If growing soybeans was a race, you’d almost be to the finish line, but don’t lose focus yet. Protecting your crops late in the season is just as important as getting them off to a strong start. By mid- to late August, diseases and insects are peaking in soybeans. Keeping your soybeans healthy until harvest is crucial to maximizing yield, so be on guard for the triple threat facing your crop: insects, diseases and weeds.
- Insects: Soybean aphids, podworms, and stink bugs are just a few of the infamous soybean yield reducers. These pests typically occur mid-July through late August and their feeding can cause serious crop damage, causing pods to drop and stunting plant growth.
- Diseases: Surveying your fields late in the season may help reveal diseases you might not have noticed earlier. Cercospora leaf blight, brown spot, frogeye leaf spot, pod and stem blight, and anthracnose are common soybean fungal diseases that can affect your plants this time of year, although symptoms appear on the leaves. If you need to treat these diseases with a fungicide, go as deep into the canopy as possible, because soybean diseases tend to originate at the plant base.
- Weeds: Note which types of weeds are springing up as fall approaches in order to better manage fields for both this year’s crop and next season. Are your weeds annuals or perennials? Grasses or broadleaves? Classifying the types of weeds you’re dealing with helps determine how to apply effective herbicides and management practices.
Investing time in late-season scouting helps identify field issues, some of which can still be controlled this season. Taking a close look at what’s going on with your crops also sets a positive course for planting next season. Contact your Golden Harvest Seed Advisor with questions or for additional agronomic insights.
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