Crop Talk by IAS – 05/06/2026

Crop Talk by IAS – Field Scouting Update | Week of May 5

Planting progress picked up quickly this week across much of Iowa, but conditions are still varying from field to field. In this week’s Crop Talk Field Scouting Update, the IAS agronomy team shares what they’re seeing as corn and soybean planters continue rolling, fertilizer applications move ahead, and weed pressure starts to ramp up across the territory. 

While warmer weather and drying conditions have helped build momentum, agronomists are reminding growers not to rush into fields that still aren’t fit. The conversation this week also shifts toward stand evaluations, emergence checks and what to watch as planted acres begin progressing through germination. 

This week’s highlights:

• Planting progress accelerated across most of Iowa
• Corn planting estimated 60–75% complete in some areas
• Soybean planting is rapidly increasing as conditions improve
• Weed pressure continuing to build, including early waterhemp emergence
• Burn-down timing is becoming more critical on delayed acres
• Soil fit and seed-to-soil contact remain top priorities
• Cooler soil temperatures are slowing early emergence
• Early seedling evaluations beginning in planted fields
• Stand counts and replant considerations discussed for the weeks ahead
• Importance of working closely with your agronomist as conditions vary from field to field

As always, these are real-time insights from local IAS agronomists, sharing what they’re seeing across Iowa fields right now.

Featured this week:
 Nicholas Giesseman (Host)
 Nick Thompson
 Owen Heetland
 Melissa Schumann

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Have a question for the team? Send it to CropTalk@InnovativeAg.com

To learn more about Innovative Ag Services and our agronomy services, visit InnovativeAg.com/Agronomy.

Produced by IAS Communications in partnership with My Four Creative.

Transcript

Nicholas Giessman 0:00

Welcome to Crop Talk, brought to you by Innovative Egg Services, and this is our Field Sky Special. Each week from March through October, our agronomy team shares timely, boots on the ground updates from across the IAS geography so you can make confident decisions as the seasons change. Today you'll hear a quick regional update from our IAS agronomist, including what we're seeing in the fields right now, what to keep an eye on next, and a few practical scouting reminders you can put to work this week.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Thanks, Nicholas. This is Nick Thompson from Ellsworth, covering Story County, Harden County, and Hamilton County. With the weather being as nice as it has been for this past week, we got a lot of acres planted, just under a thousand acres left of our customers yet to plant. And pre's have been going on like crazy. We've moved through just about all of those. I don't really have a whole lot of watch outside right now. I think everything's mostly dried out. Just keep an eye on that weed control. Things are starting to take off here. And if you have a field that you think that you're not going to get to for a while to plant it, and the weeds are starting to come up, we might want to think about a burn down. And we might want to think about going out there a little earlier than we expected to spray. Just be in good contact with your agronomist and be thinking about your weed control on the fields that you're going to be planting here soon. So that's it for me here in Ellsworth in the southwest region. Next, we'll send it up to Owen in the northwest.

Owen Heetland 1:42

Thanks, Nick. This is Owen Heatland out of the Cleves location covering Grundy, Franklin, Butler, and Harden County. As Nick said, weather's been good. A lot of planting has taken place. I would peg corn planting between 60 to 75% done, beam planting 40 to 50% done. Soil temps continue to stay around that 50 degree area, but stuff is continually drying out. You know, a big watch out is just making sure your soil is dry, you're getting good seed to soil contact, good furrow construction, all of those things. Also, like Nick said, we continue to see increased weed pressure. I've seen a lot of water hemp starting to come up and germ, which seems odd for as colds as it's been. So burn down along with your pre or a good tillage pass will be necessary to help control those weed issues. And then, you know, as we move along, we'll start to talk about uh seedling valuation, stand evaluation, those sorts of things. And I think me and Nicholas will talk about that a little bit later on on the call. That's all I have for now, and I will send it on to Melissa.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Thank you, Owen. This is Melissa Schumann out of our El Cater office, covering the northeast corner of Iowa, specifically Clayton County. And up here, we've got a lot of things moving. We've got guys doing spring tillage when the fields have finally dried up, got a good start on planting both corn and beans. We've still got ammonia rolling and still working on dry fertilizer applications with urea. We've been fighting some pretty breezy days. So trying to keep in check to make sure we've got even applications and hiding out from the wind. We've also started liquid nitrogen applications as well as some burndown with the temps finally arising and staying above that freezing point so we can have effective chemical kill. So a lot of moving parts happening here, but just keep it in check and constant conversations as we start and get more pre-emergent chemical applications out there. So just be vigilant on your field conditions. We still do have wet spots popping up, so be aware of those. And other than that, I'm gonna pass it down to Nicholas in our southeast region.

Nicholas Giessman 3:57

Thank you very much, Melissa. This is Nicholas out of Cascade covering Dubuque and Jackson County. A little update from down here. It's very similar to our northeast. We got a little bit of everything going on. Ammonia's still going out. We got dry fertilizer going out. We got tillage, a lot of planters just starting to roll in the last, you know, five to six days. Beans and corn going in the ground. Looking like it's going to be a very good week here, looking, you know, the next five to six days as well. So I expect a lot of corn and beans to get in the ground. Looking at, you know, things that we're we're watching out for is making sure it is fit because we're kind of on the edge on a lot of these fields. That hey, if you got one, maybe travel down the road to go get that dry one and come back to this other field that maybe isn't optimal yet. But making sure you're you're picking and choosing right and not just running into it because it is only May 5th. It's still early on the calendar. It doesn't seem like it compared to the past few years. You know, we got plenty of time to get everything in the ground, and the weather is picking up, you know, looking better, warming up, and we're gonna see some some less moisture, hopefully, so we can stay dry and get things done. As Owen alluded to, we keep planting and getting stuff in the ground, and maybe it isn't a hundred percent perfect or a hundred percent optimal. You know, what are some things that we want to start looking out for? He talked about seedlings and stain counts. Owen, what would you say at this stage when you're out planting and it's it's been in the ground for four or five days? What are you going out? What are you looking for to kind of take a note on how that field's looking?

Owen Heetland 5:17

Well, Nicholas, as it continues to stay cold like it is, you aren't gonna see that seed move very quick. Basically, you're just making sure that that seed is still firm, whitish, yellow, hard in color. You won't see anything other than that, or you shouldn't see anything other than that. If the seed sits in the ground for a long time and you start to see rod issues, that seed will turn more of a yellowish brown and start to get really soft and mushy. So that's the first thing we're gonna look at. Then as time goes on and as you accumulate GDUs, you'll start to see the seedling germinate, the colioptile and mesocado expand, and you'll just see that continue to grow. So we're still early in the process. I don't know that there's been a lot even around here planted super early, but those are the first things we'll look at.

Nicholas Giessman 6:05

So as we keep going in the growing season, you said getting more GDUs and we start to see some emergence. Do you think this is a big year, especially planting into some not ideal conditions, like we've mentioned before? How close are you watching these stand counts on beans and corn to make sure that if it isn't coming up right where we want it, that we can still make the adjustment, whether it's a replant or interceding on beans before the calendar date gets too far back? How are you approaching that or looking forward to that here in the next couple weeks?

Owen Heetland 6:31

The biggest thing is just doing stand counts. So Iowa State has a ton of great literature on different distances for uh 30 inch rows, a thousandths of an acre is 17 foot six inches. So I either take a measuring tape or a rope and then just count your stand off and do that. And I like to do one per every 20 acres and then average them and see where you're at. And then there's tons of good literature you can look at your planning date, what your stand is, and then establish whether you'd ever have to replant or do anything like that. We're a ways from doing that, but that's the first step. And then from there you can determine what your stand is, how it looks like. Make sure to talk with your agronomist as you do that. The big thing that can change is if you variable rate planted, knowing what your stand should have been in that area and then what your actual stand is.

Nicholas Giessman 7:19

That's very good. I think definitely stay in touch if you're doing that kind of stuff to make sure you're on the same page and knowing what you're shooting for and what you're actually seeing in the field is similar or the same. That's all for this week's Crop Talk by AS. Thanks for tuning in. If any of our listeners have questions, feel free to email them to crop talk at innovativeag.com. Be sure to like, follow, and subscribe so you don't miss next week's update. And if you know a fellow grower who'd value a quick field snapshot, share this episode with them. For more agronomy resources and to connect with your local IAS team, visit Innovativeag.com and follow Innovative Ag Services on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. We'll catch you next week on Crop Talk.