Category Archives: Soybean

2020 Four Rivers Agricultural Conference – Providence Forge, VA

The 2020 Four Rivers Agricultural Conference will be held Tuesday, Jan. 14 at Providence Forge Recreation Center: 9900 Carriage Rd, Providence Forge, 23140. This year’s conference will include pesticide certification training, several Specialists and Agents from Virginia Cooperative Extension that will cover a wide variety of topics, and others. In addition, you will be able to get your dicamba herbicide certification with training being offered by Don Cline of BASF. We look forward to seeing your there for a great day of learning and interaction with the experts. Lunch will be provided. Agenda detail are below.

Full Attendance to the conference has been approved for Private Pesticide Applicator Recertification in Category 90 and Commercial Categories 1A, 10, and 60.  The conference has also been approved for 2.5 Virginia Nutrient Management CEU and 2.0 Contact hours for DCR Conservation Planner Re-Certification

9:00        Registration Opens/Meet with Vendors

9:30        Welcome

9:35        Controlling your Drops highlighting dicamba and glyphosate– Laura Maxey-Nay, Hanover Ag Agent

10:00     Pesticide Training – droplet size/playdough- Ed Olsen, Henrico Ag Agent

10:30     Pesticide Legal Update – Robert Christian, VDACS

11:00     2nd round of registration for those not needing pesticide recertification credit

11:15     Dicamba Certification – Don Cline, BASF

12:15     Sponsored Lunch/Meet with Vendors

1:00        Agency updates

1:15        Grain Market Update- Robert Harper, Manager, Virginia Farm Bureau Grain Division

1:45        What I learned from Argentina Agriculture, pest control and nutrient management –Paul Davis

2:05        Corn Update and Hybrid Selection, Dr. Wade Thomason, Extension Grain Agronomist

2:35        Break (visit with sponsors)

2:50        Positioning Your Full-Season Soybean for Maximum Yields, Dr. David Holshouser, Extension Soybean Agronomist

3:20        Making insect management decisions now by purchasing seed for next season, Sally Taylor, Extension Grain Entomologist

3:50       Nematode Panel, various specialists will discuss current nematode control practices.

4:50       Adjourn and paperwork

Tri-County Crop Production Conference – Carson, VA

The 2020 Tri-County Crop Production Conference will be held Tuesday, Jan. 14 at the Carson Volunteer Fire Department on 19806 Halifax Rd in Carson, VA. This year’s conference will host several Specialists from Virginia Tech that will cover a wide variety of topics. In addition, you will be able to get your dicamba herbicide certification with training being offered by Don Cline of BASF. We look forward to seeing your there for a great day of learning and interaction with the experts. Lunch will be provided. Agenda detail are below.

9:00 – 9:05          Welcome and Announcements

9:05 – 9:40         Positioning Your Full-Season Soybean for Maximum Yields– Dr. David Holshouser

There are many things we can do to increase full-season soybean yield, but decisions made before planting are the most important.  This presentation will focus on site-specifically positioning your crop to best take advantage of the limiting resources of water, light, and nutrients.

9:40-10:20          Plant disease management – Dr. David Langston

Nematode and disease interaction issues in soybeans.  Update on fungicide and seed treatments available for corn and soybeans.  Common diseases occurring in 2019.

10:20-10:40       Break

10:40 – 11:10    Update on insect pest management – Dr. Sally Taylor

Review of major insect pests in 2019.  Recommendations for preparing for 2020, scouting tips to use throughout the season, and updates on insecticides available for use.

11:10 – 11:40   Small Grain and Corn Update – Dr. Wade Thomason

Review of the latest research in corn and small grain production in Virginia. 

11:40 – 12:00     Getting Started with Irrigation and Irrigation Survey – Dr. Julie Shortridge

Irrigation is not used on a wide scale in Virginia.  This presentation will introduce our new water specialist and a irrigation survey for growers.

12:00 -12:45       Lunch

12:45 – 1:15       Pesticides in VA update – Robert Christian, VDACS

Update on federal record keeping and worker protection standard. Additional information on changes in pesticide labeling for VA.  PPE review for commonly used pesticides.  Changes to paraquat labeling, handling, and training.

1:15 – 1:35         Weed control update – Scott Reiter

Roundup resistant common ragweed is common in our soybean cropping systems.  There are also 4 different herbicide technology systems in play for the 2020 season.  We will cover the options available and the stewardship needed to keep the herbicides on the target crops.

1:35 – 1:55          Cover crops – Mike Parrish

Cover crops have many uses in our production systems.  Soil erosion control, soil health properties, weed control, and moisture retention.  Presentation will cover results from local cover crop plots and impact on these properties.

1:55 – 3:00          On Target Academy – Don Cline, BASF

This session will cover the required training for using dicamba herbicide in post-emerge applications to Xtend soybeans and cotton.  Applicator & recordkeeping requirements, nozzle selection and technology, buffer requirements, weather conditions, and tank mix additives will be explained in detail

Full Attendance to the conference has been approved for Private Pesticide Applicator Recertification in Commercial Categories 1A, 10, and 60. 

Soybean Yield & Quality – My Predictions, Cautions,

I’ve been very hesitant to write this article and I’ve held off for several weeks, hoping to have more yield results in before saying anything. But I’ve seen enough so far in my observations of our variety tests as well as other fields that I think what I’m about to write is fairly accurate. My main concern all along was how much the Aug and September drought hurt us. Below is the rainfall anomalies in the U.S. It’s easy to see that we were way below average with the exception of southeast Virginia and parts of the Eastern Shore.

First, the maturity group 3 and early-4 soybean should be the cream of the crop this year. The yields that we are seeing is impressive and I’m hearing the same from others. These maturities appeared to avoid the drought for the most part. Plus the seed quality is very good (somewhat unusual for early-maturing varieties) due to the lack of September rain although we experienced another warmer-than-average September. This is us harvesting in Orange County last week – yields were in the 60’s and 70’s.

What about the later-maturing varieties that we grow the most of? A casual look at the soybean remaining in the field seem to indicate that we have a pretty good pod load in most cases, with late-planted soybean being the exception. Although the drought did hurt us, it’s somewhat hard to see now. Again, that’s from a casual observation. A closer look at the late-4’s reveal that the yield potential is still pretty good (see photos below; we did not harvest these due to a few varieties not yet being fully mature). Although we had a few aborted and small seed, most were intact. Keep in mind that this is a very good soil (Davidson clay) and the area did pick up a few rains that other parts of Virginia did not.

But what about our group 5 soybean? They don’t look nearly as good. Although pod abortion was not too bad, we had a good deal of flat pods and seed abortion within pods that were not completely flat where all seed were aborted. Don’t confuse the flat seed remaining in the pod with stink bug damage. Sting bug damage will usually result in discolored seed (there is one seed below that shows this); the small/flat seed due to drought-stress are usually not discolored. There was a pretty striking difference between the late-4’s and mid- to late-5’s; in general, the later maturity the more seed abortion.

Although I’m not seeing another concern, I think that it’s worth mentioning. A few years ago we observed drought-related green seed. These were not from late-maturing green stems or scattered plants. They were from the plant dying before the crop matured. This is only the case where we have extreme drought conditions and usually on a very low water-holding-capacity soil. But, I am seeing some dead leaves sticking to the stem, an indication of early plant death (see photo below) on some of our later-maturing varieties. While I hope this is not and issue this year, I did want to bring it to your attention. Too much green seed in a load will result in a reduced price for the crop.

Finally a note about green stems and branches. Anytime that we have a high amount of pod and/or seed abortion we can end up with some green stems. In some cases, we’ll even have green leaves on the plant although the seed are dry. This sometimes occur with high infestations of brown marmorated stink bug along the edge of a field or with certain viruses. But, drought can also cause this.

In addition to green stems, I’m getting reports of dry seed on the main stem (basically a mature plant), but the plant contains many green stems with immature seed. We have seen this in past years in low areas of the field where an overabundance of rainfall occurred early in the vegetative stages followed by a short intense drought (which I think stopped main stem growth) and by low light conditions. Once the drought was over, branch growth then took over. Branches are always behind the rest of the crop in maturity and the branches basically behave indeterminately (lower pods are more mature than upper pods), resulting in many immature seed at harvest. the last two pictures below are from late-May planted soybean in Mecklenburg County this year. At that location, about 10-12 inches of rain fell in the early vegetative stages and the soybean did not grow for the next 3-4 weeks, even with all this moisture. There was also lots of deer feeding. This was of course followed with the drought in Aug and September. While that situation was not exactly the same as the one I described previously, the problem is similar.

Regardless, one has to decide whether to harvest now and get the bulk of the crop before it shatters or wait until the rest of the seed to dry down. You definitely don’t want a lot of “butterbeans” in the load, but neither do you want lots of high-moisture seed that will affect overall moisture and storability. Shattering in today’s varieties are not as bad as in the past, so I’d wait a few days.

EVAREC Soybean Field Day is This Tuesday

The Eastern Virginia Agricultural Research and Extension Center (EVAREC) Soybean Field Day is this Tuesday, Sept. 24. The field day begins at 8:45 am and tours will begin promptly at 9:00 am. There are a number of different topics to be discussed, all supported by the Virginia Soybean Checkoff. The 2019 full-season soybean variety test will also be available for viewing. Lunch will be served by Nixon’s Catering. We look forward to seeing you there.

The EVARE is located at 2229 Menokin Road, Warsaw, VA 22572. For more information, contact Dr. Joseph Oakes, EVAREC Superintendent at 804-333-3485.

Group 1 Field Tour Schedule

  • 8:45 – Welcome & Introductions; Load Trailers to ACR 2
  • 9:00-9:20 – Integrated Pest Management Approach for Soybean
  • Dr. Sally Taylor
  • 9:25-9:45 – Food Grade Soybean Breeding
    • Mr. Nick Lord
  • 9:45 – Load Trailers to Y1
  • 9:55-10:15 – The Best Maturity Group for Your Farm
    • Dr. David Holshouser
  • 10:15-10:30 – The Use of UAV in Crop Research and Production
    • Dr. Joseph Oakes
  • 10:35-10:55 – Roundup-Ready and Conventional Soybean Breeding
    • Dr. Bo Zhang
  • 11:00-11:20 – Weed Management in Soybean
    • Dr. Michael Flessner
  • 11:20 – Walk to Seed Lab

Program & Speakers in the Seed Lab

  • 11:40 – Begin Indoor Program
    • Dr. John Fike: VT Forage Extension Specialist – Hemp Production
    • Dr. Mike Evans: VT School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
  • 12:00 – Lunch is Served: Nixon’s Catering

Thank You to Our Field Day Sponsors!

Crabbe Aviation                       Ryan Ellis

Frazier Quarries                      UniSouth Genetics

James River Equipment            Virginia Crop Improv. Assoc.

Montague Farms

Virginia Soybean Yield Contest

Any grower (owner-operator, tenant, or tenant-landlord team) who is a member of the Virginia Soybean Association and produces 10 acres or more of soybeans within Virginia’s boundaries is eligible to enter this year’s soybean yield contest.

The purpose of the Virginia Soybean Yield Contest is to emphasize and demonstrate the practices necessary to produce maximum economic yields, to recognize those producers who grow high-yielding soybeans, and to gather data on the practices utilized by these outstanding producers.  The Virginia Soybean Association in cooperation with Virginia Cooperative Extension sponsors this program. The Virginia Soybean Association in cooperation with Virginia Cooperative Extension sponsors this program.

There are three Soybean Yield Contest categories: 1) Full-Season, Non-irrigated; 2) Double-Crop, Non-irrigated; and 3) Irrigated (Full-Season or Double-Crop).  A full-season system is defined as the grain or seed harvest of one summer crop (soybean in this case) from the same field in one year. Double-crop is defined as planting soybean immediately following grain or seed harvest of barley, wheat, or rapeseed; thus harvesting two crops from the same field in the same year.  If field has been irrigated one or more times, the entry will be considered an irrigated field and the will be placed into the irrigated contest.

Details can be found in the attached document below. Please consider entering the contest.

Soybean Fungicide Advisory – August 15, 2019

For soybean that is at or near the beginning pod (R3) stage, it is time to consider whether or not a fungicide application is needed to control foliar diseases and protect yield. Most of the soybean in Virginia is past the beginning pod (R3) stage, and fungicide applications are more likely to be profitable when applied at or near R3/R4. The Virginia soybean fungicide advisory indicates that disease risk is variable across the state. Fields with moderate risk should be scouted since foliar diseases will not be an issue in every field every year.  Keep in mind that other risk factors also contribute to disease severity and yield loss to fungal diseases. High risk fields include those where susceptible soybean varieties are planted, there is a recent history of soybean foliar diseases, and/or rotations out of soybean are short or soybean is planted continuously over several years. Foliar fungicides are ineffective for control of most stem and root diseases. If based on the soybean fungicide advisory or other factors you decide to apply a fungicide, applications are generally the most effective when applied between R3 and R4 stages (no later than R5). The most recent Soybean Fungicide Efficacy Table can be downloaded from the Crop Protection Network website. Instructions on how to use the Virginia soybean fungicide advisory can be found in the July 19 blog post. A summary of disease risk and spray recommendations for different locations in Virginia can be found below. If you have any questions, contact Dr. Hillary Mehl (hlmehl@vt.edu).

Region of VirginiaLocation of weather stationSoybean disease riskRecommendation
Eastern ShorePainterHighSpray
SoutheasternSuffolkModerateScout
SoutheasternVirginia BeachHighSpray
Northern NeckWarsawHighSpray
CentralBlackstone ModerateScout
NorthernMiddleburgModerateScout
NorthernShenandoahModerateScout
NorthernWinchesterLowDon’t spray
WesternCritzHighSpray
WesternBlacksburgHighSpray
WesternGlade SpringHighSpray

For detailed daily advisories, select the location closest to your field and download the corresponding file here:

Soybean Fungicide Advisory – August 8, 2019

For soybean that is at or near the beginning pod (R3) stage, it is time to consider whether or not a fungicide application is needed to control foliar diseases and protect yield. The Virginia soybean fungicide advisory indicates that disease risk is variable across the state. Fields with moderate risk should be scouted since foliar diseases will not be an issue in every field every year.  Keep in mind that other risk factors also contribute to disease severity and yield loss to fungal diseases. High risk fields include those where susceptible soybean varieties are planted, there is a recent history of soybean foliar diseases, and/or rotations out of soybean are short or soybean is planted continuously over several years. If based on the soybean fungicide advisory or other factors you decide to apply a fungicide, applications are generally the most effective when applied between R3 and R4 stages (no later than R5). The most recent Soybean Fungicide Efficacy Table can be downloaded from the Crop Protection Network website. Instructions on how to use the Virginia soybean fungicide advisory can be found in the July 19 blog post. A summary of disease risk and spray recommendations for different locations in Virginia can be found below.

Region of VirginiaLocation of weather stationSoybean disease riskRecommendation
Eastern ShorePainterHighSpray
SoutheasternSuffolkModerateScout
SoutheasternVirginia BeachModerate to highScout
Northern NeckWarsawModerate to highScout
CentralBlackstone ModerateScout
NorthernMiddleburgModerate to highScout
NorthernShenandoahHighSpray
NorthernWinchesterLowDon’t spray
WesternCritzHighSpray
WesternBlacksburgLowDon’t spray
WesternGlade SpringHighSpray

For detailed daily advisories, select the location closest to your field and download the corresponding file here:

Soybean Fungicide Advisory – August 3, 2019

For soybean that is at or near the beginning pod (R3) stage, it is time to consider whether or not a fungicide application is needed to control foliar diseases and protect yield. The Virginia soybean fungicide advisory indicates that disease risk is variable across the state. Fields with moderate risk should be scouted since foliar diseases will not be an issue in every field every year.  Keep in mind that other risk factors also contribute to disease severity and yield loss to fungal diseases. High risk fields include those where susceptible soybean varieties are planted, there is a recent history of soybean foliar diseases, and/or rotations out of soybean are short or soybean is planted continuously over several years. If based on the soybean fungicide advisory or other factors you decide to apply a fungicide, applications are generally the most effective when applied between R3 and R4 stages (no later than R5). The most recent Soybean Fungicide Efficacy Table can be downloaded from the Crop Protection Network website. Instructions on how to use the Virginia soybean fungicide advisory can be found in the July 19 blog post. A summary of disease risk and spray recommendations for different locations in Virginia can be found below.

Region of VirginiaLocation of weather stationSoybean disease riskRecommendation
Eastern ShorePainterHighSpray
SoutheasternSuffolkLow to moderateDon’t spray
SoutheasternVirginia BeachModerateScout
Northern NeckWarsawModerate to highScout
CentralBlackstone LowDon’t spray
NorthernMiddleburgModerate to highScout
NorthernShenandoahModerate to highScout
NorthernWinchesterLow to moderateDon’t spray
WesternCritzHighSpray
WesternBlacksburgModerateScout
WesternGlade SpringHighSpray

For detailed daily advisories, select the location closest to your field and download the corresponding file here:

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Dr. Hillary Mehl (hlmehl@vt.edu).

Soybean Fungicide Advisory – July 25, 2019

For soybean that is at or near the beginning pod (R3) stage, it is time to consider whether or not a fungicide application is needed to control foliar diseases and protect yield. The Virginia soybean fungicide advisory indicates that disease risk is moderate to high in most locations. Fields with moderate risk should be scouted since foliar diseases will not be an issue in every field every year.  Keep in mind that other risk factors also contribute to disease severity and yield loss to fungal diseases. High risk fields include those where susceptible soybean varieties are planted, there is a recent history of soybean foliar diseases, and/or rotations out of soybean are short or soybean is planted continuously over several years. If based on the soybean fungicide advisory or other factors you decide to apply a fungicide, applications are generally the most effective when applied between R3 and R4 stages (no later than R5). The most recent Soybean Fungicide Efficacy Table and instructions on how to use the Virginia soybean fungicide advisory can be found in last week’s blog post. A summary of disease risk and spray recommendations for different locations in Virginia can be found below.

Region of Virginia Location of weather station Soybean disease risk Recommendation
Eastern Shore Painter High Spray
Southeastern Suffolk Moderate Scout
Southeastern Virginia Beach Moderate Scout
Northern Neck Warsaw Moderate to high Scout
Central Blackstone Low to moderate Don’t spray
Northern Middleburg Moderate to high Scout
Northern Shenandoah High Spray
Northern Winchester Moderate Scout
Western Critz High Spray
Western Blacksburg High Spray
Western Glade Spring High Spray

For detailed daily advisories, select the location closest to your field and download the corresponding file here:

Glade_Spring_soyadv_25Jul2019

Middleburg_soyadv_25Jul2019

Painter_soyadv_25Jul2019

Shenandoah_soyadv_25Jul2019

Suffolk_soyadv_25Jul2019

VA_Beach_soyadv_25Jul2019

Warsaw_soyadv_25Jul2019

Winchester_soyadv_25Jul2019

Blacksburg_soyadv_25Jul2019

Blackstone_soyadv_25Jul2019

Critz_soyadv_25Jul2019

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Dr. Hillary Mehl (hlmehl@vt.edu).

Plant bug / bollworm update for VA cotton

The much needed rain earlier this week also heralded the start of the moth flight in southeastern VA. Both eggs and adult moths are being picked up by scouting teams. So far, only a handful of fields are over recommended thresholds. I recommend scouting 2-gene cotton (Bollgard II, Widestrike, Twinlink) for eggs and applying Prevathon or Besiege when you find 25 or more per 100 terminals and/or leaves. If you planted 3-gene cotton, you are likely protected. We have measured very little benefit to spraying Widestrike 3, Bollgard III, and Twinlink Plus varieties for bollworm. In these varieties, finding 3 or more live second-stage larvae in one trip (or two worms in two consecutive trips, or one worm in three consecutive trips) triggers an application.

Other insecticides can control bollworm in cotton, but timing is critical. If you are using a pyrethroid, for example, target small worms. No product will clean up a problem field once worms are inside bolls.

Our team, lead by PhD student Seth Dorman, ANR Agent Josh Holland, and Dr. Sean Malone are scouting fields this week for lygus. Few problems fields were detected in southern counties today. However, fields were observed over recommended thresholds. At this point, many people have sprayed. Some may need to spray again and some may not. The only way to know is to scout.

Northern counties will be scouted this Friday and I will update the blog with our findings.

As always, you can reach out to me with your questions and concerns.