By Darren Hefty

Beans are often the forgotten crop on so many farms.  They have so much profit potential IF they receive the attention they deserve.  Here are a few of the input investments that have really paid handsomely this year.

White Mold Prevention

White mold can be devastating to many broadleaf crops.  It can, however, be managed.  It all starts this fall.  Contans is a biological product that actually destroys the sclerotia that are laying in the soil.  Sclerotia are basically the seeds for new white mold development next year.  Contans isn’t a fool-proof, always-perfect, works-every-single-time kind of product.  It needs time and the right conditions to work to its potential.  For this reason, we recommend using it in the fall before planting soybeans.  This affords time and the chance for some moisture to get the product to work.

Farmers have had pretty decent results using Contans, and the effectiveness often lasts more than one season.  Other practices can certainly help you control white mold, too.  Here are a few things to consider:

  1. R1 – First Bloom
    1. In soybeans use Cobra at 6 to 8 ounces per acre or Domark at 5 ounces per acre.
    2. In dry beans, for each acre use Endura at 8 ounces, Proline at 5.7 ounces, or Topsin at 40 ounces.  Apply when 80% or more of the plants have reached first flower stage.  NDSU ran a study on white mold control this year comparing fungicides that you can find HERE.
  2. Repeat fungicide application 10 days to 2 weeks later as advised by the product label.
  3. Consider no-till and crop rotation.  By leaving sclerotia on the soil surface and rotating to a non-host crop like corn, you can wipe out many of the sclerotia.  Alternatively, you could bury the sclerotia and take your chances on it emerging later.

Iron Deficiency Chlorosis

Dry beans and soybeans are sensitive to soil salinity, high pH (they prefer a range of 6.5 to 7.0), free bicarbonates, and high levels of nitrate nitrogen.  Iron deficiency chlorosis is often the diagnosis when these problems become visible on the plants.  You’ll see yellow leaves with green veins in areas of your field.  Sure, you can pick certain varieties that are more tolerant than others to these conditions, but you don’t have many to choose from, and even then, those varieties won’t yield as well as they do in other parts of the field.

Solutions:

  1. Chelated Iron – Products like GreenBean can be used in soybeans and in dry beans to improve the availability of the right form of iron.  We’ve had the best luck putting GreenBean right in the furrow at planting time.  Caution: It likely does not mix with your NPK blends of starter fertilizer.
  2. Improving drainage by adding subsurface drainage tile can decrease the amount of leachable things like the salts and bicarbonates that are building up in these areas.  Farmers who have put tile on narrower spacings and at less depth (often 2.5 to 3 feet deep) are seeing improvements in these areas right away.  This is the best “fix” for the problem and could last for decades.

General Fertility

The biggest yield limiting factor in bean production of any kind is almost always fertility.  Here’s one nutrient that may shock you.  While both soybeans and dry beans are legume crops, adding some nitrogen to each has been shown to improve yields.  Typically 25 to 50 pounds per acre has shown a decent response if the soil test shows you are low in nitrogen availability from your last crop.

With potassium and phosphorus, they are very important for both soybeans and dry beans.  Download the free Ag PhD Fertilizer Removal app for your smartphone or tablet to plug in your yield goals and see how much of each nutrient you need.

Apple Devices – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ag-phd-field-guide/id545427305?mt=8

Android Devices – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.AgPhD.fieldguide#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDIxMiwiY29tLkFnUGhELmZpZWxkZ3VpZGUiXQ..

Don’t forget micronutrients.  Our recommendation for both soybeans and dry beans is to use either TJ Micromix for soybeans or Micro 500.  We’ve seen a good response and healthier, more drought-tolerant plants when micronutrients are part of the fertility program.