Crop Choice Starter Program on Soybeans

The pictures with this blog were taken May 16, 2017.

I stopped by John Hansman’s no till soybean field, just north of Columbia, Mo, on Tuesday morning to see how his soybeans were doing after all the rain we had earlier this month. As you can see they were planted into a heavy cereal rye cover crop which he had burned down previously. This field was planted using the Crop Choice starter program for soybeans (3-18-18-1, Manganese, Calcium, Zinc, and included Liquid Bacteria Concentrate & Soil Restorer) and there are beans coming through the thick mat of cover, and still beans coming up underneath.

I haven’t put my hula hoop in the truck yet, so a population count wasn’t done yesterday, and we both wondered if the stand was going to be thick enough. With the very wet and cool conditions we have had, having the Crop Choice program under the soybean seed (and now the young plants) will give them   that extra vigor they need to get through the heavy cover. Soybeans can compensate for lower populations, still yielding very well, and we should have patience in this situation and see how many more plants emerge through the mulch of the cover crop. The soil was wet under the mulch, and rain is in the forecast, so putting in more beans now could not be done anyway. I am going to check back with John and his field periodically, and let you know how it’s going.

John Viertel, CCA     

jviertel@soilservieinc.com