Integrated Crop Management News

Links to these articles are strongly encouraged. Articles may be republished without further permission if published as written and if credit is given to the author, Integrated Crop Management News, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. If articles are used in any other manner, permission from the author is required.

Fine-Tune Oat Seeding Rate This Spring

It’s time to plant small grains. When planting oats, spring wheat, and barley, farmers typically plant two to three bushels of small grains per acre, but there is a better way to optimize plant populations and grain yields. Farmers calculate corn and soybean rates by seed count and should do the same for small grains. Several factors affect final plant stands at oat harvest, including: desired final plant stand, number of oat seeds per pound, germination rate in the seed lot, and expected stand loss from irregular seeding depth or early plant death.

Terminating Cover Crops - What's Your Plan?

Take time now to get a plan in place for terminating a cover crop. Whether termination will be done with a herbicide, rolling/crimping, or tillage, it is important to know not just the advantages, but also the limitations with a termination method. Regardless of termination choice, it is important to have a plan in place to minimize problems this spring.

Dicamba and Dicamba-Resistant Soybean Varieties

On February 3, 2016, Monsanto announced commercial launch plans for soybean varieties resistant to dicamba and glyphosate (designated Roundup Ready 2 Xtend varieties). This announcement followed China’s decision to approve grain from these varieties for import. Many weed management practitioners hope the use of this new technology will improve control of challenging weeds, including those with evolved resistance to glyphosate and herbicides from other groups.

Approaches for Managing Corn Rootworm in Iowa

Corn rootworm is a persistent and economically important pest in Iowa, with yield loss caused primarily by larval feeding on corn roots. Genetically modified corn with Bt traits kills western and northern rootworm larvae, and Bt-rootworm corn has been available since 2003.

The Source Matters for Getting the Most out of Aerial Imagery

As spring plans are finalized, don’t forget to consider aerial imaging as part of a continuous improvement plan. Remote sensing and the use of aerial imagery has been used for decades in agriculture but since 2010 we’ve seen the number of available imagery providers grow extensively. The use of imagery can vary from farm to farm but several common uses include variable rate fertility recommendations, assessing water management performance, quantifying soil compaction and machinery induced yield limiters, locating late season weed outbreaks, and generally evaluating the consistency of crop vigor across a field.

Research Shows Extra Cover Crop Growth Prior to Soybeans Provides Benefits

Rye Shoot Biomass as Affected by Time/Rotation graph

This study, funded by the United Soybean Board (USB), was conducted to understand the potential for cover crops to perform in a corn and soybean rotation, and to collect data on the performance of cover crops in those rotations in relation to the timing of termination.

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