It’s after mid-July; do you know what your soybeans are doing?

Here we sit either waiting on a rain or waiting for it to stop, most of the corn has tasseled and life is good as we wait for harvest. We have done all we can for this crop…..or have we? Have you scouted your soybeans fields lately? Have you checked for insect problems… any late weed issues… or maybe a disease popping up? And what does the crop look like from above, are their pockets of stress that you can’t see from the road?

Well, maybe you shouldn’t get too complacent yet. A lot can still go wrong between mid-July and Labor Day weekend. Growers can still do quite a bit to help those beans knock it out of the park with some late season attention. One thing we have learned the past decade (decade of the soybean) is that they respond to good management just like corn. With corn that management ends around August 1, but with soybeans that management can extend through August.

There are lots of options for fungicides, insecticides and, for the adventurous, there are always the stress mitigation products like foliar nutritionals, growth regulators, and biologicals. These products are relatively new to the soybean management scene and many companies are now bringing products and recommendations forward that include late season soybean management.

If you think you have been leaving bushels on the table in your soybean fields or if you just want to brush up on season long soybean management join us for our “Strategies for Finishing Out the Soybean Season” webinar on Tuesday, August 9 at 10:00 am CT. We will talk about what to look for in the field and how we can address different issues in a timely manner. To register, click here. 

Mike Wilson is a Specialty Products Marketing Coordinator at Wabash Valley Service Company. For over 20 years he has been working with farmers in ten counties in southeastern Illinois to improve economic yield in soybeans, corn and wheat. Mike has been a CCA since 1994 and is enjoying being a part of the Soy Envoy program.