28
May
2019
What exactly does Beck’s Escalate® yield enhancement system protect your seed against?
Think of our Escalate system as a toolbox. We don’t necessarily know what the weather will bring each spring, but we know we are equipped with a full toolbox that can help us combat whatever Mother Nature throws our way.
Categories: Agronomy, Agronomy Talk
Tags: Disease, SEED TREATMENT, ESCALATE, insecticides, fungicides
24
Take a walk with Field Agronomist and Herbicide Specialist, Austin Scott, through a Tennessee corn field and learn more about increased black cutworm pressure.
Tags: corn, Agronomy, Black Cutworm, insect pressure
17
Any disease requires three things to flourish: a viable host, suitable environmental conditions, and the presence of a pathogen. When we attempt to manage a disease, we must manage one of these three factors in order to be successful.
Tags: Pythium, Phytophthora, seed, fusarium, seedling disease, disease management, root rot, stem rot
There are many reasons a corn crop may fail. In some years it’s a late frost and in others, soil surface crusting. Regardless of the reason the stand fails, it is important to destroy the original crop before replanting. Yield losses can occur if just 5,000 of the original corn plants remain to compete with the new stand. Therefore, it is imperative to successfully eradicate as much of the existing stand as possible.
Tags: corn, tillage, herbicides, terminating corn, failed corn
14
As the rain is delaying planting, many farmers are becoming concerned that their corn maturities are too long. In my opinion (based on facts), here are the Top 10 reasons why you should stick with your original plan.
Tags: Agronomy, Ohio Agronomy, Delayed planting, gdu, hybrid maturities growing degree days
9
Can you pick a palmer from a redroot? Weeds are off to the races this season and the first, and most important step to controlling broadleaf weeds is correct identification.
Tags: Agronomy, Weed Identification, Weeds, soil compaction, Weed Pressure
8
When a corn kernel is planted into warm, moist soil, water is absorbed through the seed coat and the kernel begins to swell. The critical soil moisture required for corn to germinate is 30%, and a corn seed will absorb 1.5 to 2 times its weight in water during the germination process.
Tags: corn, GDUS, corn development, corn growth stages, GDDs, corn growth
During rainy springs, fields may flood or even stay saturated for long periods of time. Flooded fields have two forms: saturated or waterlogged (where only the roots are flooded) or submerged (where the entire plant is under water). Saturated or waterlogged soils are more common than completely submerged plants, but they can both be damaging to yield.
Tags: corn, soybeans, nodulation, early-season flooding, seed damage, fallow syndrome
3
In delayed planting situations, there are some key concepts to consider when deciding to whether or not to continue as planned with corn, move to an earlier maturity hybrid, or switch to soybeans altogether.
Tags:
It’s that time of year again. It's the time of year for our wheat to start flowering, so fungicide applications should be top of mind. With the kind of spring we are experiencing throughout much of the Midwest, many factors favor Fusarium head blight (head scab) onset.
Tags: Wheat, Fungicides on Wheat, head scap, wheat diseases
1
Maximizing soybean yield is a simple concept…grow as many harvestable soybeans per acre as possible. What is not so simple is the complex dance we play with Mother Nature who has great influence over the best management decisions required to obtain maximum yields. For multiple years, Beck’s PFR has promoted increasing returns on investment (ROI) by lowering soybean seeding rates.
Tags: planting, Soybean Seeding Rate, Delayed planting, double crops
29
Apr
Typically, purple corn leaves are automatically diagnosed as a phosphorus deficiency early in the spring. Although purple corn leaves are a symptom of phosphorus deficiency, this does not always mean there is a soil phosphorus deficiency per se. It could be that the plants are unable to access soil phosphorus due to problems with the root system, excess soil moisture, or cool temperatures.
Tags: sidewall compaction, purple corn. phosphorus deficiency, corn root system
Some areas of our marketing footprint have started planting and are slowly progressing while others have not yet started field operations. Here is some information to review as many of you may have questions regarding delayed planting and switching hybrids.
Tags: corn hybrids, corn planting, late planted corn, GDUS, Delayed planting
In the past, plant nutrition management was largely focused on nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium, since these nutrients are needed in the greatest quantity. Reports and field observations of early-season “striped corn” have become more common across the Midwest over the past decade.
Tags: tissue testing, plant nutrition, striped corn, sulfur in corn, nutrient deficiency, manganese in corn
18
For a crop to become established, the seeds must germinate and emerge uniformly. Seed size and shape (also called grade size) is not correlated to germination, vigor, nor yield. If planting conditions are good, all grades have equal quality and the size and health of the embryo within the seed does not change with grade size.
Tags: seed size, Germination, kernel size, seed shape, grade size, crop establishment
A soybean seed has two distinct parts: the cotyledons and the embryo. The two cotyledons are the main food storage structure, which supply food during emergence and for the seven to ten days after emergence through the V1 growth stage.
Tags: soybeans, soybean growth, cotyledons, embryo, soybean growth stages
Earlier this week I scouted some fields in Southern Illinois following the rains we received last weekend. With this wheat in this field pushing Feekes 7, I plan on taking some soil and tissue samples in a few different spots to see what's going on in these plants.
Tags: Wheat, fungicide on wheat, tissue sample, soil test, flag leaf, foliar applications on wheat
16
Often, farmers find themselves pressed for time in the spring and are forced into tight windows of operation. One operation that many farmers need to carefully consider is the spring application of anhydrous ammonia. Although it’s possible to apply anhydrous before planting, there are strategies to reduce the risk of injury. Keep in mind that there are many ways to apply nitrogen to a crop in-season, so planting should always take precedence to nitrogen applications. Even if you have pre-paid for your anhydrous, you can still sidedress anhydrous with great success.
Tags: Nitrogen, Anhydrous Ammonia, Nitrogen Timing, anhydrous injury, nitrogen applications
Cold weather prevents wheat plants from breaking dormancy, so in cold springs, wheat crops may be slow to greenup. Delayed greenup is less concerning than cold damage to the wheat crop.
Chilling injury is only one part of the evaluation of winter wheat in the spring. If the fall was wet and challenging, there could be stand establishment concerns. In some low areas, the seed may have rotted in the fall. If the plant has fewer than three developed leaves going into the winter, it is more prone to injury as the crown is underdeveloped.
Tags: Wheat, wheat injury, chilling injury, wheat damage, spring freeze damage
Weed competition at planting can reduce yields. As temperatures start to increase, weeds will flourish, and you will be faced with a short timeline to complete field operations. While it may be tempting to begin planting as soon as possible, it is important to make sure weeds are managed prior to planting. Attempting to control weeds after planting can interfere with your planting operations and create competition with the emerging crop for sunlight, moisture, and nutrients, reducing yields. As weeds continue to grow, they become more difficult to control.
Tags: Agronomy, Agronomy Talk, Weeds, residual herbicides, Spring Burndown, Weed Prevention