Renewable Farming

No Sudden Death Syndrome in these soybeans

Our concern now with these non-GMO Pioneer 92M72 beans planted May 30 is: When are they going to quit pushing new pods and begin to senesce?

We asked our consultant, Bob Streit, that question today. “Don’t worry. There are a lot of pods, the pods are full. They’ve been given plenty of nutrition and they have their own schedule. They’ll make it.”

The variety is classified with a relative maturity of 27 on Pioneer’s scale, which ranges from 21 to 35. So they’re not a late-maturing bean.  Around northeast Iowa, many soybean fields have lost most of their leaves.

Our soybeans as of Sept. 9. Jeanene Carlson shows they’re 4 feet high.

In this research field, lower pods are packed with fully developed soybeans. These are beans that were foliar fed across the entire field with:

1. V4 — A blend of trace elements laced with WakeUP Summer.

2. R1 — Seed Set, a product intended to accelerate blooming and the reproductive cycle.

3. R3 — Potassium, in a potassium hydroxide product developed by consultant Jerry Sheppele. With WakeUP. The field had shown some deficiency symptoms. A week after spraying, most of the symptoms had faded or were covered up by new leaves.

4. R6 — Rondo, from BRT in Ladora, IA. This is a “bulker” intended to increase seed size and density.

Those are the four general foliar treatments across the field. We wanted to make sure there was adequate nutrition for the strip trials, which were run in six-row strips. The main trial is with Vitazyme, a growth promotant.