Last post, we had just finished planting soybeans. After planting, we love to see a little moisture and some heat to help with emergence and getting the plants off to a good start. So far, the weather has been on and off with some cool June temperatures. However, the crops are faring just fine so far.
Our fields are split between no-till and fields that had rye cover crops applied to them last fall. We terminated the cover crops pretty close to the same time as planting. As you can see in the pictures, the soybeans are emerging nicely in both the no-till fields and the cover crops.
This year we are trying a new experiment on a few acres. We are only using herbicide to kill the cover crops. We are going to see if the residue provides enough cover to prevent and control weeds without using additional chemicals. If it proves to be successful, that’s a win for us and our surrounding environment. Chemicals are necessary tools to raise a productive crop, but any time we can find ways to decrease usage, we take full advantage of it.
