Yield Penalty from Second Year Soybean

John Grove, Agronomic Soil Scientist and Director, Research and Education Center, University of Kentucky

Growers are considering planting soybean after soybean, especially full season soybean after full season soybean, over some acreage in 2017. Many growers have little experience with second year full season soybean, having kept with their existing crop rotations. Other growers, experiencing problems like soybean cyst nematode in some fields, have avoided soybean after soybean on all acres they manage. I observed two extension agricultural economics presentations modeling profit/loss to different crop rotation options, and where second year soybean yield loss relative to first year soybean was set at either 5 or 10 %, in the absence of field data.

New Dicamba Products Receive Approval for Use in RR2Xtend Soybean

J.D. Green , Extension Weed Scientist, University of Kentucky

Two dicamba formulations, XtendiMax^TM (Monsanto) and Engenia^TM (BASF), received federal EPA approval in December for use with RoundupReady2Xtend soybean. In addition to federal registration, a pesticide must also be registered and approved within a state before it can be sold. The XtendiMax^TM product received state approval in early January for applications in Kentucky. The Engenia^TM product is still pending state approval, but is anticipated in the near future. These products can be applied before or immediately after planting Roundup Ready 2 Xtend Soybeans or as an in-crop application from emergence (cracking) up to and including the beginning bloom (R1 growth stage of soybeans). The RoundupReady2 Xtend soybean technology provides another tool for targeting weeds that have developed resistance to other herbicide chemistries, but should be combined with other herbicide options and weed management tools for best herbicide resistance management. Because of the chemical characteristics of dicamba, good stewardship by applicators will be required to lessen the potential for off-target movement and damage to sensitive crops and other plants.

2016 KY Soybean Yield Contest Winners Announced

Carrie Knott Extension Agronomist-Princeton, University of Kentucky

The 2016 University of Kentucky Extension Soybean Yield Contest winners are in!

The 13 awards include:

State Champion (highest yield entry regardless of production practices)

1^st and 2^nd place for Full-Season soybeans (Division I)

1^st and 2^nd place for Double-Crop soybeans (Division II)

Four district awards for highest yield per district  

1^st and 2^nd place for highest Oil content

1^st and 2^nd place for highest Protein content

Phillip Meredith from Henderson County once again was State Champion with a yield of 92.74 bu/A. 

2017 University of Kentucky Winter Wheat Meeting

Colette Laurent, Grain Crops Group Coordinator, University of Kentucky

The 2017 University of Kentucky Winter Wheat Meeting is slated for Thursday, January 5, 2017 at the James R. Bruce Convention Center in Hopkinsville, KY. Registration begins at 8:30am (CST). The meeting will run from 9am - 3pm. Lunch is sponsored by the Kentucky Small Grains Growers Association.

TOPICS AND SPEAKERS:
• Weed Problems in Winter Wheat - Garrett Montgomery
• Management of Stripe Rust and Fusarium Head Blight of Wheat - Carl Bradley
• Economic Tools for Improved Decision Making in Wheat Production - Jordan Shockley

Fall Corn Planting

Chad Lee, Extension Agronomist, Director: Grain and Forage Center of Excellence, University of Kentucky

Volunteer corn after harvest in 2016.

Drive just about anywhere in the state and you can find old corn fields that have a tremendous amount of young corn plants in them. The amount of plants in fields and the number of fields with volunteer corn plants seems much higher than normal. The extent of ground cover by the young plants makes the fields look as if someone intentionally planted them to corn this fall. There may be a few reasons for this.

Corn Hybrid Trials Online

Chad Lee, Extension Agronomist, University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky corn for grain hybrid trials and corn for silage hybrid trials are online.

The corn for grain trials were planted at seven locations around the state, two of which are irrigated. Hybrids were divided into early, medium, late and white corn tests. The early hybrids were rated to mature by 111 days or earlier. The medium hybrids were rated to mature in 112 to 115 days and the late hybrids were rated to mature at 116 days or later. The report includes yields, test weight, moisture, final stand and lodging. All of these parameters help assess hybrid quality. When possible, yields are averaged across two and three years. The three-year averages across all locations provide the best predictor for hybrid performance next season.

Late Dry Weather is Hurting Corn and Soybean Yields

Chad Lee, Extension Agronomist, University of Kentucky

The USDA NASS lowered their estimates for Kentucky corn yields by 10 bushels per acre and soybean yields by 2 percent in their latest report. The negative numbers reflect calls and comments we are receiving from producers across the state.

In August, most of our corn and soybean fields looked great. The foliage was lush, canopies were closed and the crop looked to be in excellent condition. Now, farmers are getting surprised about low yields in some fields. Just to clarify, these reports do not reflect all fields. There are some really good yields being reported. But, there are some really bad yields as well and these fields were the surprise. I think the biggest contributor to these bad surprises is the weather. Most of Kentucky was wet early and dry late. The wet weather encouraged shallow root systems. The dry weather late penalized crops with shallow roots.