Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® data shows the importance of using pre-emerge herbicides with multiple effective SOAs in order to lay the foundation for a successful herbicide program. The question is whether the pre-emerge herbicide will last until canopy closure. Once we reach canopy closure, the limited light makes it difficult for new flushes of weeds to emerge.

The easiest weeds to control are those that never emerge. Cliché? Maybe. But as weeds continue to adapt, mounting resistance to herbicides builds every year. Sustainable control has become increasingly more challenging to achieve.

With summer heat comes summer storms- and occasionally, hail damage. The impact (no pun intended) of hail on your crop depends on the severity of the initial damage, the growth stage of the crop, and weather conditions as the crop recovers.

This agronomy brief covers the damage caused by the most common early-season soybean pests, how to identify them, and how to manage them.

Soybean yields ultimately depend on the number and weight of the seeds harvested per acre. Soybean yield is determined by nodes per acre (plants per acre x nodes per plant), pods per node, seeds per pod, and seed weight.

Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), also called head scab, is a disease that can affect many small grain crops, but its economic impact is the largest on wheat. The causal pathogen of this disease is Fusarium graminearum, and it can significantly impact yield and grain quality. The disease can produce many mycotoxins. Deoxynivalenol (DON), also known as vomitoxin, is the primary mycotoxin screened for at grain delivery points.

While cover crops provide a variety of benefits, cover crop termination in the spring requires additional management practices. Spring cover crop termination varies by cover crop species, the goals of cover cropping, whether that cover crop will be used in the spring (i.e., forage), weed pressure and species, and the proceeding cash crop.

Soybean aphids (Aphis glycines Matsumara) are a piercing and sucking insect that have been affecting soybeans in the U.S. since the early 2000s. Aphids tend to be a problem in late-planted soybean fields during years with dry conditions and moderate temperatures. The insects themselves are small (1/16 in. long), pear-shaped, and yellow-to-green in color. They have black extensions on the body toward the back legs that are often called “tailpipes.” Winds deposit aphids in fields, so the infestation works from the top of the plant to the bottom. Aphids are most damaging in dry field conditions but shy away from heat, so look for them on the underside of leaves.

Twenty years of Beck’s Practical Farm Research (PFR)® data indicates that one key to optimizing soybean yield over time is early planting. Early planting of soybeans increases the number of nodes, which creates additional pods and higher yield.

Frogeye leaf spot (FLS), caused by the pathogen Cercospora sojina, is a common soybean foliar disease of many soybean-producing regions worldwide. In the U.S., the disease is established in southern production regions and has recently become prevalent in the Midwest and Upper Midwest. It’s believed that the range expansion and increased disease severity are caused by widespread planting of susceptible varieties, warmer winter temperatures, and the increased adoption of conservation tillage practices, which, together, lead to increased inoculum levels. FLS does not always cause yield loss, but yield loss of up to 60% has been reported with severe infection rates.