Take Your Seeds Off Before Entering
Common manners suggest that you remove your shoes before entering someone’s home as a guest. Does this etiquette apply to entering a farmer’s field? During a recent scouting day, I encountered an area of Palmer amaranth next to a field I was exiting. If you don’t already know it, Palmer is our next big weed challenge. And if you thought controlling waterhemp was tough—Palmer is even tougher. As I observed the population of weeds in the soybean field, I decided to get a closer look and walk along the ditch to see if it was truly Palmer amaranth. A [...]
Help! What happened to my stand of soybeans?
Learn to diagnose field problems when they happen. Any agronomist would tell a farmer to scout each field multiple times a year. That is the only way you can identify a problem and its cause. Waiting till harvest is too late. Crop consultants and farmers work together to determine field issues and often face difficult steps trying to understand what happened and when it happened. It is easier to diagnose any field problem closer to the time it develops than days, weeks or months afterward. Whether it’s an insect, disease, weather, herbicide or manmade issue the closer to the [...]
Summer Scouting Important for Top Soybean Yields
Beans got off to a rough start and growers are seeing some unexpected issues pop up. Temperatures across much of Illinois continue to be above normal during June. These conditions may deter you from scouting fields, but it is especially important to observe growing crops to diagnose insect and disease pressure before it reaches economic levels. During late vegetative and early flowering stages of soybeans there are several things to look for while scouting. Insects of concern that may be present include Japanese beetles (insert), bean leaf beetles, soybean aphids and spider mites. Each of these insects causes different [...]
Soybean Fields or Swingin’ Hips
After the planter is parked for the season it is time to make observations of emerging and developing crop. Early scouting trips provide a look at how the crop begins the season and the potential for growth the remainder of the year. Soybeans seem to receive less attention after planting during early vegetative growth stages than corn but as more soybeans were planted this year and interest in increasing soybean yields is increasing, take time to assess fields. Can’t emphasize enough the importance of walking the field. Don’t just look at headlands or walk in 100 feet. Get a [...]
Have you checked your grain bins lately?
Managing soybeans doesn’t end with combining. If you have stored them on-farm, you need to continue to manage them. As the winter weather continues to bring colder-than-usual temperatures, growers should take the time to monitor the quality of soybeans stored on-farm. With below-freezing temperatures for an extended period, followed by warmer temperatures; storage facilities may experience condensation which can lead to grain storage issues. Fall 2017 harvest conditions led to extremely dry soybeans at harvest, and grain moisture in the single digits. It is recommended that soybeans be stored at 13 percent or lower moisture and in 2017, most [...]
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