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Bill Orr

Agronomy: Soybeans Faced Challenges in 2015

Soybean harvest is done for 2015! It was a challenging year for soybeans: too wet early, dry later in the summer, little or no rain during grain fill and then soybeans seemed to mature too quickly with such a warm fall. Some growers would say they are glad this year is over! Picking and choosing varieties in my area will be tough next year. The Group 3 soybeans outyielded the Group 2 soybeans and ripened almost at the same time. I believe it was because of the hot, dry September that we experienced. I believe many growers would share [...]

By |October 22, 2015|

How to Handle Weed Escapes

I have a lot of broadleaf weed escapes in my soybeans. The question that I have is will there be a soybean yield loss from spraying a diphenyl ether (think Cobra®) at this stage of soybean growth? Also, will I be able to control these weeds? Let us review the current stage of soybean growth: we are between R3 and R4, which is beginning pod and full pod. There are a lot of flowers on top of the soybean plants and pods on the middle branches. The diphenyl ether products are PPOs, contact-type herbicides. The diphenyl ether products kill [...]

By |August 13, 2015|

How to Handle Weed Escapes

I have a lot of broadleaf weed escapes in my soybeans. The question that I have is will there be a soybean yield loss from spraying a diphenyl ether (think Cobra®) at this stage of soybean growth? Also, will I be able to control these weeds? Let us review the current stage of soybean growth: we are between R3 and R4, which is beginning pod and full pod. There are a lot of flowers on top of the soybean plants and pods on the middle branches. The diphenyl ether products are PPOs, contact-type herbicides. The diphenyl ether products kill [...]

By |August 6, 2015|

How to handle unplanted soybean seed

Will it ever stop raining? We got 11.5 inches in one week in east central Illinois. I have been getting a lot of questions about delayed planting. One question is, if I don’t plant my treated soybeans will the company take them back? Most seed companies will not take treated soybean seed back. But your local dealer may take the treated soybean seed back and redistribute it to other dealers or use for replant or double crop soybeans after wheat. So before you just discard, check with your dealer to see if he has any options. He may just [...]

By |July 20, 2015|

Impact of Hail Damage on Soybeans

WOW! We are having a lot of thunderstorms coming through our area in June. We have not been in the field for two weeks. Fields that got planted are waterlogged and all of the low areas have water ponding in them. I want to discuss hail damage on soybeans because with these storms we got some areas with severe hail damage. First, the height and correct staging of the soybean plant is critical. Soybean staging is VE, VC, V1, V2, V3, and V (n) until you get to the reproductive stages. VE is when the cotyledons have pulled through [...]

By |June 30, 2015|

Agronomy: Meet Your Soy Envoy: Bill Orr

Hello, my name is Bill Orr. I am the owner of Agronomic Insights in Reddick, Illinois. Agronomic Insights is an independent crop consulting company that sells Pioneer seed, does GPS-based soil testing and crop scouting. I enjoy working with growers to solve problems and help them improve their production practices. Soybeans seem to be unique because increasing yield hasn’t been as easy as it has been for corn. And it comes down to priority and focus. Why do corn get all the attention and soybeans seem to be ignored? Some growers don’t treat soybeans as a priority for high [...]

By |April 27, 2015|
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