by MIKE FOLKARD
When a crop suddenly takes a turn for the worse, don’t wait until it’s too late. Get some advice to preserve your yield potential. That’s what Rick did when he called me about one of his soybean fields in the early part of August.
“My beans are dying,” said the Norfolk County grower. “They have been great all summer, but now the leaves are starting to drop off.” Rick’s soybeans were at the R1 to R2 stage of growth, and should have been blooming.
Before I could ask any questions to help diagnose the problem, Rick proposed a hypothesis. “It’s worse on the edge of the field by the ditch banks and it moves into the field from there. It’s like a drift pattern,” he said.