Scouting soybeans in Iowa’s often-wild weather isn't at the top of everyone's list of fun things to do in the summer, but it's invariably worth the effort. There’s always a long list of things to watch for, including weed escapes, insect pests and disease outbreaks.
In addition to good pest management against the challenges mentioned above, scouting soybeans can offer a few more benefits. Farmers and agronomists who spend much time in the field — the folks who taught me more about scouting than any class or book — often look beyond bugs, weeds and diseases. The laundry list of what many track during scouting includes:
- how different genetics progress and perform
- planter performance
- terraces and waterways for repairs or weed issues
- soil issues such as crusting, compaction or erosion
Plus, there are a number of tools available — including artificial intelligence — to help you better detect field maladies.
But while utility terrain vehicles and drones make covering a lot of ground faster and easier, it’s always a good idea to get boots on the ground to get a true picture of what is occurring in your soybean fields.
Crop scouting tools
There are many scouting resources available online, so we’ll just hit the highlights. A good place to start is with Crop Scouting Basics for Corn and Soybean, an online guide from the Crop Protection Network.
It does a great job of walking through the basics of crop scouting, without getting too far into the weeds (punny, right?), from early in the season through harvest.
When you run into issues where more detail is needed, that’s when you might lean on some tools to help.
AI has its pros and cons, and one of the pros is it can be a big help with crop scouting. Researchers at Iowa State University are teaming up with international collaborators to develop a web tool that helps farmers identify and manage the insects, weeds and diseases that threaten their crops.
The technology will be like having an “expert crop adviser or Extension agent in your pocket,” according to researchers from four countries working together to build the app and chatbot. After using it the past few weeks, I think it’s a game-changer when it comes to speed and accuracy of pest identification.
The tool currently focuses on insect and weed identification, with disease identification in the works as researchers continue to develop the app. I’ve tested it on quite a few weeds and insects, and it has been quick and accurate. My understanding is that like most AI apps, the more it is used, the better it will get.
Your phone’s app store can hook you up with some useful scouting aids as well. A quick search will yield all sorts of apps to help with pest and disease identification. Although not all the apps are specifically designed for corn and soybean production, there isn’t much you can find in a field that one app or another can’t help identifying.
With that said, it’s a good idea to double check whatever an app identifies just to be sure.
Must-have guide
If there is one “must have” for scouting soybeans (and corn), my money is on IPM 0001, ISU’s Corn and Soybean Field Guide. This 236-page pocket-sized guide combines corn and soybean integrated pest management information in one publication.
Recently updated, it has the latest text and images for identifying insects, diseases and disorders of corn and soybeans in the Midwest. It also contains information on developmental stages, pesticide decisions and other production-related topics.
While the hard copy is $15, it is made of durable, weather-safe materials to withstand regular use in the field and should last several seasons. It also can be downloaded as a PDF for $5 and works well in the field on a phone or tablet.
Here are several other resources from ISU that are handy to have when you need to get more in-depth information:
- IPM 0004, Soybean Diseases
- CROP 3093A, Soybean Growth and Development — Soybean Staging
- IPM 0079, Hail on Soybean in Iowa
They can all be found at the Extension Store and are available as a hard copy or PDF.
Don’t forget your spade
While a spade isn’t the most convenient thing to haul around, it’s critical for searching for the nation’s leading yield-reducing soybean pathogen: soybean cyst nematode. We’ve been fighting SCN for decades, and the first step in the battle is knowing where it is. Adult SCN females are visible on the roots of infected soybean plants with the unaided eye, so digging up roots and looking for telltale signs is an effective way to check for SCN in the field.
It takes from four to six weeks after planting for SCN females to initially appear on the root surface. Roots need to be dug from the soil with a shovel or spade at least 8 inches deep, not pulled, to recover the smaller, younger roots on which SCN females are found.
The SCN females are small, white, lemon-shaped objects, about the size of a period at the end of a sentence. They are much smaller and lighter in color than the nitrogen-fixing nodules present on healthy soybean roots.
Don’t forget sunscreen and fluids to keep you hydrated. Good luck as you hit the fields and start scouting.