All soybean growers want to finish the year with a healthy crop. In order to start the growing season strong and end with a high yield, you must keep disease management top-of-mind.
It’s no secret that disease can severely impact the health of your crop and your bottom line. If not caught early, you could be dealing with the effects all season long. Experts at UPL recommend having a strong disease management program to help give your crop the chance it needs for a successful season.
A strong disease management program consists of an integrated approach using proper management practices, spotting disease early, and applying effective seed treatments.
DISEASE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
While you can’t completely prevent disease from happening, there are some ways to reduce the risk in your field and minimize the potential for resistance.
- Crop rotation: Disease can survive from crop to crop, so to eliminate that risk you need to break the cycle. Rotating your crops allows the soil to break down the crop residue and reduce disease risk the following season.
- Seed varieties: Take into account the disease history of your field and plant a soybean variety that fits for you.
- Soil health: Growers might not see problems right away, but underneath the crop the soil might need special care. Work with your agronomist to make sure your fields have recovered from extremely wet or dry years. Monitor any areas of the fields that seem to lag behind.
SPOT DISEASE EARLY
Nothing can replace being proactive and diligent about scouting your field for disease pressures. Spotting disease early gives you the best chance at maintaining the health of your crop. Use the people around you to get to every field, whether that’s your local retailer or agronomists. Here are some prominent diseases to lookout for:
Asian soybean rust
The most common symptom is foliar lesions, which appear as small, yellow specks on the upper leaf surface tissue, concentrated near leaf veins. They are typically angular to somewhat circular in shape. These lesions then darken, with colors ranging from reddish-brown or dark brown to tan or gray-green.
Brown spot
Brown spot causes small, angular to somewhat circular brown or red spots on unifoliate and lower trifoliate leaves. Infected unifoliate leaves will yellow and drop prematurely. The disease usually appears on the lower section of the plant, but under favorable warm, wet conditions, the disease may travel up through the plant.
Pod and stem blight
Key signs of soybean pod and stem blight are many small, black, raised dots arranged in rows on infected stems, pods and fallen petioles late in the season. Upper portions of infected plants may turn yellow and die.
Powdery mildew
Symptoms on the leaves include green and yellow “islands,” interveinal necrosis, necrotic specks and crinkling of the leaf blade followed by defoliation. Necrosis causes leaves, stems and other plant structures to darken and wilt, weakening the soybean plant and making it more susceptible to other diseases and pests.
FUNGICIDE SOLUTIONS
Another important part of disease management is choosing a fungicide solution that works for you and your field. A variety of pests can impact the health of your crop immediately after planting. For a strong start, choose a seed treatment application to provide your seedlings with a disease-free beginning.
If you begin to see signs of disease formation or don’t want to take any chances, work with your local retailer to find a solution that works for you. To avoid resistance, UPL experts recommend a strong and timely fungicide with multiple modes of action. It will also help in preventing future outbreaks.
If not controlled, disease can run wild in your field, causing a substantial impact on your crop's health and your bottom line. If you’re looking for a powerful disease solution that gives you better return on investment, UPL offers ZOLERA FX, a combination of two powerful fungicides at full rates for maximum performance and a consistent ROI in corn and soybeans. The combination of a fast-acting and highly systemic strobilurin at full rate with a highly systemic triazole at full rate delivers more reliable and consistent performance, more robust disease control with both preventative and curative activity, and plant health benefits that help maximize the crop's yield potential.
When it comes to protecting your field, UPL knows how important it is to have trusted crop solutions at your side. You can grow confidently knowing UPL has some of the best tools that help you achieve your production goals.
Return on investment based on replicated studies and on-farm trial data. Results may vary depending on environmental conditions or other factors beyond our control.
