XtendFlex soybeans bringing answers to weed control conversation

DELPHI, Ind. — Weeds were the talk of the town — and the soybean fields — this year in Indiana.

“Weed control is a conversation this year, especially since it was so dry in June,” said Jason Harmon, DEKALB Asgrow technical agronomist for northern Indiana.

The Asgrow XtendFlex lineup of soybeans and the options and benefits for growers brought answers to that conversation.

With drought being a big concern early in the season, traditional methods of weed control in soybeans weren’t able to function as they normally would.

“Since it was so dry in June, our residuals that we have been utilizing didn’t have enough water to be activated to keep waterhemp and some of these larger-seeded broadleaf weeds at bay. We had to rely on good post-emergent control options,” Harmon said.

The XtendFlex line of soybeans includes the triple-stacked trait with tolerance to dicamba, glyphosate and glufosinate. That tolerance to dicamba was key to being able to control weeds in drought conditions early in the season.

“Dicamba was a shining star this year, when sprayed in the middle of May, first part of June. It will definitely do the knockdown that we have to have on these broadleaf weeds. But the residual piece we get with dicamba showed off this year. It will last a long time if there’s no moisture to push it through the soil profile, so it did a good job keeping weeds at bay,” Harmon said.

With the triple-stacked trait, XtendFlex soybeans allowed growers to go in and clean up weeds later in the season.

“The farmers who used dicamba in their weed control portfolio were very happy with that. We also have Liberty, if we needed to do a clean up later. We also had that opportunity,” Harmon said.

In addition to the weed control options and residual benefits, Harmon said he’s looking forward to seeing yield monitors when combines start rolling in northern Indiana.

“I am really excited to see what the genetic potential is going to do in our Asgrow XtendFlex line. It has a long history of performance. The best thing we are seeing, last year and this year, is the genetic potential behind this XtendFlex class,” he said.

“We are building off the Xtend line. All of this is being built off the lines that we already know perform and how they can bring their phenotype and yield potential to the next class.”

In some early group soybeans, Harmon said he expects combines to start rolling in soybeans sooner rather than later.

“In some of our early groups, those 1.9 to 2.2 groups, those are getting ripe and ready for us to start seeing some harvest action. The vast majority of our maturities go from 2.7 to 3.5, so we’ve got a little bit of time there,” he said.

This season, the biggest challenges in soybeans in Harmon’s territory proved to be insects.

“Insects have been plentiful. Insect pressures have been strong with stinkbugs and bean leaf beetles. That’s been the biggest concern for me. Insects enjoyed the drought and the ability to keep going. We didn’t drown anybody out in June. Bean leaf beetles definitely are on my radar. The second generation is alive and in fields, chewing on pods because the leaves are starting to senesce,” Harmon said.

He added that fungicides showed their value this season and even into the later season.

“I see where fungicides have done a wonderful job, not only keeping diseases at bay, but keeping those plants alive and doing well to make those bigger beans and the plants are senescing evenly, always a good sign,” he said.

Disease pressure stayed on the lighter side, with some frogeye leaf spot being found in fields, a little white mold, but more sudden death syndrome.

“There was more SDS than I was expecting to see,” Harmon said.

Harvest conditions from 2021 may have played a part.

“It really traces back to compaction. If you think about 2021, after Oct. 10 last year, the rains did not stop and we had a hard time getting the rest of the crop out of the fields,” Harmon said.

“To do that, we may have caused a little adversity with compaction, that we never had a chance to remedy by the time we planted this 2022 crop. So, I think there’s a lot to do with compaction in how that SDS formed this year.”

This column was contributed by Indiana AgriNews for Asgrow.