Soybean Seed Treatment
Apr 10, 2019
From your Five Star Agronomists
Seed treatments in soybeans are a great insurance policy against mother nature. You know what the weather is the day you are planting, but we can’t predict what the soil and weather conditions will be in the 3+ weeks following planting. During emergence and early growth is when soybeans are most susceptible to Pythium, Fusarium, Phytopthora, and Rhizoctonia infections. Pythium and Fusarium prefer cooler soils, while Phythopthora and Rhizoctonia like warmer soils. So in any condition, some disease can infect the beans.
We have recommended and seen a trend towards earlier planting dates in soybeans, in order in increase the length of growing season and getting the plants to canopy before July 1. When doing this, we are putting the plants into a more stressful environment. We have also seen farmers lowering their soybean populations, so we need each seed to be healthy.
One other thing to consider when planting early is that the soybeans are more susceptible to picking up the Fusarium fungus that causes Sudden Death Syndrome later in the season. For this reason, the seed treatment Ilevo is recommended. We have seen positive yield responses to using Ilevo even without the presence of SDS symptoms.
There are also a few seed treatment products we will be trialing this year that are showing suppression on White Mold. I am not getting my hopes up too much, but am optimistic about it.
Please consider surrounding your soybeans with the best protection when you plant them by using Warden CX and Ilevo seed treatments. Warden CX has the highest rate in the industry of Mefanoxam, which is the fungicide for Phytopthora and Pythium. This gives it the longest lasting control of any seed treatments out there. It also contains 2 other fungicides and an insecticide to guard against seedling pests like bean leaf beetles, maggots, and offer suppression of soybean aphids.
Five Star Cooperative Trial Yield Data
