March 28, 2024

Continuous soybean considerations

A few things to keep in mind

CHATHAM, Ill. — Making smart management choices is crucial for any crop — but particularly for continuous crops.

“When planting a mono-crop, we want to do things that build up yield potential,” said Pioneer Field Agronomist Matt Montgomery. “We want to get beans in the ground earlier. Each day is an additional pod or node, offsetting potential pod attrition and minimizing yield losses.”

It is also important to focus on disease management in second-year soybeans. The best strategy for disease mitigation is to avoid planting into fields that were diseased the previous year, Montgomery said.

Soybean variety selection and seed treatment can help fight pests and diseases, regardless of a field’s history.

“A vigorous, multimode of action seed treatment package is a must,” Montgomery said. “You cannot skimp on seed treatment if you’re talking about beans on beans.”

Pre-emergent herbicides with multiple modes of action can help combat weeds. Selecting mostly weed-free fields is important, as previously weedy fields can present even greater problems for second-year soybeans.

Soybean-after-soybean planting also often requires additional fertilizer and nutrients. Soybeans need adequate potassium, so a potassium fertilizer may be valuable.

Erica Quinlan

Erica Quinlan

Field Editor