About Your Fields 2-12-18

Posted on Feb 12 at 07:00

In this issue:

  1. Gearing Up for the 2018 Crop
  2. Dicamba News
  3. News That Caught Our Eye

 

 

Gearing Up for the 2018 Crop

 

It’s the middle of February, and most of you have your seed decisions made, your chemical programs mostly decided on, and nitrogen and fertilizer programs either started or planned.  So what is left to do?  In my opinion, there are still a lot of things to think about and accomplish before we are ready to get into the field.  I guess 2018 really started right after the combine went through the field last fall.  You were making decisions about the 2018 crop right then, as tillage programs, fertilizer programs and crop rotations were decided at that time.  Last week we looked at ideas about being more efficient in how you produced your crop.  We talked a little about how soybeans might be more profitable than corn.  Over the next few weeks we will be looking at different topics that will help you finalize your plans for 2018.  Topics will include weed control, the makings of a good pre-emerge program, considerations when making a post treatment, nitrogen placement and timing, what makes up a good adjuvant program and why you need it, and what you need to know about foliar products and how to use them.  If you have any other ideas let us know and we will explore them.

 

Dicamba News

 

The first topic to discuss for 2018 is Dicamba, with all its benefits and perplexities.  Many of you sprayed Dicamba on soybeans in 2017.  Some of you bought Roundup Extend Soybeans with the intention of not spraying, but keeping your options open if a problem (waterhemp) arose and you could not control it.  A few of you had problems with drift either onto your fields or onto your neighbor’s fields.  Of the fields that were affected, very few of them had a yield reduction.  Of the five or six fields that I was called to look at, none of them had a yield loss that caused an insurance settlement to be paid.  With that being said, changes needed to be made in the application of these products on soybeans.  Different states have adopted different rules regarding the application of Dicamba (New Dicamba Rules in Illinois) on soybean. 

One of the biggest changes is that Dicamba is now a restricted use herbicide, which means you will need a license to buy the products.  Another unprecedented requirement is that even if you have a restricted use license, you have to attend a training session to be certified to spray Dicamba products.  Akron held a meeting to certify our customers on January 18th.  If you still need to get your certification, click on this link (Illinois Dicamba Training Sites) to find a training meeting near you.  For those of you who do not want to embrace the new technology, that is all right.  But I assure you the adaptation of this trait is growing with Monsanto predicting 40% of the US soybean acres will be planted with Dicamba tolerant seeds (Monsanto expects Dicamba tolerant seeds on 40% of US soybean acres).  In our discussions with you our customers we feel that close to 70% of the acres in our trade area will be planted with Dicamba soybeans.   Just a couple of reminders for those of you spraying your own acres with Dicamba, you still can only use approved combinations of Engenia, Xtendimax  or FeXapan and other products found on their websites Xtendimaxx Tank Mix Page ,  Engenia Tank Mix page and FeXapan Tank Mix page.  Not only do you have to use only approved tank mix combinations, you have to use approved nozzles (which are also listed in the above links).  With the trouble that we are having controlling weeds such as waterhemp, Dicamba is definitely a technology that many of you should utilize.

 

News That Caught Our Eye

As I write this newsletter most of our trade area has had at least 5 inches of snow in the past week, and some of you have had 10 plus inches.  But did you know that we are in a drought?  According to the latest drought map published on January 30, 2018, portions of Akron’s trade territory are considered to be abnormally dry. I guess before we start to complain about having to push snow, we should be thankful for the moisture that will hopefully help us catch up.  For more information click on this link Illinois Drought Index.