Oasis of Kudzu Like a lamp at night or a spring when it’s dry So the kudzu appears to the spore as it flies It’s tired and windswept and ready to rest, and Maybe eat some of the plant it loves best Phakopsora sighs as it settles on leaves After it’s ride on the blustery breeze

Weed seeds hitchhike on sweaters and furs A dog walks all day and carries ‘round burs Weed seeds are hauled inside of some birds And dropped into fields with splattery turds Weed seeds are washed with water so quickly And emerge from soil so stubborn and prickly

Some scouts walk, some ride quads This is how I cover the clods: I ride on the back of a real dinosaur Purchased cheap off the showroom floor If you’re in need of a scout & won’t pout ‘Bout trampled crops or compaction Don’t stall & give me a call I’ll get ol’ Rex into action!

Internal soybean stem feeder haiku: Dectes stem borer A little accordion Eating in the pith

🪲 New Episode Alert! 🪲 Shield-backed stink bugs and the science of insect diagnostics! Zach Schumm, of the Iowa State University Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic, talks about his experience with both. 🎧 Listen now: [sites.libsyn.com/416264/s4e27-s…] #StinkBugs #Entomology #AgPodcast

Going to #planthealth2025 in August? Stop by the Crop Protection Network booth for the NEW "Plants Don't Sneeze" board book! Fill out a short CPN survey at the booth and it's yours! By Maddle (with an L) Henrickson.

When drips are dropping so thick and so salty From your drippy pits, it’s not the corns faulty. Corn can’t cry a river or sweat up a storm, But it does transpire when it’s hot and warm.

Corn moves water from the soil to stalks. And stalks take water to stomatal locks, Which open and close to let out wet gases, That add to already humid-air-masses.

Some blame corn sweat for making them sad. But accusing poor corn is just a bit bad. ‘Cuz lots of water hangs out in the sky In months like August and also July

Summertime temps and tons of rain Make walking outside feel like a pain. But an acre of corn just isn’t that sweaty When the atmosphere was already wetty.

You might think you’re crying and that might be true When your favorite five shirts have been sweat through. But don’t fault the fields of green wavy grain When the air around you is already to blame.

Corn sweat phytopoetry:

If an orchard is visited by plant disease fairies, Apples can turn into dingleberries. Fruit starts out healthy but then gets crummy, And shrivels up quick like King Tut’s mummy. Apple scab info from Extension at yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/encyclopedia/a…

Thin strappy leaves and short internodes, Leave corn ugly like a grandpappy toad. Crazy top creates upside down mops, Cursing the field with a flock of mohawks. Turning tassels to terrible twirls And garrulous growths of gross green swirls.

This is the worst common smut I've ever observed in a corn field. The field incidence was low, but the severity on this particular plant was rather high. Any suggestions for management Ed Sikora?