Soybeans | University of Maryland Extension

Updated: August 5, 2021

How bad is bad? Soybean defoliation and new tools for assessing it

As soybean plants mature, tolerance for defoliating pests drops from about 30-35% during the vegetative stages to closer to 15-20% during the reproductive stages (flowering and pod fill). Any defoliation can look worrying, but it is hard to accurately measure defoliation. Most people tend to overestimate damage in three ways: overestimating the leaf area lost, not taking the full plant canopy into consideration, and not sampling the field randomly. Luckily, there are some great new tools to help you measure accurately and train your eye. Accurate measurement is the key to avoiding unnecessary treatments, saving you money, time, and preserving beneficials.

Updated: July 2, 2021

Double Crop Beans, Not So Fast

With barley harvest behind us and wheat harvest in full swing, our thoughts move to planting double-crop soybeans. This might be a prudent decision in many cases, but if you need forage, it may be a short-sighted choice. I suggest you look into your toolbox and consider forage sorghum, millet, or even grain sorghum.

Soybeans, Image credit: M. Lazaro, Pixabay

Updated: July 1, 2021

Wheat Yields & Double-Crops—Time is Everything for Maximum Yields

Combines will be rolling very soon to harvest wheat, soon followed by the planter to get double-crop soybeans in the ground. As you know, for both wheat and soybeans, time is of the essence to maximize yields. This article is intended to be a reminder of how important timely harvest and rapid planting are for a double-crop system.

Updated: January 26, 2021

Proper Stewardship by Growers is Essential to Ensuring Dicamba Tolerant Soybeans Continue to be Available

Dicamba tolerant soybeans, marketed under the trade name Roundup Ready 2 Xtend Soybeans are again available to Maryland growers for the 2018 growing season. This line of soybeans combines previous Roundup Ready technology with tolerance to the herbicide dicamba. While this new dicamba tolerance may be useful in combatting certain tough-to-control weeds including marestail and palmer amaranth, use caution when applying dicamba. Applications of dicamba may cause problems due to the sensitivity of certain crops to the herbicide. Exposure can occur due to drift, volatility, or a non-target application. This report provides recommendations for using new dicamba-tolerant technologies.