With many water-damaged soybeans across the state, growers question whether to harvest these crops or not. NCSU’s Ag Resources Economist Dr. Nick Piggot has put together some suggestions for answering this question. The first thing a grower needs to do is calculate what the break-even yield is to warrant combining the field. This is the minimum yield…
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As flood waters recede across eastern North Carolina, disaster assessment begins. For soybean farmers one of the first things is to attempt to estimate crop damage. Unfortunately, this can be a difficult task. The extent of damage is dependent on a number of factors including plant growth stage, depth of flood waters, days of flooding,…
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In July, NCSU announced the release of three new conventional group VI and VII soybean varieties. The development and release of these three high yielding varieties are the culmination of many years of joint research projects and collaboration between the USDA and NCSU, much of which was funded by either the North Carolina Soybean Producers…
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As we move into September, preparing for harvest is on everyone’s mind, but now is also the time to think about nematode numbers in your fields. Nematodes are microscopic roundworms which may feed on the roots of plants. There are hundreds of different species of nematodes, but most are not economically important. Two that are…
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With Tropical Storm Hermine coming through North Carolina last weekend, Dr. Jim Dunphy warns there is a good chance of rust spores coming into North Carolina. As the storm crossed the Florida panhandle there is a chance it picked up and carried rust spores to our state as it passed through. In the next two…
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With greater than 80% of the soybean acreage in North Carolina setting pods, now is the time to be on the lookout for pod feeding insects. Pod feeders are the most dangerous insect pest as they directly attack soybean yield by feeding on the seeds/pods. Corn earworm and stink bugs are the two most serious…
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Stem canker is a fungal disease that occurs sporadically from year to year in North Carolina. Infection is dependent on favorable weather conditions, specifically prolonged wet weather early in the season. Stem canker is caused by fungi in the genus Diaporthe. Infection by the fungus occurs early in the season, during the early vegetative stages…
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From the office of Jim Dunphy, Crop Science Extension Specialist (Soybeans) and Lindsey Thiessen, Extension Plant Pathologist This morning, Asiatic Soybean Rust was confirmed on soybeans in Colleton County, SC. One pustule was detected on one leaf out of 50 examined. The soybeans were at stage R4 (full length pods in the top four nodes of…
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It’s never too early to start thinking about soybean variety selection for next year and now is the perfect time to get to see different varieties in the field. NC State conducts official variety testing (OVT) and Dr. Jim Dunphy plants variety demonstrations each year. This means there are over 15 locations across the…
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With over 50% of the North Carolina soybean crop now in reproductive stages, it’s time to begin thinking about how disease pressure may affect the yield of your crop. Scouting is critical to determine which diseases are present and if a fungicide application may be helpful in protecting yield. A number of diseases are common…
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Last week we looked at the performance of a number of different foliar products tested in 2015. Click here if you missed Part I of this series. This week, in Part II of the series, we will be looking at the potential return on investment with these products. Although some products did give a yield…
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From the office of Jim Dunphy, Crop Science Extension Specialist (Soybeans) and Lindsey Thiessen, Extension Plant Pathologist Asiatic Soybean Rust has been confirmed in Tift County, Georgia, earlier today, on soybeans in a Sentinel plot. This is the first find of rust on soybeans in Georgia this year, and is approximately 260 miles from Murphy, NC,…
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