 Well, the heat and lack of rain have finally caught up with our
field. Even though it's only about 11:00 AM the plants don't have that
nice crisp, turgid appearance. This drought, combined with the heat
will likely cause some yield losses. Kernels will not develop normally
and they will be lighter.
 These are classic symptoms of drought damage. The lower leaves are yellowing
and drying up. Note the cracks in the soil. It has been
miserably hot and dry.
 This head doesn't appear to have any drought symptoms. I dusted off
the dried-up floral parts in a small area to expose some seeds.
 The back of the head including the bracts is almost completely yellow
now. This plant is in late R8 or early R9 stage of maturity.
When the bracts are brown it will be in the R9 stage, which is physiological
maturity. I don't see any Rhizopus head rot damage.
 This is a cross section of the head we were just looking at. You
can see the brown areas across the head where head moth larvae have been
burrowing. It appears to be a little more severe on the left side.
 This is a closeup of the left side. There's considerable burrowing and
damage. I'm surprised there's not more
Rhizopus head rot in some of these
heads, especially considering all the head moth damage. I'm wondering
now if we made the right decision when we choose not to spray for the
sunflower head moth.
 It's pretty easy to find the head moth larva. This one didn't want
his/her picture taken and is trying to escape. Notice the longitudinal (lengthwise) brown and light stripes and brown head capsule.
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Well, the heat and lack of rain have finally caught up with our
field. Even though it's only about 11:00 AM the plants don't have that
nice crisp, turgid appearance. This drought, combined with the heat
will likely cause some yield losses. Kernels will not develop normally
and they will be lighter.
