Soybeans are serious consumers of phosphorus, so it seems logical that supplying P fertilizer would be important for maximizing soybean yields, right? That’s wrong, at least in the short-term, according to research results in southern Manitoba. Researchers from the University of Manitoba and Manitoba Agriculture are comparing how soybeans respond to three rates of P2O5 fertilizer (20,… Read More
Category: Soybean Planting
Ask three farmers what the best row spacing is for soybeans and you might get three different answers, but in most soybean growing areas there’s been a trend back toward wider rows. As part of this Soybean School episode, Horst Bohner, soybean specialist with Ontario’s Ministry of Agriculture and RealAg’s Bernard Tobin discuss the driving factors in why… Read More
Preliminary research conducted in southern Manitoba is casting some doubt on the common belief that dark, tilled soil is best for planting soybeans in northern growing regions. Greg Bartley, a graduate student working together with Dr. Yvonne Lawley at the University of Manitoba, is in his second year of comparing how soybeans respond when planted into different… Read More
If you’ve noticed more than a few fleabane “escapes” in recent years, you’re not alone. Glyphosate resistant Canada fleabane has spread across more than 700 kilometers of Ontario crop land in just five years. Despite its incredible distribution, Canada fleabane wasn’t the first glyphosate resistant weed found in Ontario, says Dr. Peter Sikkema, field crop… Read More
Soybeans can handle slightly colder temps than corn, but their exposed growing point means that frost damage can be far deadlier and permanent. That seems to be the case across much of Ontario, as farmers head to the fields to assess the full fallout of Saturday morning’s hard frost. In this Soybean School episode, PRIDE… Read More
A job worth doing is worth doing well, and if you’re treating soybean seed at home on the farm, you may be over or under applying product. There are custom seed treatment options available, on a field by field basis, that may become even more popular as new regulations come into force for next season…. Read More
Those with seasoned soybean ground may be tempted to skip the inoculant, but depending on the type of soil you have and what conditions were like last year, an inoculant investment now should payback in-season. As Shawn Brenneman, Syngenta agronomist and sometimes soothsayer, explains to RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin in this Soybean School, inoculant payback is… Read More
Soybean planting time brings with it a number of decisions — what’s the optimal seeding rate? Which inoculants should be used, and should they be doubled up? What about seed treatment? Is a seed treatment with insecticide needed? As part of this Soybean School West episode, Kristen Podolsky of the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers… Read More
Soil conditions in the heart of the soybean growing area on the eastern prairies have been dry this spring, leading to questions about planting deeper than normal to ensure the seed has access to moisture. This Soybean School West episode takes us to the middle of a windy field near Portage, Man., where Dieter Schwarz of Pride… Read More
Tough conditions last fall resulted in fewer acres of wheat being planted than planned in Ontario. Some of those fields could end up defaulting back to soybeans for 2015. In this Soybean School episode, Dave Hooker, field crop agronomist and assistant professor at the University of Guelph-Ridgetown, and Bernard Tobin discuss the implications of back-to-back soybean crops, and… Read More
While soybean breeders have focused on boosting top-end yield, they’ve also made the crop more resilient in situations with thin plant stands. Speaking at the CropConnect Conference in Winnipeg last month, Shaun Conley of the University of Wisconsin discussed the “phenotypic plasticity” of soybeans, or the crop’s ability to compensate for lower plant populations. “It’s… Read More
You’re looking at yield data from last year trying to figure out which soybean varieties to grow in 2015 — how do you know when the yield difference between two varieties is meaningful? “That’s a question we get all the time when it comes to picking varieties and looking at single-year site data,” says Dennis… Read More
White mould love tight soybean rotations. What’s the best plan of attack for 2015? A good chunk of wheat acres didn’t get planted in the fall of 2014, during what some have dubbed a “harvest from hell.” Many of those acres are likely to go into soybeans, and for good reason. But, agronomically, it’s not… Read More
Ever wonder how soybean crosses are made? How long it takes for a new soybean variety to go from pod to variety? Each crop type requires unique field work to come up with new and exciting lines that balance higher yield potential with the strong agronomic traits farmers are looking for. In this Soybean School… Read More
What’s soybean stage R2 versus R4 and why does it matter? Turns out, it matters a whole lot, as does knowing how long you can anticipate the crop being in each stage. Soybeans move through three growth stages: vegetative, when weed control is the priority, to reproductive, when disease control is likely most timely, and… Read More