FUNDED BY THE ILLINOIS SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION CHECKOFF PROGRAM.

May 2016

Agronomy: First-Round Scouting

Hopefully you got your soybeans planted during your desired window and into good soil conditions. Your next task is to scout for emergence, emergence consistency and stand counts. Soybeans aren’t as sensitive to emergence consistency as corn. We know that corn seedlings should all emerge at about the same time, or with 1 or 2 days of each other, so they compete equally and set an equal sized ear. Soybeans, on the other hand, are compensatory and adjust pod count to accommodate voids in emergence. Generally, growers overplant by 20 to 30% as insurance against seed and seedling loss. This [...]

By |May 19, 2016|

Agronomy: Weeds – What’s Your Weakness?

When looking for a soybean residual herbicide program, I have yet to find one that is a silver bullet for every weed across the board. In my experience, it is harder to select a broad-spectrum soybean herbicide than a broad-spectrum corn herbicide. For a soybean weed control program to work, you have to know what you are fighting against. In a corn weed control program, you can take a more general approach and get by. You need to get your boots dirty and figure out what weeds you have—and also figure out if the tool you used works. At this [...]

By |May 18, 2016|

Agronomy: Impact of Saturated Soils on Seedling Survival

So you got your beans planted—then it rained and rained and now you’re wondering how your crop “stands?” Or how soybean seeds and emerging seedlings fare when soils become saturated or ponded? It isn’t uncommon to get heavy rain or frequent rainfall events after planting. The soil profile becomes temporarily saturated for several days—water can actually pond on a field surface for as much as a week if rain continues. So just how long can a seed or your seedling plant survive when soils become saturated? Long periods of rain or large rain events can saturate the soil, excluding oxygen, [...]

By |May 16, 2016|

Agronomy: My Take on Increasing Soybean’s Value Proposition

I am pleased to have this opportunity to post an editorial on ISA’s ILSoyAdvisor management website. Soybeans are a unique crop whose end product is the production of high levels of protein and oil. When a crusher buys your soybeans, he is less interested in your production level than in how many lbs. of oil and protein he can extract from a bushel. While yields have increased over the last few decades, general protein levels have gone the other way. Much of the yield potential of new soybean varieties is rarely achieved in the field on a commercial basis without [...]

By |May 15, 2016|

Agronomy: Planting Priorities

Planting corn or soybeans first, how to prioritize and does it really make a difference? Waiting after corn planting is done until May 1 to start with soybeans is a tactic from the past. Today many growers start planting in April and some even plant both crops at the same time. Personally, I think that is a good tactic as long as corn can get planted in the April window and growers have the equipment and manpower to get this done. Soybean yield probably benefits more from early planting than corn because of greater node and pod set. Corn benefits [...]

By |May 14, 2016|

Plant and Soil Health: Are we getting enough sulfur?

While visiting my customers in Southwest Illinois over the last few weeks, I have noticed pronounced yellow-green areas in the wheat fields. You’re now thinking, “What do problems in wheat have to do with soybeans?” Well, these areas (see photos below) are showing signs of sulfur (S) deficiency that have been confirmed with tissue and soil tests. Remember, S deficiency shows up on the young tissue because it is non-mobile in the plant, unlike N which shows up in the older tissues.      Sulfur is a secondary nutrient required for plant growth and is essential for: two amino acids [...]

By |May 13, 2016|

Agronomy: Watch Those Wheat Fields: Weeds and Rust

Down here in southern Illinois most wheat growers plan to plant soybeans after harvesting winter wheat. Their goal is to generate more profit from two crops in a season than growing a single crop; if they achieve that, double-cropping will remain a popular rotation. The road to greater profitability begins with achieving high yields in wheat, followed by high yields in soybeans. The 2016 wheat crop in southern Illinois has two enemies “preying on the crop” right now: weeds and striped rust. Where did all these weeds come from? Well, a lot of wheat acres that got planted in the [...]

By |May 12, 2016|

Agronomy: Planting on Pace to Set an ‘Early’ Record

Planting started very early in our area, and with the dry spring we’ve experienced planting has progressed at a near record pace. I have personally talked to more than one soybean grower who told me this is the first year they have ever planted soybeans in April. The dry spring gave us the opportunity in Northwestern Illinois to plant soybeans early. I’m glad more soybean producers are realizing waiting till May to start planting soybeans is not necessary and can reduce your yield potential. There are always exceptions and limits and anything can be taken too far but, generally speaking, [...]

By |May 11, 2016|

Agronomy: Selecting the Right Soybean Variety

Now that the planting season is upon us, do you feel that you made the best variety selection for greatest profitability? Agronomists and growers have known for years that selecting the right varieties can mean as much as a 10- to 20-bushel yield gain. University expects and ag media extol the virtues of selecting the right varieties and as a farmer myself, I know that. But, it is especially challenging to follow this advice when you get your information from a seed company that is extolling the performance of its own varieties. Here are five tips for getting it right: [...]

By |May 10, 2016|

Agronomy: Soybean response to foliar fertilizer and fungicide

There is concern among soybean producers that micronutrient deficiencies and foliar diseases are causing yield reductions in Michigan. As such, there is a tendency among soybean producers to apply supplemental nutrient sources and fungicides even without sound experimental evidence to support these practices. In 2015, a farmer was interested in testing the effectiveness of a foliar spray containing Prudent Presto Red Label (6-18-5) plus boron (0.25 percent),manganese (1 percent), humic acids (0.01 percent) microbial fermentation extract (0.01 percent) and the fungicide Priaxor in a tank-mixed application. This Michigan State University Extension research trial consisted of three treatments: T1 – check treatment with [...]

By |May 9, 2016|
Go to Top