With Soybean Seed Quality A Mixed Bag, Agronomist Says This Is The Year To Use Seed Treatments

Soil moisture levels going into spring planting season are a case of the haves and have nots as farmers head to the field – or, in some cases, are unable to get there.

Glen Newcomer is in the has-too-much moisture category. The northwest Ohio farmer says his farm got buckets of rain earlier this week, which left behind a flooded mess in fields. And the weather outlook in his area is for more rain.

“No field work, nothing’s been done, other than maybe some wheat’s been topdressed, and that’s about it,” says Newcomer, who’s based near Bryan. “We will not plant anything in our area with all this rain until after Easter.”

Parts Of South, Southeast Are Under Water

A look at this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor shows that farmers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and up through a swath of the lower Ohio Valley, either have adequate moisture or too much.

Field Agronomist Missy Bauer says her initial concerns about not having sufficient moisture in central Michigan evaporated this week as multiple rainstorms moved through the region.

“It’s been a crazy week with all these storms going through. We’re probably going to be a little slower starting than maybe we were originally thinking,” adds Bauer, Farm Journal Field Agronomist and co-owner of B&M Crop Consulting, Coldwater, Mich.

She says seed treatments are going to play an important role this season for those growers ramped up to get into fields with early soybeans.

“It can take 20 days to get the soybeans out of the ground, and that’s nerve-wracking,” she says. “But if we’ve got a good, full treatment on seed, we’ve seen soybeans take 35 days to come out of the ground and still be at 90% of target stands.”

Newcomer, a sixth-generation farmer, says every soybean that goes out his door is treated. “The combination we’re putting on our seeds [includes] insecticides, fungicides, biologicals and just things that really enhance the overall performance,” says Newcomer, who oversees a cash-grain operation that has diversified to include a seed dealership and crop insurance agency.

He adds that such technologies have nearly eliminated the need to replant soybeans from a disease standpoint, though nothing has overcome the issues of too much or too little rain.

Take Inconsistent Seed Quality Into Consideration

Bauer says farmers are finding soybean seed is a mixed bag quality-wise this season, because of dry weather conditions that hammered much of the Midwest in 2024.

“Some of the seed that was harvested for soybeans last fall was under pretty dry conditions, 8%, 9% moisture, things like that,” she reports. “So, the seed quality this year has just been real up and down. We’ve had beans that are just awesome seed quality. And then we get another batch that comes in that’s got issues.”

For growers who might not have tested their soybean seed, she would say see what the cold germ scores are, because of the variation in quality.

“If you’re going to plant early, you want to know it can handle germinating in cold conditions, so we really encourage guys get seed tested,” she says.

Bauer says the window is still wide open for planting early-season beans. “That’s what we still want to hopefully get accomplished, because the reward on the yield side’s been pretty valuable with early beans. I call those free bushels. If we can get them planted earlier and pick up another 4 or 5 bushels per acre, then I’ll take those bushels,” she adds.
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Widespread ares of the country could continue to see flooding rains this weekend, but the winter wheat crop is at risk of dangerously cold temperatures in the Plains. Brian Bledsoe with Brian Bledsoe weather breaks down the forecast farmers and ranchers need to know.

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Know A Variety’s Germination Score

A cold germination score will tell you the percentage of seed that will emerge under less-than-ideal conditions. To simulate cooler conditions, seeds are chilled overnight at 50 degrees, and then germinated at 77 degrees for seven days. The resulting percentage of seeds that successfully germinate in these conditions makes up the seed’s cold germination score, reports Iowa-based Champion Seed.

Soybean seed quality considerations can help guide planting decisions, adds Michigan State University Extension.

Michigan State says to:
1. Rank your seed lots by the germination score on the tag or vigor test results and consider this information along with maturity to determine your planting order.

2. Always plant your highest quality seed first and your poorest quality seed last.

3. Avoid planting low quality seed into cold, wet soils, poor seed beds or high residue conditions that may reduce seed-to-soil contact. Planting late-maturing varieties early will maximize yield potential while planting early maturing varieties early will spread out your harvest window.

In addition, consider the list of soybean seed treatments and the diseases they control is available at the Crop Protection Network website.

Get Bauer’s complete recommendations on soybean seed treatments and planting here: AgriTalk-4-3-25-Missy Bauer - AgriTalk

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