Soilborne Diseases Impact Soybeans

2016 was quite a year! Unfortunately for some it was an especially damaging year to their soybean crop from soilborne diseases, writes Darren Hefty on AgPhD.com. Don’t think you had any? Hopefully you didn’t, but here are some signs to look for that may be an indication that diseases are a problem in your soils.

  1. Emergence issues – If your crop is slow to come up or your stand is uneven, odds are a disease or an insect is striking your seed or root system. Here is where many call their seed company to complain about poor germination when the real answer can be determined by digging up some seeds.
  2. Inconsistent health, plant to plant – If plants in patches or even just one plant here or there looks a little sickly, digging up plants and even splitting a few open will often reveal the early signs of disease.
  3. Dead plants – With some plant diseases, plants may emerge, but they die and senesce quickly.

With all of these signs/symptoms and more, there are multiple diseases and other problems that could be present in the field. If you are unable to diagnose the plants, you have a couple options. Either you can send in samples to a university or a lab or you could download a free app. We worked in conjunction with the American Phytopathological Society to put together the Ag PhD Soybean Disease App. Download your free copy today for your smartphone or tablet. Available on iOS and Android.

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