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The Clorox® Soak Test
This test is used in the field to determine the percentage of soybean (Glycine max) seed damage due to combining or threshing. It is also adaptable to use in the laboratory. The test can be used for beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and other large dicotyledonous seeds which may be injured in combining, threshing, or seed cleaning.

Herbicide Rotation Restrictions
This is a quick reference guide to common herbicides and their rotation restrictions for selected crops.

Forage Resources Available to S.D. Farmers and Ranchers
Forages are a very important part of the South Dakota livestock and cropping industries. Often, producers have difficulties finding enough forage for their herd or locating a fellow producer to buy, sell or rent forages and grazing acres too. South Dakota now has two widely-recognized, free resources to aid in these connections.

Checkerspot Caterpillars in Sunflower
While scouting sunflower near Sturgis this week, we came across outbreak levels of checkerspot caterpillars that were defoliating the plants. Similar sightings have been reported throughout Western and Central South Dakota in recent weeks.

Goss’s Bacterial Blight Beginning to Show Up in Corn
Goss’s bacterial blight was found in a few corn fields scouted the week of August 5, 2019. The severity ranged from low to moderate, where at least 25 percent of the leaf area was killed by the bacteria infection on several plants. The disease is characterized by long, tan-gray lesions with wavy margins found in the center of the leaf or along the edges of the corn leaf blade.

Vegetable Gardening in South Dakota
Whatever your reasons to start a vegetable garden: fresh produce with great flavor, exercise, saving money, enticing children (and adults) to eat healthier food, or knowing where your food came from and how it was grown, this booklet will help you with basic information and tips to get started.

Northern Corn Leaf Blight Developing in Corn
Northern corn leaf blight was found in a few corn fields scouted recently. The disease was found at very low severity, except occasionally when an individual plant was found with several lesions on one leaf.

Soybean Gall Midge Showing Up in More Counties
As the season continues, so is our soybean gall midge scouting efforts. For much of South Dakota, the soybean that are infested with soybean gall midge are asymptomatic. That is, they show limited signs of infestation, but we can still find the larvae of the soybean gall midge in the stems.

Watch for Red Sunflower Seed Weevils
In South Dakota, sunflower flowering is well underway. That means it is time to start scouting fields for red sunflower seed weevils. During the last two years, red sunflower seed weevil populations have been higher than normal with areas that exceeded the thresholds by as many as 300-500 adults per sunflower head.

Differentiating Two Species of Sunflower Seed Weevils
While scouting sunflower, there are two types of seed weevils that you may encounter. They are the red sunflower seed weevil and the gray sunflower seed weevil. It is possible to observe both of these species on a single sunflower head.