Crop Talk by IAS – 05/27/2026

Crop Talk by IAS – Field Scouting Update | May 26 

Crops are starting to respond as warmer temperatures return, and field activity is shifting quickly across Iowa. What we’re seeing in the field right now is a transition window—early growth is picking up, but weed pressure, uneven emergence, and timing decisions are becoming more important by the day. 

In this week’s episode, the team shares boots-on-the-ground insights on what growers should watch as post herbicide and sidedress season begins. 

In this episode, the team discusses: 

• Warm-up trends and how crops are responding after recent cool conditions 
• Increasing weed pressure and why timing matters for post applications 
• Targeting weeds before they exceed 3 inches for best control 
• Stand counts, emergence variability, and lingering crusting effects 
• Pre herbicide breakdown and what that means for current weed flushes 
• Scouting strategies—checking multiple areas across every field 
• Post application timing, tank mixes, and adjuvant considerations 
• Why mixing fertilizer with post herbicides can reduce effectiveness 
• Best conditions for Liberty applications and why “banker’s hours” matter 
• Crop response considerations with dicamba products in warmer weather 

The Crop Talk team emphasizes that conditions still matter field-by-field. As crops start to grow and weeds accelerate, timely scouting and properly timed applications will make the biggest difference heading into June. 

Featured this week: 
Nick Thompson, Host and Southwest Region Agronomist (Ellsworth) 
Owen Heetland, Northwest Region Agronomist (Cleves) 
Erin Ricker, Eastern Region Agronomist (Masonville) 
Adrianna Herlache — Southeast Region Agronomist (Monticello) 

🎧 Listen now
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

00;00;00;16 - 00;00;08;28

Nick
Welcome to Crop Talk, brought to you by Innovative AG Services. And this is our Field Scouting special.

00;00;09;00 - 00;00;34;06
Nicholas
Each week from March through October, our agronomy team shares timely boots on the ground updates from across the eyes geography so you can make confident decisions as the seasons change. Today you'll hear a quick regional update from our ears agronomists, 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.

00;00;34;08 - 00;00;55;22
Nick
I'm your host, Nick Thompson, and this week on Crop Talk will be discussing the benefits of getting out there early with your postseason applications and the importance of timing. Now, to kick it off, I'll keep it here with me in the southwest region for our scouting portion of things down here in Ellsworth. We've had a good amount of rain per usual this past week.

00;00;55;22 - 00;01;13;07
Nick
It's kind of tapered off, but we're still above our year to date average. With the heat coming up this week, we should see the corn and the beans both shooting up here soon. Be sure to keep an eye out on that weed control, as we want to hit those weeds before they reach. Pop can size or about three inches tall.

00;01;13;07 - 00;01;32;19
Nick
When we're out looking at fields, we want to make sure that we're hitting corners and centers and hitting random spots. Don't be checking the same spots every time. That's how we lead to one weedy patch that when you go through with the combine, you have to slow down because it's just eating up all the weeds. Next, I'll send it up to our northwest region with Owen.

00;01;32;25 - 00;01;33;18
Nick
Thanks, Nick.

00;01;33;19 - 00;01;59;06
Owen
This is only one out of the location covering Grundy, Butler, Franklin, and Hardin County. As Nick said, we're moving into post spring. I think we will also get started with side dress here. One thing pertaining to both of them to try and remember is to make one pass to the other and then give some time. So personally, I like to spray and then give a couple of days to let the weeds take that herbicide up before making a pass.

00;01;59;06 - 00;02;16;26
Owen
With side dress, you could do the other. Just make sure you give those weeds a couple days in between to do what they need to do. Crops look pretty good around here. I would say we're mostly v1 v2 stage. Some of the early corn is v3. Some things to look at over the next week is some of the late corn.

00;02;16;26 - 00;02;40;00
Owen
Late beans are just struggling to push after the cold weather last week. So continuing to get out and do stand counts. And while you're doing those stand counts, you know you can look for weeds and see what is out there. And then the biggest thing is just start and post herbicide, prioritizing those fields that maybe got a little weedy because the herbicide sat on dry ground, or just our wheatear, our our bigger.

00;02;40;00 - 00;02;47;00
Owen
So biggest thing is just targeted scouting and then make decisions from there. That's all I have this morning. I will kick it to the east next. Aaron.

00;02;47;01 - 00;03;21;14
Erin
Thank you. Owen I'm Erin Ricker of a mason villa. I cover Buchanan, Delaware and parts of Fayette, Clayton County. Over the weekend we did get some nice weather with temperatures persisting through this week. Everything's going to start taking off, so scouting to see what's out there and staging the crop is going to be very important. But post applications coming around the corner, I would start to expect to see guys starting some post application and even some side dress in my area within the next 10 to 14 days, while out scouting some fields, I've seen weeds begin to break on some of the pre applications, which is to be expected with the timing of those applications

00;03;21;14 - 00;03;38;04
Erin
and the weather we've had. Like Owen mentioned, most of those prices set to long before getting some rain to activate them. The last thing I just want to touch on is reminding guys to be checking their tank mix. When going out. To make your post pass, make sure we have the right chemical in the tank along with the right nozzle.

00;03;38;05 - 00;03;46;01
Erin
Tips for what we are spraying and bumping up our gallons per acre to help us get a better coverage. With that, I'm going to pass it over to Adriana in our southeast region.

00;03;46;02 - 00;04;07;02
Adrianna
Thank you. Aaron I'm Adriana from the southeast region, covering Jones County and parts of Delaware. I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend in my territory. We're about caught up with our first pass in some areas. We'll be working on our second pass. Something I've noticed going on is, you know, beans absorbing some of those herbicides like Aaron's in with the weather we've had, it wasn't ideal, especially last week.

00;04;07;05 - 00;04;31;26
Adrianna
Cooler temps. Beans just weren't pushing through as strong. It's causing some beans to have a burned effect are also called a halo. If that's something that you're seeing, give your local garments a shout. We'd love to come and take a look for you and just give you some ideas of what we're seeing from the beans I've seen, especially up to this weekend, having the great weather that we did, there's great progress showing on the uniformity it leaves are opening up beautifully, looking more and more healthy every day in my area.

00;04;31;26 - 00;04;50;10
Adrianna
For a while we did have some heavy soil crusting, so along with the herbicide getting taken up by the beans, we're also having beans having emergent issues. So kind of like Owen said, if you're seeing stand count issues, give us a shout again. We'd gladly come take a look for you and give you some advice. Thank you. And I'll kick it back to your host, Nick.

00;04;50;11 - 00;05;11;04
Nick
Thanks, Adriana. Today for a roundtable portion, we'll be talking about the timing and importance of your post server side pass own. I know one thing that we've discussed a lot about in both meetings and education as agronomists is the importance of getting out there and making sure you hit that weed while it's actively growing and getting a good kill out there.

00;05;11;04 - 00;05;18;07
Nick
How important is the timing of your post application pass in determining how those weeds will die?

00;05;18;10 - 00;05;42;11
Owen
Very important. There's a couple different things that you really go into it. You know, we were cold last week. Spraying conditions probably weren't great, but yesterday, today we've warmed up significantly and you can see with all plants that they're growing much faster, greener. So it's a great time to go ahead and get started spraying. And as you scout you can, you know, see how big the weeds are and make determination of which fields you should be.

00;05;42;12 - 00;06;00;19
Owen
At first, what I really like to look at is between 21 to 28 days after we put our pre on, to start that second pass, the things that would affect that would most likely be how much rain did you get after your pre. We're starting to see some freeze break or broke prematurely because of grass pressure in the field.

00;06;00;19 - 00;06;16;12
Owen
So those would be the first target. And then as you see weeds just determined by density and height which fields need to be sprayed. First make sure we get the correct adjuvants in. And then like Adriana said, bump that water up if possible. Will always help with coverage.

00;06;16;16 - 00;06;40;17
Nick
And I heard you mention adjuvants. That's not really something that we have to think about a whole lot during pre times, but that's one of the main differences that we have. Switching from pre to post a few adjuvants that we use here AMS class act interlock. How important are those in ensuring that our chemical is actually available to be drawn in by that weed and get that good kill that we require?

00;06;40;25 - 00;07;04;08
Owen
The first thing they always got to think about is some sort of nitrogen source, whether that be AMS or Class Act, which is essentially liquefied AMS with preference added to it. So after you've conditioned the water, then you've got to worry about a product to help that herbicide stick to the plant. So preference is in nice superb as a and destiny as an oil.

00;07;04;08 - 00;07;27;13
Owen
And you use those products based on how hot you want the mix to be essentially without going to deep into it. So a lot of our mixes you'll see Class Act which has your AMS and your preference in it. Sometimes you will need to add an oil to it to break down the waxy layer on the plant, but that really just is determined by number one what we'd year after.

00;07;27;13 - 00;07;44;04
Owen
Number two, what chemical is in the mix? Talk to your agronomist and the label and determine which one to use. And then lastly how hot and humid it is. Because if it gets really hot and humid, we may need to back down some of those adjuvants to make sure that we're not causing too much damage to the plant.

00;07;44;06 - 00;08;04;00
Nick
One thing that we talked a lot about during pre-season was a weed and feed pass, where you mix in that 32 and maybe that and get it out there, just sting those weeds, mix it with your herbicide and your fertilizer. That's not something that we can do here with these post paths. You know, you have the crop response injury that you could get.

00;08;04;01 - 00;08;12;21
Nick
Would there be any downsides in terms of a weed kill when mixing your post herbicides with fertilizer?

00;08;12;25 - 00;08;32;09
Owen
So those products are going to have the exact same effect on your weeds that they are on your crop, so they'll burn the weeds significantly. And then the issue is if the weed is burned that we doesn't take up the herbicide. So the herbicide isn't as effective. So you really only ever want to use those products in a pre scenario.

00;08;32;09 - 00;08;48;10
Owen
And it can be hard even in a pre burn down scenario. You have to be careful with what you use. So if you're looking for you know products like that now your best case scenario is a side dress application or maybe a wide drop application where you're not getting them on the actively growing crop.

00;08;48;13 - 00;09;12;25
Nick
And then I know with Liberty there's a lot of best timing practices. They like to say Liberty goes on around banker's hours 9 to 5. And that's because that plants actively growing. Could you explain a little bit more about what it means to have that weed actively growing, and what we should be looking for from the environment and the weed when we're trying to determine if it's a good time to spray?

00;09;12;27 - 00;09;34;06
Owen
Absolutely. So the most important thing is warm weather and sunlight. So you want that plant, like I said, actively growing because unlike roundup or 240 or dicamba, which are systemic, liberty is more of a contact product. So you've got to get more of it onto the plant and into the plant. You've got to do that by two things coverage.

00;09;34;06 - 00;09;59;04
Owen
So lots of water and then lots of AMS or class act because that is how in part it kills the weeds, is it overloads them with ammonium. So you can only do that with any contact herbicide when the weather is better, because the plan does a better job of taking out when it's growing actively. So just like you said, banker's hours, we like to say, you know, wait until it's good warm and the do's off.

00;09;59;04 - 00;10;21;28
Owen
That may be 9:00 in the morning. Luckily that the sun stays out later at night, but we still want to be done spraying by 6:00 at night. And we want to pick days that are good, sunny, warm, and we make sure the plant is good and growing to get liberty to work like we want to. And I'm sure we'll continue to touch more on that as we get into being post spraying, where liberty is probably more heavily used.

00;10;22;00 - 00;10;30;00
Adrianna
Okay. And speaking of Liberty needing nitrogen, what makes the liberty with the nitrogen uptake better in the weed?

00;10;30;07 - 00;10;57;23
Owen
If you have ever seen weeds that are sprayed with liberty, they turn yellow, almost like their lack of nitrogen. If you've ever seen corn that's, you know, stunted or or been sitting in water for too long. That's because the way Liberty works is that it overloads that part of the plant. So it is very, very important that you get a nitrogen source, whether that be dry ammonium sulfate or class act.

00;10;57;23 - 00;11;21;03
Owen
We prefer a class act because it has corn's orb technology. So it works better in the plan. It works faster and the plant liberty will always work better. With an adjuvant, you can look on the label or talk to the rep. They would like you to have 3 pounds of AMS. We've done some studies that show that sometimes even more is better, but to get that in the class act, you really need to run.

00;11;21;04 - 00;11;29;06
Owen
I run the two court per acre per hundred however you want to figure it, but that adjuvant is necessary to make liberty work the way you want it to.

00;11;29;11 - 00;11;42;20
Erin
So I know we've been talking about how fast the crop is going to start growing here in post application, and kind of making sure guys are checking on what's in the tank for guys that are doing dicamba, what's kind of your rule of thumb.

00;11;42;26 - 00;12;09;12
Owen
As there may be some older people in the audience that remember products like marksman and Distinct and just straight dicamba those products can create, or they cause the corn to grow almost too fast and fall over. The new products like deflects or status will be much better for that. And as it gets really hot and stuff grows fast, it's still something you're going to want to watch out for.

00;12;09;13 - 00;12;25;26
Owen
Be a little bit careful using those products. They're very safe. But on the other hand, even if you use a safe and product, you're still going to see some of that, you know? So if you use a full rate of deflects and it's 90 degrees outside, maybe for the next day or two, you're going to see that corn get a little lazy.

00;12;25;27 - 00;12;42;05
Owen
It's the easiest way I like to describe it. It may lean over a little bit. The good thing is about the warm, hot weather is it will grow through it quick. So it may not last very long, but I wouldn't be super alarmed if you see those things, because that's probably going to happen with a large amount of those status.

00;12;42;05 - 00;12;45;13
Owen
Deflects products being used to help control water hemp.

00;12;45;15 - 00;12;57;07
Nick
Thanks for all of that. Excellent insight. And that's it for this week's crop talk by IaaS. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week.

00;12;57;09 - 00;13;15;09
Nicholas
That's all for this week's crop talk by. Yes. Thanks for tuning in. If any of our listeners have questions, feel free to email them to crop Talk innovative ag 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.

00;13;15;09 - 00;13;28;00
Nicholas
For more agronomy resources and to connect with your local team, visit innovative and follow Innovative AG Services on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. We'll catch you next week on Crop Talk.