Tracking Nitrogen And Black Cutworm

May 18, 2015

By Russel Higgins

One of the studies underway at multiple locations in Illinois, including the Northern Illinois Agronomy Research Center, will track the nitrogen fertilizer applied at varied times (fall, early spring, at planting, sidedress) and from different sources (UAN and Anhydrous Ammonia).

Soil samples are collected at 0-1 and 1-2 feet and analyzed for nitrogen content. To insure uniformity, NIARC research agronomist Greg Steckel utilizes a template between rows to collect the sub samples for each location. Samples are collected every ten days.

Dr. Mike Gray reminded corn growers to be aware of the damage that can be caused by Black cutworms and encouraged farmers to look for early signs of leaf feeding as a potential indicator of cutting that may ensue. We have been unsuccessful in capturing a significant flight of Black cutworm (nine or more moths trapped over 2-day period) at our site, but enough moths have been caught in several northern counties to allow projected cutting dates to be shared. They include Lee County (May 31), Whiteside County (June 1), and Henry (June 3). Plants in the 1- to 4-leaf stage are most susceptible to cutting. Cutting of plants earlier than these projected cutting dates is possible — localized intense flights may have occurred and were not picked up in the trapping network. Dr. Grays May 13th Bulletin post can be accessed here.

Source: illinois.edu

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.