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This week we cover the Halo Effect in result of ILEVO seed treatment.
0:33 — What is the Halo Effect?
1:09 — Why does the Halo Effect happen?
2:51 — Does it result in a yield loss?
We invite you to submit any questions weighing on your mind from agronomy diagnostics to new seed technologies. Phil will answer those questions on a Thursday weekly interview.
Thanks for tuning in!
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We are featuring a series called “Ask the Latham Agronomist”. Each week Latham Agronomist Phil Long will answer viewer submitted questions about agronomy and seed industry topics.
This week we cover 3 #plant17 scenarios farmers in our marketing territory have experienced.
0:55 — Scenario 1: Farmers who planted last week
2:35 — Scenario 2: Farmers who planted 3-4 weeks ago
5:05 — Scenario 3: Farmers who are waiting to plant
We invite you to submit any questions weighing on your mind from agronomy diagnostics to new seed technologies. Phil will answer those questions on a Thursday weekly interview.
Thanks for tuning in!
The number one soybean insect pest is growing across the Upper Midwest. Recent reports indicate some aphid populations are developing resistance to insecticides, especially pyrethroid products.
While we may not be able to stop the spread of this resistance, we can certainly slow it down by using these best management practices:
First identified in Wisconsin during the summer of 2000, soybean aphids are found in 21 states and three Canadian provinces. Besides the damage they do by sucking sap from plants, aphids also are vectors of several viruses that attack soybeans.
Scouting for aphids is key for maintaining the health of your soybean crop now… and in the future. Do what you can now to keep numbers down and to avoid insecticide resistance from building.
Only so much preparation can be done in the shop. Take the time to get out of the cab — or have someone else help — to check row spacing and planting depth. Observations and planter adjustments are key to successful emergence scores.
It doesn’t pay to have your equipment in top working condition if you don’t wait for fit planting conditions. Missing the optimum planting window may have a 2-5% impact on final yield but an uneven emergence could cause 5-9% yield loss! Plant according to soil and weather conditions rather than by the calendar.
Our Product Team spends countless hours in research plots and in our customers’ fields, taking field notes. Our mutual goal is to help you maximize yield potential by placing the right Latham® product in the right field. FieldXField™ yields!
Keep these three key areas in mind as you prepare your planter for spring:
Be sure the opening wheels have a serviceable diameter and proper spacing, so the blades have a contact area of 1˝ to 2˝. If they are too wide, you will get more of a “W” in the seed trench, which affects planting depth. If there is too much pressure, discs will wear prematurely.
Gauge wheels and arms should be adjusted to just touch the side of the seed disc. Keep mud and debris from building up on the seed disc as it affects planting depth. Also ensure the closing wheels run true, so the trench closes over the seed.
Palmer Amaranth, called Palmer Pigweed, has been confirmed in 48 of Iowa’s 99 counties. When Bob Hartzler of Iowa State University Extension made this frightening announcement during a recent crop meeting that I attended in Ames, the atmosphere in the room changed — and for good reason.
To say this weed is “aggressive” is an understatement. To win the battle, farmers must employ an aggressive weed management system. It’s important to start with a clean seedbed, and then integrate more than one herbicide to prevent weed escapes by:
Every attempt must be made to completely eradicate it from fields, as Palmer Amaranth is truly “waterhemp on steroids.” Palmer is closely related to Common Waterhemp but is much more invasive. It can get so bad that literally entire fields must be tilled up to prevent further infestations.
Both Palmar Amaranth and common Waterhemp are dioecious, meaning there are male and female plants, as opposed to most other pigweeds species that have male and female parts on the same plant. Many scientists believe this characteristic gives these weeds an advantage to developing herbicide resistance.
Both Palmer Amaranth and Waterhemp have become resistant to numerous herbicide groups. Many populations are resistant to multiple groups — as many as five in one population has been documented in Illinois!
Pollen spreading within fields and to neighboring fields spreads that resistance, so farmers must be even more diligent to control weeds in both corn and soybeans. Diversity of weed control tactics key. We won’t be able to rely on just Roundup Ready 2 Xtend®, Enlist™ or Balance™ GT — nor any other future trait system.
Take some time now to attend some weed control meetings in your area, and learn how to identify and manage this potentially devastating pest.
Due to another down year of commodity prices, combined with uncertainty in the marketplace and the transition to a new presidential administration, many Midwest farmers are looking for ways to limit their risk exposure. Here are three key ways farmers can limit risk in 2017:
Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) in 2016 affected numerous soybean fields in the Upper Midwest. We saw SDS in fields where it had never been a problem, and some of that can be attributed to Mother Nature. Frequent or heavy rains can add to the severity of the disease, and irrigated fields are also at higher risk.
While we cannot control the weather and it’s not possible to get rid of this soil-borne fungus, there are strategies you can implement to protect future yield:
If Sudden Death Syndrome is a potential problem in your area for 2016, do all that you can to limit its effect in the future. Feel free to call me if you have any questions.
While fighting blowing snow and bitter wind chills, it’s a welcome relief to think about spring! I know many farmers, including myself, are getting equipment ready for tillage and planting. It’s also a good time to review your seed order.
I expect most orders were placed with thoughtful consideration of the 2016 results, including university, F.I.R.S.T. yield trials and dealer plots. While this is all important data, keep in mind it represents information that was recorded in one location during one growing season.
Also keep in mind that on-farm plots might be impacted by variables you would be unaware of unless you walked the plot throughout the growing season. For example, if a sprayer wheel track accidentally ran over part or all of the plants in a row, the yield of that hybrid could be affected significantly. If the wheel track happens to run over part of a row on a check hybrid, that yield reduction would affect hybrids on both sides of the check.
Two more areas to consider when selecting seed are soil type and disease. Plants respond differently in various growing conditions. It’s also important to know field history. For example, once you’ve had white mold or Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) in a field, it has the potential to cause yield loss every time you plant soybeans there in the future. That’s why it’s especially important to know how well different brands handle SDS and white mold.
Be sure to check out our performance in the 2016 F.I.R.S.T. Trials. Latham won a record-setting 42 trials! Our corn program produced 17 first place winners and 199 total Top 10 finishes; our soybean program produced 25 first place finishes and 185 total Top 10 finishes. These stats show just how deep and wide our product line is.
Latham’s sales and product teams are at your service! Call us at 1.877.GO.LATHAM (1.877.465.2842), and we’ll gladly help you choose the right seed, field-by-field!
Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds helps simplify the seed selection process through our Seed-2-Soil® agronomic services. We help maximize your yield potential by focusing on four key areas:
Farmers looking for new tools to fight weed resistance across Latham Country now have another option to choose from. XtendiMax is a newly approved herbicide that can be worked into a rotation to help farmers fight weed year after year.
Just a few short months ago, we received news that Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® Soybean technology was approved for the 2017 planting season and necessary export channels. We are happy to announce that XtendiMax™ Herbicide with VaporGrip™ Technology is now approved by the EPA for in-crop use.
XtendiMax™ Herbicide with VaporGrip™ Technology can be described as a low volatile formulation of dicamba. This new tool assists in the fight against weeds, enabling the in-crop use of approved dicamba. However, the current EPA label approves the use of this dicamba-only formulation and does not allow for tank mixes with other herbicides or adjuvants, including glyphosate. This may change as Monsanto and other chemical manufacturers plan to submit data to the EPA for tank mixes. Growers can go to RoundupReadyXtend.com to view the latest developments.
The XtendiMax® label has very specific regulations. It is important to read thoroughly and take note of these practices to mitigate migration. I can’t emphasize enough the importance to follow all of these instructions to allow farmers to continue using this tool. A few of the key points include:
While the herbicide still warrants some caution, we are more excited than ever about our line of Latham® Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® soybean brands. Latham customers have come to expect strong genetics and disease packages from our company, and the 2016 F.I.R.S.T. trial tests have confirmed that our Xtend® soybean lineup is second to none!
This year, we had a total of nine Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® Soybean varieties in F.I.RS.T. trials, with maturities ranging from 0.7 to 3.0. We have won seven Top 1, 2, and 3’s in F.I.R.S.T. Trials, and 28 Top 10’s! Look up area specific soybean data for your area here.
The future for breaking yield barriers and building on current progress in soybean technology is bright. Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds is positioned to remain on the cutting edge of the newest and best the industry has to offer. While it’s fun winning yield trials, and showcasing new products, it’s more important that we win on your farm. Contact your Latham representative for information on which of these Xtend products might be the best fit for your farm.
As a member of the Latham Corn Product Team, it’s my job to walk research plots throughout the growing season and take notes. It’s hard to put into words just how exciting these crop tours have been this fall! The performance of Latham® corn products has been outstanding, so I’m having fun making recommendations for promising new products that could complement our current lineup.
We not only take these plots to yield, but we also note disease pressure. This year we noticed more hybrids than normal with some degree of stalk rot or stalk cannibalization. When cutting damaged stalks lengthwise, I usually found the internal pith tissue was still white and not compromised by disease. They may be shrunken, cracked, or otherwise weakened, yet the stalk rot didn’t invade the plant.
In high-yield environments, a shortage of nutrients or other weather-related stress weakened the plant by mobilizing sugars or nutrients that were stored in the stalk, and moved them to the ear to help fill kernels. Usually any factor that stresses corn allows pathogens to enter the plant: wet soils, daytime temperatures that are either too hot or too cold, nighttime temperatures that are too warm, flooding, moisture stress, hail, or leaf diseases.
There are very few (if any) years with ideal growing conditions, so it’s important to scout and manage fields for disease before harvest every year. Stalk rots don’t show up until later in the growing season, so I start scouting for them in August at the same time I am looking for leaf diseases. Early symptoms include dying lower leaves and the plant color appears pale green to gray.
While there is no one way to eliminate stalk rots and disease, the best management practice is to manage stress on the corn plants including proper soil drainage, proper fertility, plant selection and populations, foliar fungicide, and crop rotations.