August 21, 2025 Scouting Report for Cedar, Knox, Pierce, Wayne, and Dixon counties in Nebraska and Yankton County in South Dakota
(Scroll down for Illinois counties)
Reported by Tristan Mueller
Key Takeaways:
- White mold is showing up in the CropVoice network, confirming the Disease Alerts that were sent in early July.
- This will be the last in-season Scouting Report.
As soybeans are starting to fill pods, more disease symptoms are becoming visible.
There is frogeye leaf spot in many fields, but the severity is low. While this likely won’t impact yields this season, the pathogen can survive overwinter in crop residue and infect your 2026 crop.
Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) foliar symptoms are showing up in a few places, but it does not seem to be widespread in the region.
Back in early July, we sent out Disease Alerts because of the high risk of white mold developing. Now, over four weeks later, we are seeing white mold disease symptoms beginning to show up in the CropVoice plots and widely across the region.
Caption: Soybean plants in CropVoice plot showing white mold symptoms (Credit: Tristan Mueller, left; Nick Hoffman, right)
Looking forward to the week ahead, the cool shot of weather will increase symptoms of white mold in fields where there is infection. At the same time, this cooler weather will slow the progression of frogeye leaf spot infections.
We will be collecting hardware and closing down our sensor plots later this month and early September. This will be our last in-season Scouting Report for this year. We will be back in your inbox after harvest to share an end-of-season report to summarize what happened during the season in your area and what it means for 2026.
As always, we love hearing from you. If you have any pictures, stories, or questions, don’t hesitate to reach out at the contact information below. If you are planning on heading to Farm Progress in Decatur on August 26-28, we will be in the Varied Industries Tent #9128. We would love to see you there!
August 21, 2025 Scouting Report for Tazewell, Woodford, McLean, Livingston, and Champaign counties in Illinois
Reported by Robert “Bob” Starke, Ph.D.
Key Takeaways:
- Symptoms from soilborne diseases, like Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) and red crown rot, are becoming visible now.
- Foliar diseases like frogeye leaf spot, white mold, and Cercospora leaf blight continue to be low across the CropVoice plots, which lines up with no CropVoice Disease Alerts earlier in the season.
- This will be the last in-season Scouting Report.
As soybeans are at R5 or later, the plant has formed all the soybeans that will be produced. Ideally, we will get one more rain to help increase individual bean size and to make sure those top nodes can support the pods.
Symptoms from soilborne diseases, like Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), are becoming visible at low levels in CropVoice plots now. While we have not observed red crown rot in CropVoice plots, there are credible reports of the disease in the area. Unfortunately, neither of these diseases have in-season treatment options.
For SDS, leaves will show the characteristic yellowing and browning between the leaf veins. As surrounding healthy plants continue to grow, diseased plants disappear into the canopy. If you see spots with high incidence of SDS, it may be worth planning to take nematode samples in those areas after harvest. Nematodes damage the root system, which allows SDS to take hold.
Caption: Soybean plant showing symptoms of SDS and a close-up of the leaf. (Credit Bob Starke, left; Tristan Mueller, right)
Red crown rot is easy to confuse for SDS. Foliar symptoms are similar, but the infected stems show a reddish discoloration. If you suspect you have a red crown rot infection, it may be worthwhile to send a tissue sample to an extension lab to confirm. There have been reports of red crown rot in Tazewell, Woodford, McLean, Livingston, and Champaign counties.
While there are no in-season treatments available for SDS or red crown rot, both spread through equipment carrying contaminated soil. Additionally, if your fields have a history of SDS or red crown rot, seed selection and seed treatments are the best current methods to reduce disease.
Incidence and severity of white mold, frogeye leaf spot, and Cercospora leaf blight still appear to be low. The low levels of disease we are seeing now align with not sending a Disease Alert earlier in the season. Disease forecasts increased slightly over late July and early August with the rainfall and humid days, but any symptoms we are seeing have been confined to a small percentage of leaf area.
Looking ahead, weather forecasts are indicating abnormally cool weather. This cooler weather will be welcomed by Farm Progress attendees and will slow the progression of frogeye leaf spot infections.
We did not see a lot of opportunity for white mold to take hold in this region last month, during the critical flowering window. However, in one-off cases where there are white mold infections, this cooler weather will accelerate symptom development.
We will be collecting hardware and closing down our sensor plots later this month and early September. This will be our last in-season Scouting Report for this year. We will be back in your inbox after harvest to share an end-of-season report to summarize what happened during the season in your area and what it means for 2026.
As always, we love hearing from you. If you have any pictures, stories, or questions, don’t hesitate to reach out at the contact information below. If you are planning on heading to Farm Progress in Decatur on August 26-28, we will be in the Varied Industries Tent #9128. We would love to see you there!
Catch up with any scouting reports you missed by following the links below:
Scouting Report for Aug. 7, 2025
Scouting Report for July 24, 2025
Disease Alert for July 20, 2025
Scouting Report for July 17, 2025
Supplemental Scouting Report for July 12, 2025
Disease Alert for July 11, 2025
Scouting Report for July 10, 2025
Scouting Report for July 3, 2025
Scouting Report for June 26, 2025
Scouting Report for June 12, 2025
Scouting Report for May 29, 2025
Scouting Report for May 15, 2025