Harvest soybeans as quickly as possible to reduce the likelihood of increased quality issues. Seed quality rapidly declines once problems begin due to inclement weather in the fall. If poor-quality grain is present when bad weather hits, you might see a more rapid deterioration in a short period, regardless of weather patterns and rainfall.

Ben Wiegmann, Beck’s Hybrids Field Sales Agronomist, discusses his top four wheat planting strategies for successful yields: planting date, weed control, planting depth, and planting population.

Applying Enlist One® + glyphosate at 10 gal./A. never resulted in greater than 70% (waterhemp) and 75% (fall panicum) control. However, by upping our spray volume from 10 to 15 gal./A., waterhemp control increased by 17%, and fall panicum control increased by 20%. Why did two systemic herbicides, Enlist One and glyphosate, have such a large response to carrier rate? Even though complete coverage is not as crucial, the herbicide must still reach each plant. Putting the Power in the Pre™ generally leads to reduced weed pressure and greater control; therefore, a pre-emerge was withheld from these demonstration plots to ensure enough vegetation was present at the time of the post-emerge treatment. When increasing from 15 to 20 gal./A., we saw less response with Enlist One + glyphosate vs. Enlist One + Liberty®. When Enlist One + glyphosate was applied at 20 gal./A. (compared to 15 gal./A.), waterhemp control only increased by 3% and fall panicum control by 1%. Note that in heavy vegetation scenarios, 20 gal./A. may still be needed with Enlist One + glyphosate.

XtendFlex® provides farmers the opportunity to utilize an approved dicamba formulation such as XtendiMax® or Engenia®, as well as Liberty® and glyphosate. Though some of our problematic weeds are resistant to glyphosate, there are several that glyphosate remains highly effective against. Glyphosate is also strong on many of the weeds that Liberty is weak on, such as cocklebur, velvetleaf, and grasses. Growth regulators such as Engenia or XtendiMax will be highly effective on broadleaf weeds but have no activity on grasses. The XtendFlex system allows farmers the opportunity to utilize Engenia or XtendiMax in the pre-emerge or early post-emergence application, providing short-term residual with no potential crop response. An additional option could include applying Liberty, separately, in-season to control any escaped weeds.

The Enlist™ system provides farmers the opportunity to utilize 2,4-D choline, Liberty®, and glyphosate. Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® data shows that utilizing multiple, effective SOAs in the pre-emerge resulted in less waterhemp for the post-emergence application to control. In 2021, Beck’s PFR set out to determine how the pre-emergence application impacted the post-emergence application and, conversely, how the post-emergence application impacted the preemergence application in Enlist E3® soybeans. The study was designed to evaluate various programs in the Enlist system targeting heavy, medium, and low waterhemp pressure.

The more we add to the tank, the more chances antagonism can occur, especially when we tank-mix contact and systemic herbicides together. The larger weeds become, the greater the chance antagonism will occur. Grass or volunteer corn herbicides like clethodim can have antagonism, especially when mixed with certain Group 15 herbicides. One way to overcome the antagonism is to increase the clethodim rate to 12 oz. (2 lb. ai. product)/A. Products such as Enlist One® and Liberty® are very effective on glyphosate-resistant weeds like waterhemp and giant ragweed. However, Enlist One + Liberty will be weaker on grasses compared to Enlist One + glyphosate. One solution would be to add clethodim, but antagonism can occur when tank-mixed with Enlist One.

When it comes to managing problematic weeds such as waterhemp, we spend a majority of our time thinking about soybeans but, what is the best way to manage waterhemp in other crops such as corn? When it comes to corn, we rely on many of the same herbicide groups we depend on in soybeans, such as Groups 5 and 15 herbicides. However, one advantage to managing weeds in corn is the ability to use HPPD or Group 27 herbicides. Group 27 herbicides are very effective on waterhemp pre-emerge, as well as post-emergence. Targeting weeds when they are less than four inches is the key to success with Group 27 herbicides, as they will begin to struggle once waterhemp plants become greater than four inches. Therefore, an additional effective SOA may be needed to effectively control larger waterhemp plants.

Cereal rye can help suppress problematic weeds like waterhemp, as well as provide soil health benefits. The question becomes, what is the optimum cereal rye rate to best suppress waterhemp? Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® conducted studies in 2021 to see what the optimum rate might be. The cereal rye was terminated with crimping or chemical termination the following spring. To evaluate the benefit of a cover crop, no chemical but glyphosate was applied to terminate the cover crop.

Jonathan Perkins, Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR®) Location Lead/PFR Agronomist, discusses post-emergence options for Enlist E3® soybean systems.

Joe Bolte, Beck’s Hybrids Practical Farm Research (PFR®) Technician & Herbicide Specialist, evaluates different pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicide programs with XtendFlex® soybeans.