Growers continue to replant, spot plant or supplement soybean stands this month. In west TN this is due to too much rain, causing surface packing or seed and seedling rots. Dry weather in central TN is creating additional headaches, where wetter spots free of cover crop residue may germinate well, while other parts of fields have seeds germinating over many days as rains fall too late to wet soil profile deep enough. Continue reading
Based on planting reports, we look to have more true ‘early’ beans than we have had in the past three or four years. A cool front this week and nighttime temps down in the forties have had folks ask about effects on soybean. Soybeans are pretty tolerant to air temps above 45 F after emergence, but are sometimes affected through chilling if soil temperatures are cold enough at the wrong time. Chilling injury is most likely when soil temperatures are cold (less than 50°F) at planting rather than becoming cold 24 hours or more afterwards. The longer the seed is in the ground at warm soil temperatures before cold temperatures occur, the less likely we are to have chilling injury. Chilling injury appears as swelled seed that may sprout but the hypocotyl fails to elongate. Sometimes plants will emerge but are smaller and less thrifty in appearance or stand is reduced.
If you are planting into heavy residue (i.e. cover crops), check soil temp prior to planting if you are concerned about cooler temperatures. As long as temperatures are around 50°F or higher at planting depth for 24-48 hours after planting there should be no seed injury due to cold temperature. Delaying planting until mid/late morning will give ground time to warm up a bit during this cool front. Fortunately, our cool weather episodes have been transient and our lows haven’t been all that low for crops like corn or soybean. Of course, a good fungicide and insecticide seed treatment will help protect stand in cooler and variable soil conditions.
Planting wheat after sorghum can be done successfully. Wheat stands are most uniform when the sorghum crop is killed with glyphosate and at least a month or more has passed between sorghum harvest and wheat planting. Continue reading
With more acres planted in grain sorghum this year than any previous year, some unusual questions have been posed. The most common one that doesn’t really apply to management issues is “Why are some plants significantly taller than others and why is it so random?” Since I’ve wondered this same question in the past I decided to look in to it a little further. Continue reading
Early planted sorghum is maturing and producers will need to decide soon if they want to spray a harvest product to aid in combining. A harvest aid kills the grain sorghum plant (glyphosate) or dries up leaves (sodium chlorate) and allows easier cutting where stands are thick, removes food source from heavy sugarcane aphid infestations, or is a way to clean up grasses or vines. Aim herbicide is labeled to desiccate vines in sorghum but is not an effective crop desiccant. Continue reading
With the tremendous upswing in grain sorghum acres this year and early planted sorghum about a week or so away from heading, this may be a good time to revisit basic sorghum growth and disease management. Continue reading
Farmers intended to plant about half of the 2015 soybean crop during June, but rains and flooding have delayed planting into July for some of those acres. I have had a number of calls about management practices for really late planted soybeans since it looks like some folks will not be able to get back in the field until mid-July. Continue reading
Too much of a good thing can sometimes be a bad thing and in West Tennessee this year that “thing” is rain. We have been getting a lot of calls from producers this week asking “Is it too late to plant sorghum?” and “Will I still get good yields with planting this late?” Continue reading