After rains fell last weekend the soybean market dropped on the assumption the bean crop would benefit from those rains. But Tony White, Monsanto Products Development Manager in soybeans says it’s tough to predict just how quickly a soybean plant can rebound from a good rain.
“It depends on the amount of rain that we received and the temperatures throughout that period of time. This upcoming week is supposed to be hot but then it’s supposed to cool off and that’s going to be really important for the soybean crop that it starts reducing some of that heat and moisture stress and it can continue to put on flowers. If you look at the crop stage at this point in time it depends on where you’re at but we’re at the late R3 stages, meaning that we’re starting to set pods and the pods are continuing to grow.”
White says that’s a good place to be because the potential to put on pods still exists. But with the bean crop anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks ahead of schedule, the middle to third week of this month is when the window starts to shut.
“If we can get some good rains and cooler temperatures between now and then we’re really going to set ourselves up for a little better soybean crop. It won’t be perfect by any means, but much better than what we had anticipated with the challenging weather that we’ve had.”
What farmers really need is help from Mother Nature, but it can also be beneficial to scout for diseases and insects even though those have been held to a minimum this year.
“There have been some spider mites around that farmers are spraying for and I think that’s really important to stay on top of. But scouting for diseases and thinking about yield opportunity with some of the plant health products that can be sprayed are things to consider as we move forward, especially if we can get some of these additional rains.”
White says we are just past the point of herbicide applications but he encourages producers to consider soil applied residual herbicides as part of the 2013 program, even though those products didn’t get good activation in the 2012 drought.[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/08/Tony-White-on-2012-soybean-possibilities.mp3|titles=Tony White on 2012 soybean possibilities]Hear the full interview:[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/08/Tony-White-Monsanto.mp3|titles=Tony White Monsanto]