We’re starting to see the results of a wet spring, especially all the rain we had in May. Here, we outline what you should look for throughout the growing season during years like this and provide some tips for managing crop challenges to meet your yield potential.
Wet conditions can mean less vegetative growth.
We’re seeing some drowned-out spots and uneven stands. Plus, May showers pushed nearly a quarter of the soybean planting into June. Later planting usually results in less vegetative growth and pod development that’s closer to the ground.
Champion Tip:
- If you weren’t able to pull a roller over the field, you might need to harvest a little slower this fall in order to grab those low-hanging pods and maintain your yield potential.
- Less vegetative growth also means less canopy to control weeds. If you’re going after a clean soybean field, you’ll likely need a good herbicide program with residuals and multiple modes of action.
- When making later herbicide applications, be sure to check the herbicide’s plant-back restrictions. Some residual herbicides can carry over and cause injury to next year’s crop.
Diseases to watch for after a wet spring.
Brown stem rot, stem canker and sudden death syndrome (SDS) could be in our future. All three of these diseases develop early in the growing season in cool, wet conditions. There’s bad news and good news: The bad news is that symptoms won’t show up until later and the application of foliar fungicides will neither control nor reduce the severity of these diseases. The good news is that many of today’s varieties are fully resistant to Southern stem canker and brown stem rot. Though there are not any resistant varieties for SDS, we continue to select genetics that are more and more tolerant to help with yield potential.
Champion Tip:
- While it’s too late now to apply seed treatments, products like Saltro and iLevo can also reduce the severity of SDS. The fungi that cause SDS survive from year to year in crop residue. So, if you had it once, chances are that it will happen again under the right conditions.
We’re here to help!
We know how frustrating it can be to implement preventive measures, do all the right things, and still find disease in your fields. But always remember, it would be much worse for your yield potential if you didn’t take those measures. As always, your Champion Seed representative is available to help identify any issues in your fields so we can prescribe better solutions in the future.
