Ferrie: Soybean Yields are Swinging More than Usual, September Rains Helped Corn

Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist
Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist
(Farm Journal)

Combines are rolling through soybeans in central Illinois this week, with most yield reports coming in from the low 60s to the upper 70s. Ken Ferrie says he is seeing more swing in soybean yields in the same, local neighborhoods than normal. 

“Many years, you tend to stay within a 5-bushel range when weather conditions are similar, but we are seeing a wider spread than that this year,” says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist. 

He attributes some of the swing to varied maturity groups, especially in dry areas. “Some of the fuller season beans took advantage of the late September, while some of the shorter season beans just got caught in the middle of fall dry weather,” Ferrie reports. 

Some Illinois fields were tagged with more white mold (Sclerotinia stem rot) than what Ferrie had anticipated. 

“We saw white mold on our farm visits, but I didn't think it would show up in yield results as strong as it has,” he says. “Growers are seeing the sclerotia show up in the grain tanks, and they look like rat droppings. Growers are saying the more rat droppings in the tank the lower the yield.”

Later Corn Looks Better. While most of the harvest activity underway in Ferrie’s area is happening in soybeans, some corn is getting combined as well. 

“Reports coming in from a lot of growers is their May corn is out-performing April corn,” Ferrie says. “One grower had two planting dates in the same field with the same hybrid 10 days apart, and the 10-day later corn was better.” 

Farmers are complaining their soybeans are still cutting hard and dusty, but they're getting moisture down around 8% to 9%. 

“With these conditions, we’ve got to stay on top of the harvest loss both at the head and in the machine,” Ferrie says.

Teaching Plot Results. Ferrie’s team has harvested all the corn teaching plots planted at their facility near Heyworth. They pulled more than 100 test-weight samples from the small plots which have little replication.

“We'll put the data from our teaching plots in the winter college program on Jan. 5, 2023,” he says. “These plots are only teaching plots, but college attendees always want to know what the plots did that they visited during the summer. So, we'll add that into our virtual event this winter.” 

Here’s a brief look at results from four teaching plots.

1.    Of the four different starter plots at the Heyworth campus this season, Ferrie and team saw a 19- to 21-bushel increase in them. 

“That was surprising because this corn came up in five days,” he says. “I don't expect those gains to hold when we get out into our field-scale plots planted outside of campus.” 

2.    Sulfur timing and product plots at the Heyworth campus showed a gain of about 7 to 12 bushels, depending on the product used. 

3.    Results from the one-and-done teaching plots were surprising.  

“Where we put all the Nitrogen (N) on in one shot and put it up against what we call the full-meal deal -- where we break that same N rate across different timings – the one shot showed a 10- to 12- bushel advantage over breaking the N rates up,” he says. “This is kind of surprising being how N-friendly this year was.”

4.    In the small, fixed-flex plots, Ferrie’s team planted hybrids at 22,000 (population) and the same hybrids again at 36,000 population to measure how much hybrids flexed between those populations.

“In our 22,000 side of the plot the (yield) range was from 180 bushel to 233 bushel; on the 36,000-side of the plot, yield swung from 242 bushel to 307 bushel,” he says. “It seems crazy some hybrids can reach 233 bushels on a planted population of 22,000.”

Full-Scale Fixed Flex Plot. Ferrie and team did harvest one full-scale fixed flex corn plot this week which had 16 hybrids planted in it. The 22,000 side of the plot went from 198 bushel to the acre to 250 bushels, with an average of 227 bushels, he reports.  The 36,000-population side of the plot went from 252 to 285, with an average of 272 bushels per acre. 

“Ear samples are taken from these plots for our hand harvest this fall,” Ferrie says. “That's where we'll identify where this flex is coming from. The information from these plots is helping to move the needle quite a bit for our multi-hybrid guys.”

September Rains Helped Corn. Ferrie says L1 and L2 hybrids in the plots had some trouble depending on their maturity, rainfall and the timing of the rainfall event. 

In dry areas during June to early July some of the L1 hybrids took a hit. L1 hybrids are ones that flex the ear down under stress, cob and all, pre-tassel. 

“So if you see short ears, but they're filled to the tip, likely that's what we call an L1 hybrid, and it got caught in a dry spell somewhere in that June to early July range before tassel,” Ferrie explains. “I didn't think we were dry enough to trigger that, but we are seeing that show up in the lighter soils in the drier areas.”

In some cases, L2 hybrids, which flex from tassel to R4, got caught by dry weather conditions as well. 

“These L2 hybrids are going to show abortion – you're going to have a short ear, but you're going to see a lot of aborted kernels on the tip,” he says. 

Rains in September did help these hybrids and D hybrids pick up some yield gain in depth of kernel.

“Combine operators, if you see a surprising drop in yield stop and check for harvest loss. Look at the stand and look at the ears,” he says. “Are you seeing ears with aborted tips or are they truncated (short) ears? If you're not sure, take some pictures so we can reference them later.”

Some field scouts have told Ferrie that to make kernel counts match bushels harvested, they have to divide by 55 and 60. 

“This means a lot of the yield that we're dealing with this year came at the end of the season due to the great September that we had, and of course the lack of disease throughout the season here locally,” he says.

For more of Ferrie’s agronomic insights, check out this week’s Boots In The Field report here: 

 

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