weather Outlook e-mail as well.

18:39
That provides you some guidance and some things to look for when you’re out in the fields.

18:45
And then finally, another tool that I’m going to talk about in a little bit is take a look at a pest management calendar and see what issues might be coming up in the time frame that I’m scouting because it doesn’t pay to look for Tarspot right now because we’re not going to see Tarspot until later season.

19:02
But if you don’t necessarily know when to look for it, it makes it a lot more challenging to figure that out.

19:10
So this is actually a screenshot of the WiscoNet.

19:13
And I took this back on May 8th, which was last week.

19:16
So it was much colder on May 8th than it is today.

19:20
But the Wisco Net allows you to look at any number of stations across Wisconsin.

19:26
And as you can see along the bottom there, you can pick a whole lot of interesting data points to look at.

19:34
You can look at pest and disease models and see where we might be at.

19:38
You can look at where we’re in drought in the state, and then you can look at the forecast as well.

19:43
So this is a plug for a great tool that’s really come online in the last couple of years and should be a great opportunity for you to get a better handle on what’s going on weather wise in whatever area of the state you happen to be scouting.

20:00
All right, so now you got your tool kit together.

20:03
You have an understanding of what the grower is looking for and what your manager is looking for.

20:08
You have found the field, now what do I do?

20:12
Well, the first thing that you should do is think about where you should park your vehicle.

20:17
Ideally, if you can find a field driveway or a lane or something that allows you to get off of the highway or the road, that is going to be your best bet.

20:27
Because as you’re working around the vehicle and getting your tools out and your equipment out, it’s much safer to not be on the road.

20:34
But it’s also less of a chance that your vehicle’s going to get hit while you’re out scouting in that field.

20:41
I’m going to extend this to when you stop at a farm to report to a grower, think about where you should park there as well.

20:50
If you’re going to a dairy farm, don’t ever park where the milk truck has to park because inevitably they will show up when you’re parked in the way.

20:58
So really try to look at places that make the most sense to park your vehicle so that you’re out of the way for that grower if at all possible, especially during the growing season.

21:09
Obviously don’t drive in the field if you can help it.

21:14
There might be certain situations, especially if you’re in like a forage field, alfalfa, grass, pasture, something like that, that you might be able to do that without doing much crop damage.

21:25
But you want to avoid driving into the field and damaging anything in there.

21:29
The next thing that you need to do is grab the tools that you will definitely need.

21:36
And that sounds kind of silly, right?

21:37
But guess what?

21:38
If I’m in an alfalfa field, I probably need a sweep net.

21:42
I probably don’t need a sweep net if I’m in a cornfield.

21:45
So before you leave the office, you really probably have to make sure that you understand what you need to take along with you on any given day.

21:53
If your goal is to go out and do some soil sampling or collect some insect pests, you want to make sure that you have the tools and the equipment that you need to get that done.

22:03
No matter what.

22:04
You want to have a notebook and a pen or a pencil.

22:07
Just a note: pencil or pens don’t work really well when you’ve got wet paper.

22:12
So I always have a couple of pencils in my vehicle as well because sometimes a pen just isn’t going to cut it in certain situations.

22:21
It’s getting more common for people to have a tablet that they use when they’re out in the field, and that’s a great tool as long as you have the ability to connect or do what you need to do.

22:32
It does get tricky to see tablets and smartphones when you’re out in the field, but a powerful tool for taking pictures, putting in GPS points, those kinds of things.

22:42
Always good as well to have a knife with you so you can either dig plants, cut plants open, cut off a piece of a plant, have a tape measure with you and bring a trowel along.

22:55
And a small trowel is all you really need.

22:57
You don’t need anything super big.

23:03
Now when you get up to the field, there’s some basic guidelines that you want to follow.

23:08
Now the first thing is you really want to step back and assess at the field level.

23:14
As you can see in the picture at the bottom there, I can stand back from that picture and take a look at that picture and see that there’s some challenging areas in that field.

23:23
I can see that we’ve got some yellowing.

23:25
I can see that we’ve got some drowned out spots.

23:28
I’m assuming this is a fence line here.

23:31
Getting an assessment of that whole field will help you to determine where you should spend the most time.

23:37
Now, it is important to get across the whole field or as much as it is you as you possibly can, but I’m going to spend a whole lot more time in those yellowed areas trying to figure out what’s going on.

23:49
After you’ve looked at the field level, this is when you’re really going to get into the field and start to assess it at the individual plant level or in the group of plants level.

23:59
And then as always, as you’re going through the field and working a field, you want to record what you see or what you don’t see.

24:06
And that’s where you’re obviously your notebook or your tablet comes in handy that you’re jotting down notes as you go through the field.

24:13
And in the instant incidents that you don’t have that with you, you absolutely want to sit down in the truck after you get done and jot down the information.

24:23
You always think you’re going to remember things, but unfortunately that just doesn’t happen.

24:28
Capture the information while you’re in it.

24:30
You can always go back and review those notes later and add to it if you need to.

24:35
And then always, always identify in note patterns that you notice throughout the field.

24:40
And we’ll talk about that a little bit more in a couple minutes.

24:45
Before you actually enter the field and this is part of your pre assessment that you should be completing is identify or discuss with the grower or with your manager if there was a recent pesticide application.

24:58
It is important that you follow restricted entry interval requirements as written on pesticide labels.

25:05
So in some situations you do have or the grower has to have those fields marked when they do a pesticide application.

25:12
But really there aren’t just a boatload of those situations that occur.

25:18
So it’s key to know when a pesticide application has been made and another reason why you should contact the grower before you go out scouting so that you know what you’re in for.

25:30
So when we’re identifying problem areas, we’re looking for things like differences in crop height, we’re looking for differences in color, we’re looking for abnormalities in how that crop is growing.

25:43
So I think about certain herbicide injuries, we might see certain symptoms on a plant that could change the form of that plant.

25:50
And those are the specific areas that you really want to examine much more closely and use your tools.

25:59
I’m not going to tell you to go out and get a drone and fly that, but I know a lot of crop scouts do and a lot of agronomy companies have that technology.

26:07
If that’s something of interest to you, talk to your managers and see if that’s an opportunity because drone images are super powerful.

26:16
I’ve got a picture of a yield map there.

26:18
If you have a yield map from last fall and you can see particular areas in the field where yield wasn’t as good, maybe you’d focus on those areas when you’re out scouting to see if there’s a particular reason you can pinpoint.

26:32
And I’m not going to get into NDVI data, but that’s another powerful tool that you can use.

26:38
As we go through the scouting series, some of my colleagues will be providing some of that information on how to utilize NDVI data out in the field.

26:49
So some things to note.

26:51
Is the problem that you notice a random issue that it just pops up in a spot here or there, or is there a particular pattern and some of this random spot thing that you see can happen because there’s certain things going on in that field?

27:08
So in the picture there, you can see we’ve got one area of the field that’s a high pH.

27:13
Obviously field entryways, we tend to see a lot of compaction, so we’re going to typically see issues there.

27:19
So we always want to get away from the field entryway, try to get off the headlands of a field to diagnose some issues.

27:27
Do we know that there’s an area, the field that we’ve consistently got a problem with as far as yield goes?

27:34
We can see usually where there’s low spots or previously flooded areas.

27:38
Those are areas that we maybe don’t necessarily have to focus as much on because we know that that’s a challenging issue.

27:47
So if I find a crop problem in a previously flooded area, I’m not going to get too worked up about it because I can probably pinpoint the issue to the fact that it was flooded.

27:58
Some other things that you do want to pay attention to is soil type, and that’s where that web soil survey comes into account.

28:07
Even across the field, most of you probably recognize soil type isn’t the same.

28:11
We might have sand, sandy spots, clay spots, those kinds of things spread up throughout the field.

28:17
Understanding the change in that field helps you to note some of these issues as well.

28:23
We’re going to talk a little bit about abiotic factors later in the discussion, but think about does that pattern correspond to how the field has been managed?

28:34
Is there a difference in tillage in that field that could create some differences?

28:38
Are we noticing a spray pattern challenge?

28:42
Was it planted?

28:44
How was it planted and did that affect?

28:47
Manure application is a big one because manure application isn’t always as exact as maybe it should be.

28:54
And maybe one area of the field got more manure than the other or a different type of manure, or maybe they broke down and only half the field even got manure.

29:02
So those are some things to consider when you get through the field.

29:06
You want to make sure you walk a pattern and try to follow the similar protocol in all fields so you get into kind of a routine as you work through it.

29:15
Scout a general pattern to get an understanding of the whole field.

29:19
So you want to stop at specific points throughout the field and do further analysis at each point to try to cover everything.

29:26
You may want to walk a “W” in the field is what the recommendation is here in Wisconsin and stop at each point.

29:34
You might want to target more of the problem areas and some of that comes down to how big the field is too.

29:39
If you’ve got 100 acre field or 160 acre field, you may not be able to pinpoint just predetermined points.

29:46
You may want to focus more on the areas that are of issue.

29:51
And then when you’re walking that pattern and you’re noticing problems, try to denote how often does a problem occur and how much damage is being caused in each spot.

30:02
And you’re like, well, wait a minute, what the heck does a healthy plant even look like?

30:06
Well, we’re going to talk about that a little bit more as we get into each different webinar here, but think about what typically makes a plant look good.

30:16
Assess what you see above ground.

30:19
Is it a healthy looking green or is it more of a neon green or a yellow?

30:24
Or do you see purpling?

30:26
Do you see stunting in certain plants, or do most of them look pretty uniform?

30:31
Those are some of the things that you want to look at.

30:34
And as we go through these series, you’re going to realize or learn that different issues target different growth on a plant.

30:41
So sometimes we’ll see damage or we’ll see issues on an older leaf that will signify one challenge.

30:48
But if we see that problem on a new leaf, it’s a completely different thing.

30:52
So you always want to know where are we seeing the issue?

30:55
It’s not just, well, I see it on the leaves.

30:57
Which ones?

30:57
The newly emerged ones are the ones that are older.

31:01
Dig some plants up.

31:03
What do you see below ground?

31:04
Take a look at the roots.

31:05
Do the roots look white?

31:07
Do they look like they’re growing?

31:08
Do they look like you see a lot of root hairs and you want to cut the stems in the roots open, especially when you see a problem to identify what’s inside.

31:17
Sometimes it just might be rot inside where we see that plant starting to turn brown.

31:22
Sometimes we’ll find some little creatures inside that are causing our problems.

31:26
So anytime you’re looking at a plant you want to identify, are they symptomatic?

31:31
So again, it kind of comes down to color.

31:33
What’s the color?

31:35
Is the growth pattern correct or the size correct?

31:37
Or are we noting damage?

31:39
So on this one leaf here, you can see that something is definitely chewing on that particular leaf.

31:44
As we talk about insects, different insects are going to leave different chewing patterns, so you’re going to want to denote those kinds of things.

31:51
Here are some common scouting patterns.

31:54
Our goal is to assess about 50 to 100 plants in a very systemic way.

31:58
And the important why it’s important to be systemic is so that you’re kind of doing, as I mentioned before, the same thing in each field, and you’re covering that entire area.

32:08
So you could walk a diagonal line doing 10 plants at each point over five points.

32:14
You can walk that W, you can do a diamond, whatever works best for you in the shape of the field that you’re seeing.

32:23
And the key is really that you’re looking at that determined number of plants at each stop.

32:27
You’re writing down what you’re seeing, and you’re sure to look at the whole field.

32:35
Some of you might be lucky and you might have an ATV that you are charged with using throughout the growing season to do scouting.

32:43
This is great because it absolutely helps you get through fields much more quickly.

32:49
One thing to keep in mind, it’s just because you can do it quickly doesn’t give you like a license to not pay attention to what’s going on throughout the field.

32:56
So this gives you the opportunity, though, to cover the field thoroughly as you use that ATV.

33:04
Be sure that you’re not causing damage to the plants you want to try.

33:08
Try to drive with your wheels between the rows if at all possible.

33:12
Drive slowly so as not to do additional damage.

33:15
And then I’ll always assess soil conditions before you get out into the field.

33:21
If the field is too wet, do not take the ATV out there.

33:26
If it’s a crop that’s planted in narrower rows or the plant growth stage has reached the point that it’s too tall to get through that, you’re just going to need to walk it.

33:36
So use it as a tool.

33:38
But it’s not the end all for scouting.

33:44
So then as we’re looking at that plant level assessment, you’re going to want to look at individual plants and look for those symptoms and signs that are present.

33:52
Again, I mentioned before looking at the leaves above ground, but you definitely want to look at the entire plant, leaves, stems, roots.

33:59
Cut it open and look inside.

34:01
Look at the soil that’s clumped around the bottom of the roots.

34:05
Look for pests on and around the plant as well.

34:09
Some things that you definitely want to have with you.

34:12
A hand lens is really helpful, especially when we’re trying to identify some bug species.

34:18
If you’re actually out doing weed scouting, there’s some plant parts of that weed plant that are really hard to see, especially the little hairs on plants that hand lenses are helpful for.

34:30
Bring a knife or a, a knife or a trowel or a shovel along to dig roots.

34:35
And again, don’t just look at one plant, look at a couple.

34:39
I was in an alfalfa field the other day and I started, I noticed some, some white spots.

34:44
Well, I started out looking in that section and then I spread out a little bit more and then I actually walked over to the next field to see what was going on.

34:52
And we had a lot of the same issues.

34:53
So, so be sure to check out multiple plants cause some things are like one off outliers, but if it shows up on multiple plants, it’s probably a bigger issue.

35:03
So other things that you’re going to be looking for that again is going to be discussed in future webinars, things like crop growth stage in height, you’re going to learn more about that and how to determine what growth stage the crop happens to be in.

35:18
This is where your tape measure comes in handy to take that height measurement because when we look at herbicide labels, a lot of times it’s written based on crop growth stage, but there’s some crops that height might come into play.

35:32
So that’s information that your managers need to know.

35:37
Do a plant stand count or a plant population.

35:41
You’ll learn more about that next week.

35:44
Look at the plant health.

35:46
If there is an issue, determine if it’s abiotic or biotic.

35:50
Abiotic tends to mean it’s not a biological issue.

35:52
Biotic means it is a biological issue.

35:56
Look for things like stunting, leaf damage, tissue loss, color change, root damage, are there symptoms of disease, pest damage, nutrient deficiency, and we’re going to discuss all of those things over the coming weeks.

36:11
Other things to be looking for that we haven’t even touched on that again, will come up in a future webinar.

36:17
Look at weed pressure.

36:18
Are they grassy weeds?

36:20
Are they broad leaves?

36:23
How tall are the weeds?

36:25
How widespread?

36:26
Are they in certain patches or are they throughout the whole thing?

36:29
Same thing with insect presence.

36:32
Sweep Nets are great tools in certain crops to get that insect ID, but they don’t work in all crops, obviously.

36:38
So you’ll learn more about that.

36:41
And then the other thing is that you probably want to be aware of is the spray record.

36:45
And has that crop been sprayed for weeds already?

36:49
And now all of a sudden we have an outbreak of something else because that’s something that growers and crop consultants need to know.

36:57
And when you’re thinking about this, I mentioned earlier, we’ve got some really great calendars that our integrated pest and crop management team has pulled together for each of the key cash crops in Wisconsin.

37:09
That gives you a general idea of insect and related pests and in some cases diseases as well.

37:16
So there will be a link to this all in the chat.

37:18
I do have it on the screen as a QR code as well, but these are really great to print off and have with you so you understand what you should be looking for.

37:29
So there’s one on corn.

37:31
We’ve also got a disease calendar on corn.

37:37
There’s an insect and related pest for soybeans.

37:40
Obviously that list looks a lot easier to manage, right?

37:44
We’ve got a disease calendar for soybean and then finally alfalfa and alfalfa diseases.

37:54
So use those tools.

37:55
And it’s really good to review these, especially as we go through the growing season to see like if I get into July, I know that I should maybe start to be looking for black stem rot and leaf spot in alfalfa because I’m not going to see that early season or late season.

38:12
So tools to use to help you to kind of hone in on what challenges you might be dealing with.

38:18
So I mentioned looking for patterns, and when you’re looking for those patterns, there’s a couple of different guidelines you definitely want to follow.

38:26
Is the pattern random throughout the field that it shows up in one spot here and then one spot somewhere else?

38:33
Or is it aggregated?

38:36
Is it maybe only in one spot or a couple very small areas of the field?

38:40
The other thing is repeated and usually if we see repeated problems, it’s a planting or an application issue.

38:48
So those are things that are more abiotic in nature that are typically man made.

38:54
So those are easy to, I don’t want to say they’re easy to fix, but they’re easy to say, oh, Yep, we made a mistake there and we can kind of move on.

39:04
And typically those planting or application issues are going to show up across the field as we see like maybe there’s a nozzle plugged on the sprayer, we’re going to see a a spray gap somewhere.

39:14
So those are ways to look for patterns.

39:17
And then I mentioned abiotic issues.

39:19
And again, these are caused by non-living things, but they can have the appearance in the plant as if they were disease or nutrition or insect related.

39:32
So things like compaction.

39:33
And if you look in the top corner of the screen here, here we see a compaction layer that can be creating issues with the roots getting down into the soil, which could present as some symptoms.

39:46
Obviously hail is going to do significant damage to plants, but wind can as well.

39:53
Maybe we have some nitrogen burn on some plants or herbicide injury.

39:59
With some of the old conventional soybean herbicides, it was pretty common to actually do damage to the soybean crop at a certain growth stage in order to control the weeds.

40:10
So you just had to really recognize what was going on and what history that field had.

40:16
And then of course, planter and sprayer skips would fall into that umbrella as well.

40:23
And I didn’t know exactly where to put this, but at the beginning or the end, but it is really important to create a record or a report or all the work that you have put in as a crop scout kind of gets lost in the weeds.

40:38
So when you’re creating a record or a report, there’s a couple of ways to do it.

40:44
There should be a link in the chat to our report template that we put together for UW Extension.

40:53
But you can really use whatever works for your company.

40:55
You can use a tablet if that’s what your employer prefers.

41:01
And the power of actually using like a, a computerized system is that really allows you to look at all the grower data in one spot versus having a bunch of printed out reports, but key things that you need on that report, obviously a date and a producer name, that’s super important to have it dated because we’re working in real time.

41:23
We need to know how long ago did you see that weed problem?

41:25
And if it’s been a while and we haven’t addressed it, we’re probably going to have to go out and relook at that field to get that fixed.

41:33
Put down the farm name and the field number.

41:35
Ask the grower or ask the consultant what is the field number.

41:40
If you’ve worked with farmers before, they probably use the farm name from whatever farm it was 40 years ago.

41:48
And that’s how they denote their field.

41:53
So make sure that you understand what they’re talking about.

41:57
Planting dates and variety help record the current crop state, crop stage, and height.

42:03
Do a population count.

42:05
There’s a little box on our report in the bottom corner that allows you to draw a little bit of a field map.

42:11
So if you notice an area in the southeast corner of the field where there is a patch of weeds, you can denote that in that little box.

42:21
Do weed identification, which you’re going to learn.

42:24
How much is there?

42:25
How big are they?

42:27
What stage of growth do they happen to be in?

42:30
If you identify some insects, how many, what percent of damage, what growth stage are they?

42:36
Insects go through growth stages as well.

42:38
Are they larvae or are they adults?

42:40
There are tons of bugs in these fields.

42:43
Not all of them are bad, but sometimes it’s nice to denote.

42:47
Are there a lot of beneficials out there?

42:49
Because that can help make us some of those spray decisions.

42:52
If we’ve got a lot of beneficials, we maybe don’t have to focus quite so much on getting that field sprayed.

43:00
And then looking at disease ID, we want to know what percent of plants are infected?

43:04
Is it on the leaves?

43:05
Is it on the stem?

43:06
Is it on the maybe on the wheat head or on the cob?

43:11
And then identifying any nutrient deficiency symptoms that you see and then other notes or observations.

43:17
So maybe you notice a spot where there’s plants missing and you’re not exactly sure what happened.

43:24
Write that down.

43:25
Keep track of those kinds of things because it might be key information as you get later into the season.

43:33
And then again, how you report is 100% going to come back down to what does the customer or the consultant expect you to do?

43:42
Do they want that written report that we’ve provided for you there, or would they prefer to have it digital?

43:48
Would they prefer to have an e-mail that’s got that information provided to them?

43:53
And really the key is what’s the most important or the most pressing issue right now?

43:58
So if we’ve got a corn crop that’s getting to the height that maybe we can’t spray for weeds anymore, we need to know that and get that taken care of before we grow past that labeled use of a particular chemical.

44:11
So that’s why it’s really important to identify those things and then determine what type of follow up is necessary.

44:18
I already mentioned that you should be talking to the grower to see what kind of follow up they’re looking for.

44:24
But definitely make sure that you understand what the next steps are regarding any pest issues that you happen to find.

44:30
One thing that I didn’t talk about enough, and when I was scouting, we didn’t have smartphones.

44:37
So I am not in the habit of taking as many pictures as what I should.

44:42
But a photo really does tell 1000 words or speak 1000 words.

44:47
So taking photos of things that you’re not sure about is a super powerful way to make sure that you’re covering your bases.

44:55
And maybe it’s nothing, but you’d rather take a picture and have it be nothing than to not take a picture and miss out on something that’s key to that grower’s success for the year.

45:05
So use pictures, show the grower pictures, show your manager pictures.

45:10
That’s really a powerful tool.

45:13
So as you’re communicating with growers, this is really important.

45:17
Relationship building in this business is super important.

45:20
And we talked about communication on the front end and really understanding their expectations.

45:27
What level of detail do they need or communication do they expect?

45:31
And then how do they expect you to communicate?

45:34
So make sure you know if you need to make a farm call after you’re done and stop at the farm and talk to them that you do that.

45:40
Some farmers are happy to have a text and that’s all they need.

45:44
Maybe they want a phone call or a written report.

45:48
If you do have to leave written reports, ask them where they want you to leave that report so they actually find it.

45:54
When I was scouting, I scouted for a farmer.

45:56
I never met the guy because he was just not really that interested in that communication.

46:02
But I ran into him several years later and he said you don’t know how valuable that was that I had that report every week to read.

46:07
So just because you don’t have that, maybe that one-on-one communication, you know there still is a lot of value in what you’re doing and it’s always nice when you hear about what you did making a big difference.

46:21
Another really important thing is to respect their time.

46:25
Farmers are busy people.

46:28
If you made an appointment to chat with them or talk with them about something, make sure you keep that appointment time.

46:34
I know that schedules change, plans change.

46:37
Maybe you have something that comes up.

46:40
Just communicate that and make sure you let them know that, hey, I’m going to catch up with you later, but something came up or I left the report, I had to go.

46:49
Make sure that you’re communicating that so that again, you can continue to build that relationship.

46:54
We’ve got some great apps and online tools that you can utilize as we get into the growing season a little bit further and we’re starting to look at more disease pressure.

47:04
There is a beta version of an AG forecasting and advisory system for disease forecasting that’s available from Damon Smith’s lab.

47:13
We have a great insect pest text alert system where you can sign up for your part of the state. You can sign up to get information and text alerts on a bunch of different insects that are problematic in Wisconsin.

47:28
So things like alfalfa Weevil, true armyworm, Japanese beetle, black cutworm, that comes right to your cell phone.

47:35
So there should be some links.

47:36
I hope I put those in there.

47:38
There should be some links in the chat for those systems as well.

47:42
Some other great resources for scouting.

47:45
And again, as you go through this series, my colleagues are going to have lots of resources for you, but the Crop Protection Network has a great crop scouting Basics for corn and soybean course that you can step through.

47:58
Iowa State’s got some crop scouting educational resources.

48:02
I’ve got the link in the chat again for the growing guides for the IPCM group.

48:07
And then there’s some great places for you to send samples if you’re having issues with diagnosing a problem.

48:14
So the UW has a plant disease diagnostic clinic.

48:18
We have the soil and forage lab.

48:19
We’ve got an insect diagnostic lab.

48:22
And again, oh, I have the plant disease went on there twice.

48:24
I’ll have to get rid of that.

48:28
I think that wraps up what I have to share with you today.

48:32
I’ll take any questions.

48:35
Is there happen to be anything in the chat I should be paying attention to my friends?

48:40
I’m not seeing anything.

48:43
I have a question, Liz.

48:45
Yeah.

48:46
So if I’m out there, you know, cutting and digging plants, do you have any recommendations?

48:52
It’s like what we should be doing with them afterwards, you know, especially if they’re infested with a, a pest or a pathogen.

49:01
Good question.

49:02
So a lot of times I would bring those back to the office because if I knew what it was, it was kind of one thing.

49:09
Like if I knew that it was a particular insect that was causing the problem, I maybe wouldn’t bring it back to the office.

49:16
But if I really wasn’t sure, and especially and I’m assuming most of you are, are new to this, if you’re really not sure what it is, take it back to the office and let the consultants there help you diagnose that or help you figure out what the challenge is.

49:31
And I would extend that too.

49:32
If you see anything in the field that you’re like, hey, I’m not sure what this is, you know, a certain deficiency symptom or something, take it back to the office.

49:42
As I mentioned before, pictures are great because we have a better opportunity to quantify maybe the problem by taking a picture of the field.

49:50
But otherwise, I would say you can always just leave that dissected plant in the field.

49:56
But sometimes it’s cool to take it back and show everybody what you found out in the field.

50:03
Does that help?

50:04
Absolutely.

50:06
And I would say honestly, that’s kind of a good discussion point because a lot of agronomy businesses are crop consultants.

50:13
Obviously, people are coming and going and if they see a dissected plant laying in the office, they’re going to dig into that and say, hey, you know, what’d you find?

50:20
And it gives you an opportunity to have a little more organic conversation surrounding what issue it might be as well.

50:27
We do want to invite you to join us for the rest of the Foundational Crop Scouting training series.

50:33
So as I mentioned, next week, you’re going to learn about crop staging, stand counts, and soil and tissue sampling.

50:39
Then we’ll dig into nutrient deficiency symptoms, basic insect ID, a basic weed ID, and Please note the last, the last session is on a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday.

50:52
We had a schedule challenge, so make sure that you show up on Tuesday, June 17th for that last one.

50:57
And finally, want to thank everybody again for attending.

51:01
We appreciate you joining us for this kick off event.

51:06
On behalf of the UW Extension Shops and Soils program.

51:09
Thanks for attending.

51:10
Hope to see you next week on the 21st where we’re going to talk about the crop staging, stand counts and sampling.

51:15
I hope everybody has a great week and you have an opportunity to enjoy the sunshine.