Early crop scouting is sometimes passed by depending on the weather and growing conditions. Making scouting decisions by driving by the field in your pick up is not good scouting and can force you into poor decisions on disease and insect control and crop staging.
David Townsend, Becker Underwood, provides us with some great quick tips on early scouting your soybean field. David breaks it down in three easy quick steps to remind you how getting into your field regularly, especially early, can provide the scouting framework for the growing season.
David says that growers need to commit to the following three basic steps:
- Count your plant population
- Identify the plant staging
- Evaluate the presence of weeds, insects and disease
Committing to being in your fields is critical. As David points out, “relaxing is getting out into your field and checking out the soybean eye candy.”
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