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This short report is on crops and watch outs in the near and very near future. Corn: Southern Rust was reported about a day ago in Labette County, KS east of Coffeyville. This means this disease is approaching and will be here to Bates and Vernon Counties, MO very soon. If you have been holding off on spraying to see if it will be needed, you may want this done soon. Southern Rust is one the biggest enemies in corn. This disease can knock of 20+ bushels of yield even if infected late in the season. Consider using a multi stack fungicide that will last you through later in the season. Some products to consider are Trivapro or Delaro. There are other great products as well, these are just a couple to get started. Gray Leaf Spot (GLS) is a soil born disease and the risk for infection are every year. This is a fungus that is varies widely based upon soils, conditions, and hybrids. Some hybrids resist the disease, others yield through it, and still others simply crumble under it. Know your products and act accordingly. This year has been very conducive so far for this problem. Northern Corn Leaf Blight or NCLB typically it does not affect us, but there are some disease present this year. Contrary to its name it blows in from the south, so you may find it in the upper canopy first. I think it will not be active from now on with the heat we have, but it is worth noting its presence this year. Holcus Spot is bad this year but is generally not an issue related to yield problems. Foliar feeding: might be worth looking up some research here with Beck's PFR for a product to try on your farm. With all the rain we have had and potential for the plant to be low on certain nutrients this might be a good thing. You can click the following link: 2018 PFR Fungicide Additive Study Insects: Insecticide may not be necessary for corn that has pollinated and is brown silk or beyond, with the exception of trying to control root worm beetles. For continuous corn growers or fields with a history of problems continue with the chemical for these pests. Soybeans: Insects, disease, and nutrition: Jap beetles are feeding pretty good in some areas that I have seen. For April planted beans be watching for R3, it is rapidly approaching. R2 full bloom to R3 beginning pod can happen in about 10 days. R3 to R4 full pod is as fast or faster. For soybeans the R3 timeframe is the best ROI according to Beck's research. But, scouting fields and applying product if needed will be better than blindly following a plant growth stage alone. Generally, the longer you can wait to hold your fire on disease and insects the better chance of getting killing insects and holding off disease for the last days of soybean pod fill. Scouting is critical here in the R2-R4 timeframes. We have found on our farm applying VersaMax AC a foliar feed to be a benefit for soybeans as well. Bear in mind for soybeans that are quite young, they are in the stages of Bradyrhizobia japonicum penetrating the roots to establish N fixation. This can make the them look a little ugly for a bit. Hopefully, soybean planting will be wrapping up in the next week for everyone and we can put #plant19 into the history books. What a year, eh? Call/text me with any questions or pictures of your crop, I can talk via phone or walk a field with you. I believe things will move and change very rapidly on our crops over the next few weeks. Good Luck!

“ Focus on the solution, not on the problem.” -Jim Rohn Here are some thoughts on identifying herbicide injuries on soybeans that was inspired by a recent Beck's Hybrids July Croptalk Newsletter article by Austin Scott on this topic. The link for it is included in the references at the bottom of this page. Probably every farmer has driven by a soybean field and seen the field that looked off. Maybe it was the color, the shape of the leaves, or the shape of the plant that triggers the question: "What was that field hit with?" With choices of more herbicide platforms than ever before for soybeans we can see symptoms of injury that can cause confusion on what caused the problem. Also, insects and disease in soybeans can have a direct or indirect effect on soybean leaf injury to throw another diagnostic curve ball at us. Identifying the source however; can be important as the outlook on the soybeans recovery, and its possible cure is different depending on which product/disease/insect caused the injury. In the auxin family, for example; 2,4D and Dicamba exhibit different symptoms. This year with late corn and many crops in all stages of development, more spraying applications will be later in the season than in a typical year. Below is a guide with pictures of the symptoms to help identify antagonism. Symptoms of Auxins (2,4D & Dicamba) Symptoms of 10% field rate, dicamba on the left and 2,4D on the right. Photo: Purdue University Similarities: At field application rate both 2,4D and dicamba will cause a conditoin know as epinasty, or in my simpler language seen as leaf drooping and stem twisting. At these higher rates there are only two practical ways to identify which chemical it was. Using sprayer records or find a spot where the where the exposure was very light. When there are low rates due to drift or volatility then there becomes a difference in the looks of the plants injury. Photos: Purdue University Extension Differences: When exposure is much lower, typically caused from drift or volatility; the symptoms of the plants carry small yet distinctive clues of the chemical family causing the problem. The simple clue is the leaves. The 2,4D will cause leaf strapping to non tolerant soybeans, and dicamba causes the leaves to cup. This is probably the most distinctive. Other symptoms might be shortened plant height which relates to dicamba, but twisted, calloused stems of the plant signals 2,4D injury. Below is a comparison chart of symptoms. Symptoms of Group 15 This 15 family of long chain fatty acid inhibitors like Dual, Warrant, or Zidua can cause crinkled leaves and a condition called drawstringing. Sometimes the crinkled leaves can cup a little having a similar appearance to dicamba injury while driving by on the road as seen in the picture on the left. Crinkled and drawstring leaves, effects of S-Metolachlor, Photos: Wendell Koehn Symptoms of Group 14 The 14 family has some products that are a pre app only like Authority based herbicides or Sharpen. Sometimes, even if Authority is pre applied the chemical can splash on the emerging plants causing hypocotyl burn. Other PPO Inhibitors of the same family are labeled for post applications, but will burn the soybeans' leaves. These products would be Cobra, Ultra Blazer, or Flexstar to name a few popular herbicides. Symptoms of Other products like AMS or Herbicide Flash A list of some diseases that can be might be mistaken for herbicide injury: Septoria Brown Spot Typically does not affect soybean productivity if it stays on the lower leaves early. Bean Pod Mottling Virus This virus is mainly transmitted by the bean leaf beetle. Since it is a virus the solution lies not in a cure, but a preventative. Insecticide! Frogeye Leaf Spot A critical disease as soybeans enter pod stage. References: CROPTALK: COMMON HERBICIDE SYMPTOMOLOGY ON SOYBEANS https://www.beckshybrids.com/Blog/ArtMID/841/ArticleID/2236/Croptalk-Common-Herbicide-Symptomology-on-Soybeans Purdue University University of Illinois University of Nebraska Illinois Fertility Conference University of Wisconsin-Madison Crop Protection Network University of Nebraska-Lincoln

This article is to timestamp this weather event for future reference on a severe thunderstorm that passed through the Rich Hill area. The system passed from the NW to the SE. The main feature of this storm was winds up to 70 mph. BAMWX LLC kindly shared the wind maps of this feature included below. The circled areas show wind speeds approaching 70 mph. It shows the variance of wind in storms and how they strengthen and fade as they pass over an area.

"Management is all about managing in the short term, while developing the plans for the long term." -Jack Welch Corn diseases above Left to Right: Physoderma, Gray Leaf Spot, and Southern Rust. A couple points in corn agronomy to consider before applying fungicide. Corn Hybrid's all have different tolerances to disease pressure. Ask your seed dealer about these characteristics in the products you planted. Not knowing this can result in a wasted app or lost bushels for a much needed application. Beck's PFR (Practical Farm Research) shows maximum ROI when applied at VT-R1 on most years, in fact research shows that corn would have to fall to $3.00/bushel before it would not pay to treat with aircraft application cost included. If disease is not present, I would push the app to between R1 and brown silk. And, a R5 app is typically effective only on continuous corn situations. Time of day is can be an amazing ROI if you can manage it. Like other practices that cost $0.00 in terms of purchasing product, this practice if managed will be 100% take home pay. In PFR studies, this change resulted in 3.6 bpa increase of applying at 8:00 am vs. 3:00 pm on the same day. At $4.00 corn this is over $14.00/acre of pay placed in your personal bank account. Rate of Carrier is another element to consider. Rarely, we use ground rigs in our area, but research across 2 years of multiple Beck's PFR sites in low disease conditions still producing an average 2.8 bpa advantage to apply 15 gallons vs 10 of water with Y Drop ground rig. Since we are typically using aircraft to apply, ask if the pilot can up the rate by a gallon or two. At least upping the rate to 3 gpa will increase your rate by a third. Spraying fungicide early (vegetative stages) on corn after a hailstorm does not typically prevent disease. Many of the infections that come from foliar wounds are diseases that are not treatable with fungicide. The thought that floats around that treating hail damaged corn will return a positive ROI assumes the benefits of reducing or stopping disease. However, most likely any perceived advantage is not from disease prevention. Any improvement that comes from the fungicide may be from helping the plant tolerate high stress. This reduces ethylene production and may increase photosynthesis as the plant hangs on to more green leaves. Nevertheless, the jury is still out on this being a payback. Now, a few words on scouting: For corn planted in April, we are approaching a time where weekly scouting may be needed. Corn is changing rapidly every few days, and a lack of disease one week is not indicative of next week's corn conditions. With the cool wet weather we may see Northern Corn Leaf Blight an issue as well. For corn that is planted late we need to keep an eye on southern rust as we get late in the year. Look low, disease found on the lower leaves will gives an idea of what the ear leaf and the upper leaves will look like down the road. If the disease level is above threshold on the lower leaves, then this will be a problem as the spores will travel upward. As fungicide is prevents disease more than cure, we must be ahead of this curve. Thresholds to apply. I am going to say that this year of all years will be beneficial to apply treatment due to higher prices and wet humid conditions. Basing disease threshold is hard as weather, hybrids, and economical situation of that field all change where the crop is at on the risk ladder. However, I have heard of 5-10% damage on half of the plants as being a minimum threshold. Note the picture in Figure 3. for reference. Finally, when making a fungicide pass, I recommend using an insecticide in the tank mix. However, no fertilizers and obviously no herbicides at this sensitive time period. July 13, 2021 -Edit for clarification on identifying Southern Rust A quick word on Southern Rust symptoms vs Common Rust. Southern tends to be more orange in color and Common more brownish. The easiest way however is to look at the pustules on the leaves. Find a pustule on the leaf's upper surface, then turn it over and examine the same area on the lower surface. If the pustule has physically broken through the tissue, it is most likely Common Rust, however; if it has not then it is most likely Southern. You may see colorations from Southern when examining the bottom side of the leaf, however it will be smooth to the touch when rubbing with your finger. Works and People cited to create this article: Beck's Hybrids Agronomist for Missouri, Alex Long Beck's Hybrids Practical Farm Research sites and teams: 2018 MULTI-LOCATION CORN FUNGICIDE STUDY - FOLIAR https://www.beckshybrids.com/pfresearch/Detail/ArtMID/1316/ArticleID/2108/2018-Multi-Location-Corn-Fungicide-Study-Foliar 2018 MULTI-LOCATION CORN FUNGICIDE STUDY - TIME OF DAY https://www.beckshybrids.com/pfresearch/Detail/ArtMID/1316/ArticleID/2106/2018-Multi-Location-Corn-Fungicide-Study-Time-of-Day 2018 MULTI-LOCATION CORN FUNGICIDE STUDY - CARRIER RATE https://www.beckshybrids.com/pfresearch/Detail/ArtMID/1316/ArticleID/2107/2018-Multi-Location-Corn-Fungicide-Study-Carrier-Rate Fungicides can help crops tolerate stress —and your customer’s too sponsored by BASF https://www.agprofessional.com/article/fungicides-can-help-crops-tolerate-stress-and-your-customers-too

This alert is to inform that Southern Rust has been found in our area. Manage your corn as needed. If it has not been sprayed it is a good time. For the late corn keep a close eye on this as we move forward. Feel free to call me at any time with questions or if you need me to walk a field with you. 417-684-5301

Have I announced the great news of Scott Dickey joining the Beck's Hybrids team as an agronomist for SW Missouri? We are blessed to have this support and I have already utilized his experience and knowledge in this challenging season. Below is information he has sent to us and am sharing it with you! Sudden Death Syndrome: I think it is only a matter of time before we begin to see SDS in area fields.  Very wet, harsh conditions during the early life of many soybean fields were very conducive for Fusrium virguliforme to infect soybean root masses.  With rapid pod fill occurring in some soybean fields at this time, foliar symptoms of this disease are likely in the near future. If SDS becomes apparent in your fields, mark these as infected and consider Escalate Nemasect SDS+ as a seed treatment option for control/suppression of SDS.  This treatment brings 2 modes of fungicide action for 4 different seedling diseases. With this new and updated treatment, we will not see the halo effect that is always present with ILeVO. (In 2020, we will offer three levels of treatment on soybeans. Basic fungicide/insecticide/biological treatment, Nemasect added, and finally Nemasect SDS+ for control of SDS, nematodes, and additional insect control. This will allow you to make the best choices for your farm's needs.) Corn Issues: We already mentioned Southern Rust last time.  We continue to see reports of this disease throughout Kansas and increasing areas of Missouri.  Late planted fields will be at the most risk. I also want to send documents on foliar diseases of corn and stalk/crown issues in corn.  We will likely see many of these over the next few weeks.  We can’t treat for stalk and crown issues, but foliar fungicide applications can go a long way to help maintain overall plant health which can reduce the impact of stalk issues.  Most corn fields are moving past the optimal window for foliar treatment, but there may be a few late planted fields that are at that prime VT/R1 treatment window.  It may be worth having a discussion with growers about the benefits of protecting those higher risk late planted fields. (On a side note, I might add that pre harvest inspection of your fields for the most infected corn stalks to help time harvest field order could be a good idea. Use the pinch test on the stalk nodes during dry down to test for stalk strength. Downloadable .pdf for viewing or printing: SDS White Paper Foliar Corn Diseases Crown Rot Stalk Rot Contributors to this article: -Scott Dickey, Beck's Hybrids Agronomist -Beck's Hybrids PFR

Sometimes it is the small things that make the final impact on the bigger things. This is especially true in soybean yields. Basic components of soybean yields are: Plants per acre X seeds per plant Seed Size Seeds per acre component is set around pod set. (R3-R4) This means during the later stages of a soybean's life cycle the seed size is what impacts your yield. Water is typically the critical play at this stage. The fertility should be right, weeds under control by this time, and hopefully disease is not an issue. Other weather factors such as sunny vs cloudy, high temps vs low temps, humidity and wind speed can affect the stress of the plant. Many are not fully aware of the degree of yield impact that occurs from the size of the harvested seed. Perhaps, this is why soybeans can be estimated on yield with great care, but the final yield result can make that estimate look like a wild shot in the dark. I am including a chart screen shot from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to illustrate the yield swing from seed size change. I apologize for it being somewhat grainy and hard to read. As final side note, how do you know if the soybean has stopped filling the pods and has reached R7 or physiological maturity? At the soybeans equivalent to corn black layer you can slit the soybean pod at the suture line. Then, note if the interior membrane clings tightly to the seed coat. If it does the plant is still feeding carbon and nitrogen metabolites into the grain. However if the membrane stays with the pod wall and does not cling to the seed coat, the seed is no longer receiving anything from the mother plant. The final yield component of seed size is now fixed. References: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Dr Jim Specht UNL Professor of Agronomy & Horticulture https://cropwatch.unl.edu/setting-yield-soybean-and-avoiding-end-season-plant-stress-unl-cropwatch-aug-23-2013

Here is a video issued by Beck's Hybrids and their director of Agronomy and Practical Farm Research, Jim Schwartz as well as Minnesota agronomist Dale Viktora on the distinct difference between a frost and freeze. Also, a discussion of the potential effects this weather event has on corn and soybeans prior to maturity. I have included slides below as well if you want to refer to material outside of the video. As always, stay safe in this busy season and feel free to call/text me at 417-684-5301 with any comments or questions! References: Jim Schwartz, Director of Agronomy & PFR at Beck's Hybrids Dale Viktora, agronomist for the Minnesota area with Beck's Hybrids

Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought. -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi The above quote came from a man who circa 1930, discovered "hexuronic acid" which was actually the thus far unidentified antiscorbutic factor, known as vitamin c. Thinking what no one has thought is not usually the result of being born a genius, but a method of clearing the air of too many false signals. Typically, true data is obscure because of too much noise in the room, rather than not available to our mind. Beck's Hybrids has put together some pre plant Practical Farm Research which will be shared here. The thoughts in between screen shots are my own, yet, gleaned from the professionals I work with. Amplify D has shown a 3.7 bpa advantage over control trials when using 2 oz/unit over 4 years of testing. We have personally used this on our farm. My thoughts involve the challenge of applying it evenly across the entire box of seed. At one point we stirred it in with a drill with a mixing paddle for drywall mud. This is not perfect and results in heavier and lighter veins of powder in the seed. We went to a talc applicator to apply it while loading the planter and that has solved that issue. The caveat emptor on talc applicators on the market is that they are tested on lubrication & flow powders and not fertilizer powers like Amplify D. Translation: fertilizer is much heavier and can bind up the applicator auger if loaded too heavily. My takeaway on this product is it is very beneficial to your young corn with a blend of nutrients on the seed to promote faster and more uniform emergence. Here is a quote from PFR: "Amplify-D® is a low analysis fertilizer with a blend of nutrients that aids in early seedling development and growth. Amplify-D can be purchased in a dry® formulation (Amplify-D) or a liquid (Amplify-L ). Key Benefits: Encourages faster and more uniform emergence." Interestingly, if we go a step further and add liquid starter fertilizer, with its own additive of Pmax LFS, with a 2x2 32% application and StartRight additive with the above mentioned Amplify D this results in an even better ROI. Not just better yield, but better net profit. Bear in mind the spring of 2017 in which the test was taken was extremely contrary with heavy rains. Note the white paper below: Closing wheels are the last chance your seed has for vigorous emergence. Almost any wheel tested in Beck's PFR studies is better than the solid rubber. Many products have been tested over time with the the Yetter Poly twister, Schaffert Zipper, and the Copperhead Furrowcruiser being the most consistent. See below for the different options. We will send out another update soon on Power of the P's: PFR Proven Preplant Practices Part 2. Take care and good luck!

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” ― Aristotle We talked about products in the previous article, which can be found here . Now, let's talk practices that Beck's Hybrids PFR team has found brings positive ROI to your farm. The awesome thing about what you do is there is not a cost to enter, so any changes you make that bring a yield bump results in an instant profit for you. What small change to a setting on a planter could we make to improve our return on investment? Planting is the most important pass of your operation. In part, this is because other operations on your crop have more flexibility in terms of timing, rates, or provide instant feedback to the operator of the success of the job. We will cover some of these critical components named above moving forward. Timing -Early plant dates for corn are important, but correct conditions trump plant dates. Put another way, plant corn on the earliest date that has the correct conditions. So, it's April 5, the sun is shining, soil is crumbly and all the neighbors are rolling. But, you have a seed meter planting at a little less accuracy than the rest. What should you do? Listening to those who have farmed for many years, they will tell you that details like this when its go time will cost more to stop and spend hours on than to go with a slightly irregular stand. This is not to say that you shouldn't get out of the tractor and inspect. Periodic inspection of planter throughout the day can prevent small issues to become big and allow you to give quick tweaks to settings like depth as needed. But, as we sit here with wet weather, we plan on that planter being perfect. The above scenario is not to suggest that precision planting is not important, it is! Rather, as in all things farming; growers are always conducting risk assessments on what is the greater loss. Planting as early as the planting conditions warrant is shown in Beck's PFR to be the best ROI practice to have. A quick word on soybeans. For most of us, that operation is down the road yet, but it is worth mentioning if you can logistically do it, it pays to plant soybeans in April. The PFR team has a quote that on soybeans "Every population planted early beats any population planted late." Soybeans are actually more critical to planting date than conditions. The final stand is less a problem to a certain degree than corn as they compensate for loss of stand. This especially holds true when planted early. The later one gets into the season the more population must be planted to achieve optimum yield for that plant date. At the end of the day, nodes per acre defines yield more than plants per acre. Early planting gives more sunlight hours to the bean plant which potentially increases branching off. Depth -I will quote this statement from our Crop Shop meeting on March 3 for explanation on depth importance on corn: "Since the depth at which the emerging seedling senses the change in red to far red light is fairly constant, the resulting depth of the crown (base) of the coleoptile is nearly the same (1/2 to 3/4 inch) for seeding depths of one inch or greater." Thus, when corn seed is planted shallower than this there is not enough room for the mesocotyl and the crown, which pushes the nodal roots too high to establish in the soil causing shallow corn syndrome. There is another observation I have personally made on corn planted deeper vs shallower. Planting shallower than 1.5-1 ¾" subjects the corn seed to temperature & moisture swings. I noticed shallower seed came up faster, but deeper seed had more steady growth when it emerged. Speaking a bit on tillage and depth, when checking seed after a heavy rain, it was observed that the seed that had been planted in the undisturbed soil profile was sitting in moist dirt, while the top 1 ¾" loose soil was saturated from the inches of rain that had fallen. The rain water quickly filled the loose dirt, then slowed when it hit the end of the worked dirt leaving the seed protected from heavy rain. Another thought to think about is cloddy dirt. Temperatures from cold nights will penetrate deeper in the soil on roughly tilled dirt than fine soils. Consider using an implement as shallow as it will work and stay level in the soil to limit erosion, soil structure collapse, & cloddy soil conditions. VT implements are really good for this. My own observations aside, Beck's PFR 3 year planting depth study places 2" as the optimum depth for yield. Here is the white paper on that. Soybean depth, is less about the root system like corn and more about other factors that affect yield. Here again, risk assessment on rain forecast, soil moisture, and ambient air temperatures as well as soil temperatures weigh on this matter. PFR studies show yield peaks at 1 ½" of planting depth. Here is a challenge for you to consider. This planting season, make several passes of 1.5" and then go back to the depth you wish to plant it at. Mark the spot with your planter monitor by naming it e.g. 4991X2 1.5, for example so you can walk out in the field at emergence with your FARMserver app and inspect the difference on final stands. Also, your combine will then be able to track it in the fall without using a weigh wagon. FARMserver will be able to pull the data out later in a report. Below is the planting population study from PFR on this topic. As always, this is to get us started. You are not alone in this planting season. Call anytime anywhere for any assistance you might need! Be careful! 417-684-5301

"Plant Diseases are Shifty Enemies." -E. C. Stakman And nothing is so shifty as Southern Rust. It's impact can be double digit losses in corn and rapidly overtake a field. For 2020, be on the look out for it, especially if we start getting early season tropical storms funneling rain and humidity into our area. I am quoting Beck's Hybrids agronomist Scott Dickey in an email he sent out. I thought he put it together very concisely. Scott: Southern rust is usually one of the bigger issues (other than heavy rain) that tropical systems deliver to our part of the world.  The earlier this issue arrives, the bigger its impact can be.  Southern rust has been found to our south in Louisiana and Texas.  This means that the inoculum is ready to be picked up by the storm and delivered to our geography.  Does that mean we will automatically see Southern Rust early and at high levels in our area?  Not necessarily.  However, the risk is greater when we have an early arriving storm like this one.  Attached is some information on this disease.  Remember that SR is a fast developing disease.  It takes roughly 7 days for it to cycle.  It will take time for it to develop to levels that make it easy to find in fields, but you will definitely want to be on the lookout.  Based on the forecast trajectory of the storm, it looks like central and eastern MO may be at a slightly higher risk than WMO. Another point to mention this time of year is soybean populations. What amounts to target and when. Read this article: Soybean populations as we plant later in the year Also, here is a podcast which contains a video by Beck's Hybrids agronomist Steve Gauck on helping identify Southern Rust vs Common Rust. It is called: What is the difference between Southern Rust & Common Rust? Episode 9 Also, listen at Podbean or Apple Podcast We also mentioned applying nitrogen to corn in season in the podcast, you can read this article: Preparing for post plant Nitrogen app in Corn A special thanks to those contributing to this article: Scott Dickey, Beck's Hybrids agronomist for western Missouri Steve Gauck, Beck's Hybrids agronomist for Indiana Beck's Superior Hybrids and all their people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make knowledge and data reality!

“We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.” ―Rudyard Kipling Here is a white paper from Beck's Hybrids on prepping your combine & corn head for down crop. Some modifications or settings and some cases both can make a heart breaking situation salvageable. In my honest opinion, header height sensors, roller cones, and a reel can make the biggest impact on picking up down corn. Far as a brand of corn head, my personal experience comes from using a Drago corn head on our own operation and have found others and ourselves who use this brand to be extremely effective to use in down corn without a reel. Feel free to review this paper and prep yourself for harvest. Good Luck!