Blog

We’re in the middle of a challenging growing season with significant crop stress in many areas of the Mid-Atlantic region. Entering the tasseling and grain fill stages raises many questions.   • Should I put fungicides on my crop this season? • Do fungicides help under drought conditions? • How much disease pressure is there? […]

Year to year, soybean diseases can vary significantly, so what might 2024 look like?   This past year, diseases like charcoal rot, frogeye, and white mold created headaches for growers in the Mid-Atlantic region. With the dry-wet-dry weather pattern at specific growth stages, charcoal rot and white mold seemed to impact yield most.   As […]

The pH of water does impact the efficacy of many pesticides.   When water pH is too high, alkaline hydrolysis is likely to occur, causing pesticides to significantly degrade, sometimes to the point that they become inactive. This degradation often happens in the spray tank before the pesticide reaches its intended target.   Water sources […]

As we turn the calendar page to March and winter turns to spring, one of the first crops we focus on is wheat acres.   There are three critical decision points in successfully growing high-yield wheat:  Planting (seed genetics, seeding rate, stand establishment, and fall weed control), Nutrient Management (fall fertility, nitrogen management, and pushing […]

As we tackle the issues of weed resistance management, weeds like marestail have been very problematic this season. One of the factors that made marestail harder to control in burndown applications this spring was that winter 2022-23 was mild, allowing the marestail to develop to a more advanced growth stage by the time of application. […]

Cover Crop Burndown and Maximizing Yield The use of cover crops and their value has increased over the past number of years. However, many questions come up about how and when is the best time to burn down those cover crops. There has been some adoption of planting green into more mature cereals, and the […]

Entering a spring where costs are higher on most inputs in crop production leads to many discussions with growers about fertility inputs for this season.   The first and most important recommendation is to focus on balancing nutrients between the different elements. Because many vital nutrients are co-dependent, keeping the overall balance of nutrients in […]

As we enter the hot humid days of summer, our corn crop is going through the critical process of pollination. In this article we’ll discuss some of the critical temperatures and moisture issues that can have an impact on pollination. Corn is a monoecious crop that relies on the flower pollinating the silks to complete […]

Since your corn crop is off to a great start, it is time to evaluate if all your nutrient needs have been set up to achieve high yields. Foundational fertility is always the essential link to building higher yields. If you’ve tested your soils and applied the necessary nutrients, what’s next?   The secret to […]

Phosphorus levels are fairly easy to maintain. By default, Magnesium has become a forgotten element or has just been overlooked. Here’s why Magnesium is crucial for good plant growth.