Harvest Notes for 2024

As harvest 2024 is underway in areas across the Dairyland Seed footprint, folks are taking note of product performance as a measure of yield and, as we do so, it is important to note how different management decisions impacted yield. We all try to make mental notes, but it is often hard to recall all the specific nuances of the growing season when we sit down for decision-making and strategy formation for the next year, so documentation of noted field issues is important. Note taking has many forms from jotting down observations in a notebook, digital notes in a tablet/iPad and voice memos stored on a phone. Access to these notes and the ability to recall this information can help to optimize planning for 2025. The following are some noteworthy topics to monitor as you progress through harvest.

Weed Pressure: Environmental extremes and variability can lead to herbicide efficacy issues. Documenting fields with the highest weed pressure/escapes as well as the types of weeds that escaped is important for selecting the proper herbicide program for the following year.

Disease Pressure: Diseases such as phytophthora, white mold, and tar spot survive in soils. The best management practice to curb these types of diseases is to rotate to a non-susceptible crop but, unfortunately, this is not always possible. When rotation is not possible, selecting a product with desired disease resistance is the next best solution. Fungicide applications are becoming more common place, and these applications are not free. It is important to note the efficacy of fungicide applications made this year.

Fertility: Nutrient issues can be hard to ID in mature crop plants, but fluctuations in yield monitors can often help us to remember where fertility may be lacking or a misapplication of fertilizer was made during the growing season.

Insects: Are you seeing late season corn rootworm beetles? Are they Northern, Western or Southern? This could have a bearing on what trait you use for next year’s crop. Are you seeing more areas with Soybean Cyst Nematodes (SCN)? Should we soil test those areas to find out SCN levels? Higher levels may warrant a different seed treatment or rotation.

Crop Standability: Late season standability and intactness can be a function of any of the issues listed above, but accurate diagnosis of why a crop may not be standing well can often reveal other issues as well. Rootworm beetle feeding can cause standability issues, and examining roots in fields with past CRW pressure can help to ID presence of this pest. Soybean standability can be impacted as well, and we often see where soybeans will begin to lodge or lean in areas of high fertility and organic matter and high plant density. In these high OM and fertility areas, noting lodging and making appropriate planting population changes next year can help to alleviate standability issues.

If you have questions about harvest note taking, contact your local Dairyland Seed DSM or Regional Agronomist.