Extreme temperatures are leading to some peculiar heat damage symptoms showing up in soybean.  I have had a number of calls and text messages with pics of plants that are dying on top of the ground, laying over at the soil line, etc.  This injury seems to be showing up more in fields with no or little residue, sometimes soil is sealed around the stem of the plant, but all areas appear to have more sand in the soil.  Sandy soils can heat worse causing cells inside stem at the soil line to collapse inward and the plant stem to basically pinch off at the soil line.  Symptoms differ from seedling disease because the top and lower portions of the still-living plants look very healthy with the exception of the pinched stem (see photo provided by Tim Campbell, Dyer Co. extension).  Damage appears spotty and worse in sandier areas of the field.  Stem damage caused by PRE herbicides would be expected to be more widespread.  Most fields did not receive a rain to activate PRE’s and damage cannot be attributed to herbicides.  Pathogens have been ruled out as a cause in the samples received in the lab at Jackson.  Large areas of stand loss may require spot replanting when temperature becomes more moderate.