January 14, 2025 • 30 mins
What if understanding the intricacies of soil pH could transform your soybean farming? Join us as we delve into the complexities of managing iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) and high pH levels in soybean fields across notable U.S. regions such as Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska. We promise that by the end of this episode, you'll gain practical insights into choosing the right soybean varieties and management strategies to tackle these challenges. Our conversation shares real-world experiences from these areas, highlighting the variability in soil conditions and how they can significantly impact iron uptake in soybeans.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Spilling the Beans, the podcast that
spills the secrets to unlockingyour soybean farm's full
potential.
Every Tuesday, your hosts, billBackus and Jeff Mueller, dive
into expert strategies andinnovative solutions that will
help you boost your yields andmaximize your returns.
Whether you're a seasonedgrower or new to soybean farming
, we're here to help you succeed.
Let's get started.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Spilling the
Beans.
I'm Jeff Mueller and I'm BillBackus.
And thanks again for joining usas we dive into the world of
soybeans, covering varioustopics and providing insights to
the soybean industry.
Bill, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Oh, just doing great here.
It's cold as heck and we'remiddle of January here and
you've got to love everythingabout living in Iowa Just how we
.
It makes you wonder why somedays.
But why in the heck do we livewhere we live?
But again, got to enjoy thecold.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely.
You know when shoveling thesnow comes around, uh, you know
that's the part of winter Idon't like.
But now that I have a uh, a sonthat's in high school, I don't
have to really worry about it asmuch unless I have to use the
tractor.
So I kind of like the change ofseasons once in a while, but
I'm always ready for it to warmup and then I'm always ready for
(01:19):
it to get cold again.
So, uh, yeah, just the way itis.
So, bill, we, you know we'vebeen discussing over the last
few episodes.
You know we had our techservice agronomists come in, our
tech service representatives,excuse me and we talked a lot
about with herbicideopportunities, post and pre's,
(01:51):
post and Pre's.
And then last week we talked tochange it around a little bit
when we talked about with theoil content, soybean oil and
markets and everything that wecan see happening on soybeans
and maybe some of the stuff thatwe can do to help the producers
rectify that or manage throughit to help increase their yields
and the challenges they havethere.
(02:12):
And today we're going to talkabout iron deficiency, or IDC,
or iron iron chlorosisdeficiency, or high pH, which a
lot of people call it.
From that standpoint, we'regoing to talk about what we're
seeing with some of the symptoms, what some of the practical
management opportunities andoptions we can use and how we
can manage around it and helpmaximize what we have out there
for our soybeans from there.
So IDC, or high pH, you knowit's a challenge in many acres
(02:38):
of soybean production across theUS.
We mainly see it more so kindof that Minnesota, north Dakota,
south Dakota, part of Iowa,nebraska, kansas area.
So it's more in the westernpart of the soybean production
level.
You know we talk about theissues where we see it and stuff
like that and it is moreprevalent that we have it here
(02:59):
in Nebraska.
It's something that we bring upa lot more.
You know what has been yourexperience with some of the high
pHs or the high iron chlorosisdeficiency you've seen in some
of your fields and you know wealways kind of go into a story.
So what's one of the thingsthat are what's kind of some of
the things that you've seen outthere you've been dealing with
and how to manage it and workingthrough it.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, jeff, no great, great, great question.
Yeah, definitely a concern youknow that we have in a lot of
production areas.
I mean it just when you get intothe especially in Iowa, the Des
Moines lobe, you get into theprairie potholes and we just
have that that issue that you'relike out there and my beans
look great and all of a sudden,bam, you know, they get these
(03:43):
big yellow spots and they justlook like heck and you get into
and I cover part of South Dakotatoo we get some areas out there
that just a little differenttype of a high pH and it
definitely affects the way thatthe plants grow and how they get
stunted and so on and so forth.
So definitely a growing issue.
I see a little bit also on theMissouri River bottom, right
south of Council Bluffs.
In that world we got somereally high pHs from the river.
(04:03):
You know, right south ofCouncil Bluffs, in that world we
got some really high pHs fromthe river, basically got out of
the banks and deposited a lot ofyou know different shells, if
you will, over the many, manyyears that it's flooded and
basically get some higher pHsfrom that and a lot of different
things.
But how about you, jeff?
What do you see in Nebraska, inthe area you cover?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, no, so that is something that we deal with.
We've dealt with a lot morethan a lot of other areas.
High pH is something that whenwe talk about soybean varieties,
we really that's one of thequestions that we ask we get
down in our Platte River valleys, we get in a lot of areas.
We can deal with pH problemsthat are elevated from that
(04:43):
standpoint.
And when I'm talking high pH,you know really when you start
getting above, when you getabout seven, five or above, that
is when you really startlowering the ability for soybean
plants to take up the iron, tohelp from that standpoint.
And then we start getting intothat seven, seven, seven, eight,
we really start seeing someeffects.
(05:03):
And you know, in some of myareas we have, we have a pH is,
you know, up in the 8, 1, 8, 2,8, 3 ranges, so they have a
really effect there.
A funny story, you know cause wealways started with the story
is is.
You know I talked to some ofthe individuals over on the East
, cause pH is a very fluid level.
You know what?
What I think is high pH, whatsomebody else thinks high pH is
(05:23):
different, and I always kind ofgiggle because I'll talk to some
individuals over there in theIllinois area and I asked them
here about last year.
I said you know, do you dealwith because, because you know
they, they said something withhigh pH beans.
I said, do you deal with a lotof high pH in your area?
And he goes, oh yeah, we got,you know what levels are you
dealing with.
And they said you know we canget some 7.1, 7.2s, you know.
(05:47):
And I'm sitting there going,okay, well, that's pretty good
for us.
So it's kind of funny.
So you know, that's probablyone of the stories is there
isn't a definition of reallywhat is high pH in the area, but
we have a definition of whatcertain level of pH you would
get to where we start seeingthat effect of iron uptake by
that absorption by that plant,and that's when we really start
(06:08):
putting some of those intoaspect from there.
So, bill, I would ask you aquestion.
If you think about it everyyear you know we always try to
throw a quiz question in everytime we want to know the
economic impact.
What is the total economicimpact of high pH losses in
soybeans from a totalperspective of production?
Or maybe I can say it this wayCan we put a number to it,
(06:32):
because there's a lot of them.
We can put a number to in aspecific ballpark range of
dollars.
But is there really a numberthat we can put to high pH?
And if there is, where would itrun?
Where would it be?
What ballpark would it be?
And if there is, you know wherewould it run, where would it be
?
What ballpark would it be?
And you think?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, no, that's another great question, jeff.
You know, can we put a specificnumber?
I don't think we can.
I mean, really, I've looked,I've researched this because I'm
prepping for the episode heretoday.
But you know, we can kind ofthink it through a little bit.
So you kind of say, okay, let'slook at Des Moines, lobe, you
get into that and part of Iowa,how many million acres are there
?
And you get into, you know,minnesota, how many million
(07:11):
acres are there?
You get into the Dakotas, howmany million acres are there?
And the Nebraska, how manymillions of acres are affected
there.
And the issue is it's sovariable, right, and as our
expert, I think, is going totell us in a little bit, you
know, it goes back to severalthings that we really can't
truly control, because it's kindof the hand we've been dealt,
but I would have to guesssomewhere in that, you know, 30
(07:33):
to 40 to maybe even 50 milliondollars.
It's got to be fairly high justbecause of the issues and the
concerns that we have in justgrowing soybeans in some of
those regions, right.
So it's got to be holding themback in a way that really we
can't get to.
So, again, I think, a reallygood question and I guess I'll
turn it back to you see if youhave any other thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, no, that's a good point because environment
can dictate a lot of that.
Depending on the type ofmoisture we have that year, how
bad of effect it's going to beversus how dry it is.
So, year, how bad of an effectit's going to be versus how dry
it is.
So that can all make differentindications of how bad the level
is going to be.
But we're going to talk to ourresident expert here on our team
, our ag services team, andwe're going to bring on Nick
(08:15):
Weidenbender, and Nick lives upin Minnesota.
He lives up in Hampton,minnesota.
Currently.
Nick has five children, but he'sgot number six on the way.
From that standpoint, he is aBSF seed agronomist supporting
northeast and southeastMinnesota, along with Wisconsin,
and covers part of South Dakotaalso.
(08:37):
From that standpoint, he's beenfocused on maximizing
production practices for thematurity group one soybeans and
the early group two soybeans.
Iron deficiency, chlorophylland sclerotin and white mold are
significant factors that limitsoybean production in the upper
Midwest.
So he's been working with that.
He has an MS from theUniversity of Minnesota in
(08:58):
soybean agronomy and heinvestigated the interactions
between agronomic and geneticfactors that influence yield
gains in soybeans.
And if you think about thebasis behind our podcast.
It's all about understandingthe agronomic and the genetic
and the environmental conditions, understanding those and how to
(09:18):
work through those to helpmaximize the soybean production
we have out there and thatreturn on investment to the
farmer.
So, nick, thanks for joining ustoday.
How are you doing?
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yeah, thanks Jeff.
Thanks Bill.
Yeah, excited to talk today onID seeds.
It can be a pretty big issuefor us here in Minnesota,
certainly up to the River Valley.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
You know iron deficiency chlorosis is, uh,
something that gets a lot ofattention in minnesota yeah,
yeah, I know I know we kind ofcall you our resident expert
when it comes to idc, uh, or, orthe high ph, as we talk about
in a lot of areas, but you know,in in essence, um, can you
(10:02):
describe high pH forest or IDC?
How, or how would you describeit to customers and and
individuals that are listeningto this podcast?
How would you describe it tothem?
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Sure.
So yeah, it's a.
It's a physiological disorder.
It sometimes gets kind oflumped with diseases, but
there's really no diseaseinvolved it's.
It really comes down to theplant's ability to absorb iron
and be able to use that in thatcritical vegetative growth stage
.
Iron is a major nutrient neededfor chlorophyll and many other
(10:33):
enzymes, and when the plantstruggles to absorb that in that
early vegetative we commonlysee this chlorotic yellowing
symptoms and stunting.
So it can be.
It can be relatively severe attimes, all the way down to the
plant death.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, yeah, no, those are.
Those are good points.
We deal with it over herepretty good in Nebraska too, and
you know so.
You know what?
What?
What level of the high of thepH soil pH would you start
seeing you're going to startseeing that effect of of the pH
soil pH?
Would you start seeing you'regoing to start seeing that
effect of that chloroticappearance on the soybean plant?
(11:10):
Or where do we start getting aconcern where the pH can come
into effect and affect thatsoybean plant?
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Yeah, so certainly, you know, from the availability
of iron point of view, it'sreally that mid-sevens is when
that availability of iron reallystarts to drop off and you know
there's a lot of other factorsthat are involved.
So just simply having high pHby itself might not be the
defining characteristic ofhaving a high IDC soil, but
(11:41):
certainly once we get to thosemid-7s you're probably going to
be prone to this problem andsomething you need to be paying
attention to.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yeah, yeah.
And then for the plant, youknow, does it just have that
effect?
You know, are we just going tosee that chlorotic effect or
what is actually the effect onthat plant?
You know, chlorotic is the onethat we see.
We see that yellowing leaf.
That's our visual.
We see Is there other thingsbehind the scene that it's also
affecting?
That's going to help minimizethe yield potential of that
soybean.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Certainly.
Yeah, you really are justslowing and stunting the entire
plant.
So again, any nutrient that'scritical for development can
slow the plant down.
So by having that iron kind ofremoved from that early
vegetative growth you're reallystunting a lot of different
metabolic pathways, butcertainly chlorophyll is a major
one.
I mean, that's its food source.
(12:29):
So if you start starving theplant from that very early
vegetative stage that's going tohave lingering effects.
So there's kind of a twofoldthere is not only is how sudden,
how quick does the symptomsstart?
But also we tend to measure howwell do varieties recover,
because we can see certainvarieties tend to grow out of
that stress faster than others.
So those are kind of twoaspects of how we look at that
(12:50):
disease or disorder.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yeah.
So, nick, as you think through,you know parent material, you
think about the soils, you thinkabout everything that you have
going on, you know the regionswhere it is.
So let's talk a little bitabout that.
Let's talk about, you know, arethere different types of pHs?
I mean, what's the differencebetween the sodic and the
carbonate, the calcareous?
You know those type of areasand growing regions, so help us
(13:15):
understand what's going on there.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
So I think that is really important to understand
your parent material.
And really where we see IDCmost in Minnesota is our prairie
pothole region and and whatthat region really did is it's
where those potholes developed.
Um, you do get more sedimentcementation, more line there.
That's where we get those more,uh, higher buildups of those
carbonates right and so those,those carbonates are becoming a
(13:42):
major issue because that'sreally that buffering capacity.
So not only do you have ahigher pH where the iron might
not be as available, but alsothe high buffering capacity
really doesn't stress theplant's ability to extract that
iron.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, no, those are good points.
So you know we talk about cornand we talk soybeans and you
know I'll get some individualsover here that say well, that
field's too high a pH, can't putbeans out there.
That's why we've gone corn oncorn on corn for as long as we
planted out there.
You know what is the differencebetween corn and soybeans with
high pH?
Do they have different avenuesthat they access the iron or how
(14:24):
they handle it?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Or why do we see it that corn can handle it, maybe a
little bit better than soybeansin some cases?
Yeah, so this is where you knowcorn really does have the
unfair advantage.
It's a different type, so cornand any other grass species have
the ability to yeah, so corndoes have the ability to make it
more readily extracted.
(14:56):
Soybeans and other type 1plants rely on an acid that gets
excreted, so similar to moreacid loving plants like
blueberries that need a muchmore acidic soil to properly get
the nutrients that they need.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, so you know, nick, you and I do a lot of work
basically with our screens andour variety screens.
So what type of testing are youdoing in your area to help your
customers understand theimpacts of IDC on soybean
varieties and production?
And then, what other ways areyou thinking about, you know, to
help them and advise them tomanage IDC in their fields?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Sure, Sure, yeah, testing is a major, a major part
of my program here in Minnesota.
A lot of it is.
This is such a visual problem.
My program here in Minnesota, alot of it is.
This is such a visual problem.
It's really getting customersin the field and getting quality
pictures because a varietyscreen is a major aspect of what
we're doing both with ourcommercial products.
But a lot of the work isupstream in our development as
(15:58):
we are testing and developingnew varieties.
They all go through a veryrigorous program screening out
candidate varieties that can'thandle that high pH soil.
On that production side you knowthere are some tried and true
practices using iron chelates.
We've done different kind ofbulletins to talk through
(16:19):
management practices and we'veseen a better kind of economic
return when we use high rates inproblem spots rather than kind
of a lower rate across the wholefield.
We can also work with differentmanagement practices.
Certainly seeding rate has beenone that can help as we
increase our soybean stand.
That just gives us more rootsworking together that can
(16:39):
collectively kind of pool theiracids and get a better response
of pulling iron from the soil.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, yeah, you know we have a me and Bill always
kind of start with a story or wehave a little story that we
like to talk about and Iactually got another one that
it's it's the story into thequestion Used to be, many years
ago, lived in Northwest Iowa andyou know we're in the high pH
acres that we had up throughthere and you know you could see
the tracks through the soybeanfield.
You could see where they haddriven with the tractor.
(17:13):
So the tracks were at werecompacted and they were nice and
green, and then the rest of thefield where the tracks weren't,
it was yellow and shorter.
So I had a farmer one.
One of the guys told me he goes.
Well, I think I'm just going todrive up and down every row with
that tractor and you know, dothat and I'm going to have green
soybeans.
I'm like that's probably notthe most economic, agronomic
sound thing to do.
(17:33):
But why would you see that?
Because you see that every yearYou'll see that where the
tracks going through the fieldyou can see they look good, but
then the rest of the field willhave that yellow chlorotic and
not so well.
What is going on when thathappens and why?
Speaker 4 (17:54):
is that happening and is that sound management to go
out there and pack your fieldwith a tractor?
Yeah, that's a layup questionright there.
I'd never recommend compactingyour field quite like that.
But I think this does reallyillustrate some of the
complexity behind IDC and howthe hydrology of the soil really
does influence the symptoms yousee.
So even if you're in kind ofIDC hotspot, the, the particular
rainfall of the season, thenitrates maybe left over from a
(18:16):
previous corn crop can allinfluence the symptoms we see,
and so tire tracks, any kind ofcompaction zones, can actually
show the opposite response to it.
Sometimes you see an increasedIDC in those compaction zones.
But I think what's commonlywhen we see those kind of green
streaks through compaction?
A lot of times that's kind ofthe compaction zones shedding
(18:38):
off the water, not allowing theroots to imbibe, kind of those
surplus nitrates or maybe saltsin the soil.
So some of that compaction kindof alleviated one problem while
most likely causing others.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Okay, so recommendations not to go pack
your field if you have high pH.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
No, but again I mean in these high pH fields we do
know tile drainage is helpful.
It kind of helps again maintainan appropriate soil water level
throughout that field.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, no, it's all great stuff,nick.
So you know we've kind ofcovered a lot of different areas
.
So really any other commentsthat you have that you want to
share.
You know that we haven't reallyhit on for IDC management and
or just you know things to thinkabout.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
you know, for our listeners, Sure Well, if you're
battling IDC, I think it'sreally important to understand
the whole soybean health, and somuch of soybean health is below
ground and certainly soybeancyst nematode is going to be one
of those compounding factors.
You know this test that is verycommon throughout most of our
soybean production regions isable to prune roots, reduce that
(19:41):
overall root mass and that'sonly going to cause that IDC to
be more severe.
Reduce that overall root massand that's only going to cause
that.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
IVC to be more severe .
Yeah, no, that's a good point,good point.
One thing I wanted to ask hereat the end too, being here in
Nebraska we have a lot, you know, we don't have saturated soils.
We have a lot of water down butwe don't have a lot of at the
surface.
From that standpoint ofsaturating fields the surface,
(20:08):
from that standpoint tosaturating fields Under
irrigation can we see a positiveeffect or a negative effect on
the pH level of that soil and ifso, which one it is?
Why are we seeing that effect?
That happens with irrigation.
You know we have a lot ofpivots where we're putting a lot
of water on and some of theseyou know they may not shut off
for three months in a row insome of those river sands and on
some of these high pHs.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Sure.
So again, it's notstraightforward, you can make
the problem worse.
If again, at that root zone, ifthere is kind of saturated
environments or at least youknow enough water that reduces
that airflow, right, we needoxygen in that root zone.
You know enough water thatreduces that airflow, right, we
need oxygen in that root zone.
So if you are limiting that,the the bi-permanence can can
build up, reducing again thatthat plant's ability to extract
(20:53):
iron, so you can cause problems.
Also, if you can kind of speedup the growth and development of
the plant, it can help somerecover faster, right.
So if you can get that plantgrowing more vigorously, they
can kind of outgrow this problem.
It is typically constrained tokind of that B1, b4, early
growth stage.
So if we can kind of speed themup, that can help them.
Perfect, perfect.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Well, with that being said, we're getting to the end
of our podcast.
Bill.
Anything to add or to discusswith Nick before we let Nick go?
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, no, of course I've got something.
So, as you dig into it, Nick,and you literally think about pH
.
So so let's just talk pH.
Let's not talk IDC, so let'stalk pH.
So so what other effects can pHhave on soils, chemicals,
chemical carryover, weed control, things like that?
(21:48):
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Yeah, so this can influence a lot of things.
A lot of the chemistries we usein agriculture rely on
microbial activity and socertain microbes are going to be
more or less active at pHranges.
So certain microbes are goingto be more or less active at pH
ranges, so we've particularlykind of soil residuals can be
(22:16):
more or less active or couldpersist longer depending on the
pH of the soil.
So it really does depend on thespecific chemical class and
which microbes are involved inthat degradation.
But you can have a lot ofimpacts in that.
Certainly, nutrients manynutrients have zones in which
they are more or less available.
So iron is not the only onethat is sensitive to a pH of the
soil.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Yeah, that's a good point, because you look at the
chart.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Very good, thanks for joining.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, you look at the chart you see a lot of them
were availability to that plant.
It does make a dictation onthat soybean from there.
So, nick, thanks for joining ustoday, appreciate you taking
the time, as always, and if youyou got any last words you got
for us before we let you go.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
No, I appreciate the invite.
Thank you so much, Jeff.
Thanks, Bill.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Absolutely, absolutely, nick, take care and
take care of that the BradyBunch you're going to have here
after number six comes.
So congratulations and have agreat day, you bet.
So Bill, heard a lot of stuffon pH today, learned a lot of
stuff and you start thinkingabout it.
You know when we're talkingabout it and we talk about pH
(23:18):
and we just think about thesymptomology that we're seeing
out in the field.
But if you start diving into it,just how much of a difference
or how much of an effect a pHcan have, especially a high pH,
if you're looking at thenutrient releases or where
nutrient availability of a lotof different of our main
nutrients out there, you look atthat chart.
(23:38):
You get the specific pH.
You know some of them can'tsupply the plant with them, like
others, and we know, with someof our chemistries that we put
out there and with our mixing,how they can last longer than
that.
You know what are some of thetake-home points you got from
our conversation with Nick todayand then with that, what are a
(23:58):
couple things that you know youcan divulge that will help with
the management or help with thatproducer being able to manage
through it more going forward isabout adding sulfur basically
to the soil and broadcastingthat out there, adding ammonium
(24:20):
sulfate or some other type ofproduct in hopes of lowering the
pH, and really just the simpleanswer on that.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It can be done, but it's going to take you forever
because it goes back to thatparent material.
So it's really going to besomething that you're not going
to get a lot of reaction out of,you know, over the long haul.
But Nick mentioned the ironchelate.
That's definitely somethingthat's had a lot of traction.
A lot of people are looking atthat.
There's other in-furrow typeproducts that a lot of companies
(24:48):
are looking at and trying topromote.
There's other.
There's even some seedtreatments that are out there.
I've heard about that peopleare trying to use and things
like that.
So other things that we'rethinking about.
But again back to what Nick youknow talked about.
We talked about the, the, thegeology, basically the parent
material, really understandingyou know what's going on
basically in that environmentyou're going into, you know you
(25:08):
think about the buffer pH.
There's a lot of a lot of that,that piece of that puzzle that
we got to think through andwhat's going on there, and you
think about the soil solutionand everything that's going on
there.
And you think about the soilsolution and everything that's
going on in there and you know,trying to, you know help that
you know not be.
So you know, and he mentioneddrainage.
I think that's a big piece ofthe puzzle when you think about,
especially the prairie potholesthat we have through the des
moines lobe and up into the,into southern minnesota, in that
(25:31):
world, a lot of those thingsthat tie into, you know, just
just having a lot of uh, carbonthat's basically in that soil.
Uh, then you know we talkedabout soybean systematode, uh,
basically in the, in the roots,and basically how that damage uh
, and you want to have a healthyroot.
So so we spend a lot of time onthis podcast talking about
genetics, by environment, bymanagement our yield triangle
(25:52):
and thinking about the wholesystem, and roots are a big part
of that.
So we want to have healthyroots and really take care of
business.
So, so, so how about you, jeff?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (25:59):
You know we've got a lot of good information on it.
You know you hit one big partwe deal with over here.
You don't, you don't fix itovernight, right it's.
It's a process and it takes alot of years to get it to, to go
down a little bit, cause youdon't realize how much it takes
to bring it down even a tenth ofa point in the pH level.
So it's something that you haveto manage, not something that
(26:22):
you can do a quick fix like hey,I'm low on nitrogen, so I throw
more nitrogen out there.
From that standpoint, I thinkone of the big points that I
took back is you know, a lot ofpeople think of it what's wrong
with my bean?
I got some disease or somethinglike that.
It's not a disease, it's aphysiological change in that
plant and basically what'shappening is that bean's not
able to take up that iron andthat iron is needed to help make
(26:43):
chlorophyll.
So that's why you're seeingthat yellowing and it shows off
from there.
So understanding it a littlebit more and knowing how it
works can help producers and ourviewers help manage it a little
bit more and get a better thingout there.
And the other thing too, aboutpH is just because you have high
ph doesn't mean the whole fieldhas it.
(27:03):
It might be only a a little 10acre patch or whatever, and it's
not a consistent.
It winds like a river through afield at times too.
So, being able to managethrough that and and picking
varieties because really thebest thing you can do is variety
placement it's picking theright variety that handles it,
but you have to make sure you'reputting things out there that's
(27:24):
going to maximize that yieldout there and help minimize what
you're seeing from that goingon from there.
So, with that being said, bill,do you have anything else to
add before we send it off forthe day?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah, one last story.
So I think about the soils ofwestern Iowa where we got some
calcareous outcroppings, we liketo call them, where there's
just exposed limestone just inthe soil.
You know that goes back to thatparent material and things that
you got to be concerned about.
So pHs can be higher there too,in the hills, which is not an
area that you think about.
We've been talking a lot aboutthe potholes and prairie
(27:58):
potholes and things like that.
So understand that it's goingto be pockets.
Just like you said, a lot ofthings we got to do.
One thing I thought about I didthe other day with a customer,
zarvio Field Manager.
So I was actually at Zarvio andpulled that up and pulled up
some pH maps that he had as well.
We tied that all together tostart thinking about how to
place varieties.
So back to the previous episodewhere we talked about Zarbio
(28:19):
with Greg.
You know I think we think abouthow this whole, this whole
system starts coming togetherand really working a lot of
stuff.
So so think about what you justsaid the variety selection, the
placement, everything that wecan do.
And you know, just think aboutthat that this is a.
It's truly a, a, a deficiencyinduced by pH.
If you think about it that way,it's what it boils down to.
(28:40):
So you know we got to haveeverything that we, you know,
can do to maximize soybeanproduction and iron deficiency.
Chlorosis, basically, is one ofthose pains in our tail that
starts showing up, and if wecan't figure out what we got to
do, you know we got to take careof it.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
So thanks again, Jeff .
Speaker 3 (28:58):
So I'll turn it back to you.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Thanks, bill, and thank you allfor going for again for joining
us today.
On Spilling the Beans, weinvite you to download the Grow
Smart Live app for moreresources and share this podcast
with other growers and otherproducers.
Again, me and Bill say thankyou for joining us and make it a
great day.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Thanks for joining us on Spilling the Beans, where
every episode gets you one stepcloser to maximizing your
soybean profitability.
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See you next week with moreexpert tips to help you grow
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(29:40):
Of MS Technologies and isexclusively marketed by BASF.
Fasttax CS is a restricted-usepesticide.
Enlist E3 is jointly developedand owned by Corteva Agriscience
(30:03):
LLC and MS Technologies.
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(30:25):
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Views expressed by BASFemployees and guests are their
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Welcome to Spilling the Beans, the podcast that
spills the secrets to unlockingyour soybean farm's full
potential.
Every Tuesday, your hosts, billBackus and Jeff Mueller, dive
into expert strategies andinnovative solutions that will
help you boost your yields andmaximize your returns.
Whether you're a seasonedgrower or new to soybean farming
, we're here to help you succeed.
Let's get started.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Spilling the
Beans.
I'm Jeff Mueller and I'm BillBackus.
And thanks again for joining usas we dive into the world of
soybeans, covering varioustopics and providing insights to
the soybean industry.
Bill, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Oh, just doing great here.
It's cold as heck and we'remiddle of January here and
you've got to love everythingabout living in Iowa Just how we
.
It makes you wonder why somedays.
But why in the heck do we livewhere we live?
But again, got to enjoy thecold.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely.
You know when shoveling thesnow comes around, uh, you know
that's the part of winter Idon't like.
But now that I have a uh, a sonthat's in high school, I don't
have to really worry about it asmuch unless I have to use the
tractor.
So I kind of like the change ofseasons once in a while, but
I'm always ready for it to warmup and then I'm always ready for
(01:19):
it to get cold again.
So, uh, yeah, just the way itis.
So, bill, we, you know we'vebeen discussing over the last
few episodes.
You know we had our techservice agronomists come in, our
tech service representatives,excuse me and we talked a lot
about with herbicideopportunities, post and pre's,
(01:51):
post and Pre's.
And then last week we talked tochange it around a little bit
when we talked about with theoil content, soybean oil and
markets and everything that wecan see happening on soybeans
and maybe some of the stuff thatwe can do to help the producers
rectify that or manage throughit to help increase their yields
and the challenges they havethere.
(02:12):
And today we're going to talkabout iron deficiency, or IDC,
or iron iron chlorosisdeficiency, or high pH, which a
lot of people call it.
From that standpoint, we'regoing to talk about what we're
seeing with some of the symptoms, what some of the practical
management opportunities andoptions we can use and how we
can manage around it and helpmaximize what we have out there
for our soybeans from there.
So IDC, or high pH, you knowit's a challenge in many acres
(02:38):
of soybean production across theUS.
We mainly see it more so kindof that Minnesota, north Dakota,
south Dakota, part of Iowa,nebraska, kansas area.
So it's more in the westernpart of the soybean production
level.
You know we talk about theissues where we see it and stuff
like that and it is moreprevalent that we have it here
(02:59):
in Nebraska.
It's something that we bring upa lot more.
You know what has been yourexperience with some of the high
pHs or the high iron chlorosisdeficiency you've seen in some
of your fields and you know wealways kind of go into a story.
So what's one of the thingsthat are what's kind of some of
the things that you've seen outthere you've been dealing with
and how to manage it and workingthrough it.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, jeff, no great, great, great question.
Yeah, definitely a concern youknow that we have in a lot of
production areas.
I mean it just when you get intothe especially in Iowa, the Des
Moines lobe, you get into theprairie potholes and we just
have that that issue that you'relike out there and my beans
look great and all of a sudden,bam, you know, they get these
(03:43):
big yellow spots and they justlook like heck and you get into
and I cover part of South Dakotatoo we get some areas out there
that just a little differenttype of a high pH and it
definitely affects the way thatthe plants grow and how they get
stunted and so on and so forth.
So definitely a growing issue.
I see a little bit also on theMissouri River bottom, right
south of Council Bluffs.
In that world we got somereally high pHs from the river.
(04:03):
You know, right south ofCouncil Bluffs, in that world we
got some really high pHs fromthe river, basically got out of
the banks and deposited a lot ofyou know different shells, if
you will, over the many, manyyears that it's flooded and
basically get some higher pHsfrom that and a lot of different
things.
But how about you, jeff?
What do you see in Nebraska, inthe area you cover?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, no, so that is something that we deal with.
We've dealt with a lot morethan a lot of other areas.
High pH is something that whenwe talk about soybean varieties,
we really that's one of thequestions that we ask we get
down in our Platte River valleys, we get in a lot of areas.
We can deal with pH problemsthat are elevated from that
(04:43):
standpoint.
And when I'm talking high pH,you know really when you start
getting above, when you getabout seven, five or above, that
is when you really startlowering the ability for soybean
plants to take up the iron, tohelp from that standpoint.
And then we start getting intothat seven, seven, seven, eight,
we really start seeing someeffects.
(05:03):
And you know, in some of myareas we have, we have a pH is,
you know, up in the 8, 1, 8, 2,8, 3 ranges, so they have a
really effect there.
A funny story, you know cause wealways started with the story
is is.
You know I talked to some ofthe individuals over on the East
, cause pH is a very fluid level.
You know what?
What I think is high pH, whatsomebody else thinks high pH is
(05:23):
different, and I always kind ofgiggle because I'll talk to some
individuals over there in theIllinois area and I asked them
here about last year.
I said you know, do you dealwith because, because you know
they, they said something withhigh pH beans.
I said, do you deal with a lotof high pH in your area?
And he goes, oh yeah, we got,you know what levels are you
dealing with.
And they said you know we canget some 7.1, 7.2s, you know.
(05:47):
And I'm sitting there going,okay, well, that's pretty good
for us.
So it's kind of funny.
So you know, that's probablyone of the stories is there
isn't a definition of reallywhat is high pH in the area, but
we have a definition of whatcertain level of pH you would
get to where we start seeingthat effect of iron uptake by
that absorption by that plant,and that's when we really start
(06:08):
putting some of those intoaspect from there.
So, bill, I would ask you aquestion.
If you think about it everyyear you know we always try to
throw a quiz question in everytime we want to know the
economic impact.
What is the total economicimpact of high pH losses in
soybeans from a totalperspective of production?
Or maybe I can say it this wayCan we put a number to it,
(06:32):
because there's a lot of them.
We can put a number to in aspecific ballpark range of
dollars.
But is there really a numberthat we can put to high pH?
And if there is, where would itrun?
Where would it be?
What ballpark would it be?
And if there is, you know wherewould it run, where would it be
?
What ballpark would it be?
And you think?
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, no, that's another great question, jeff.
You know, can we put a specificnumber?
I don't think we can.
I mean, really, I've looked,I've researched this because I'm
prepping for the episode heretoday.
But you know, we can kind ofthink it through a little bit.
So you kind of say, okay, let'slook at Des Moines, lobe, you
get into that and part of Iowa,how many million acres are there
?
And you get into, you know,minnesota, how many million
(07:11):
acres are there?
You get into the Dakotas, howmany million acres are there?
And the Nebraska, how manymillions of acres are affected
there.
And the issue is it's sovariable, right, and as our
expert, I think, is going totell us in a little bit, you
know, it goes back to severalthings that we really can't
truly control, because it's kindof the hand we've been dealt,
but I would have to guesssomewhere in that, you know, 30
(07:33):
to 40 to maybe even 50 milliondollars.
It's got to be fairly high justbecause of the issues and the
concerns that we have in justgrowing soybeans in some of
those regions, right.
So it's got to be holding themback in a way that really we
can't get to.
So, again, I think, a reallygood question and I guess I'll
turn it back to you see if youhave any other thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Yeah, no, that's a good point because environment
can dictate a lot of that.
Depending on the type ofmoisture we have that year, how
bad of effect it's going to beversus how dry it is.
So, year, how bad of an effectit's going to be versus how dry
it is.
So that can all make differentindications of how bad the level
is going to be.
But we're going to talk to ourresident expert here on our team
, our ag services team, andwe're going to bring on Nick
(08:15):
Weidenbender, and Nick lives upin Minnesota.
He lives up in Hampton,minnesota.
Currently.
Nick has five children, but he'sgot number six on the way.
From that standpoint, he is aBSF seed agronomist supporting
northeast and southeastMinnesota, along with Wisconsin,
and covers part of South Dakotaalso.
(08:37):
From that standpoint, he's beenfocused on maximizing
production practices for thematurity group one soybeans and
the early group two soybeans.
Iron deficiency, chlorophylland sclerotin and white mold are
significant factors that limitsoybean production in the upper
Midwest.
So he's been working with that.
He has an MS from theUniversity of Minnesota in
(08:58):
soybean agronomy and heinvestigated the interactions
between agronomic and geneticfactors that influence yield
gains in soybeans.
And if you think about thebasis behind our podcast.
It's all about understandingthe agronomic and the genetic
and the environmental conditions, understanding those and how to
(09:18):
work through those to helpmaximize the soybean production
we have out there and thatreturn on investment to the
farmer.
So, nick, thanks for joining ustoday.
How are you doing?
Speaker 4 (09:28):
Yeah, thanks Jeff.
Thanks Bill.
Yeah, excited to talk today onID seeds.
It can be a pretty big issuefor us here in Minnesota,
certainly up to the River Valley.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
You know iron deficiency chlorosis is, uh,
something that gets a lot ofattention in minnesota yeah,
yeah, I know I know we kind ofcall you our resident expert
when it comes to idc, uh, or, orthe high ph, as we talk about
in a lot of areas, but you know,in in essence, um, can you
(10:02):
describe high pH forest or IDC?
How, or how would you describeit to customers and and
individuals that are listeningto this podcast?
How would you describe it tothem?
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Sure.
So yeah, it's a.
It's a physiological disorder.
It sometimes gets kind oflumped with diseases, but
there's really no diseaseinvolved it's.
It really comes down to theplant's ability to absorb iron
and be able to use that in thatcritical vegetative growth stage
.
Iron is a major nutrient neededfor chlorophyll and many other
(10:33):
enzymes, and when the plantstruggles to absorb that in that
early vegetative we commonlysee this chlorotic yellowing
symptoms and stunting.
So it can be.
It can be relatively severe attimes, all the way down to the
plant death.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, yeah, no, those are.
Those are good points.
We deal with it over herepretty good in Nebraska too, and
you know so.
You know what?
What?
What level of the high of thepH soil pH would you start
seeing you're going to startseeing that effect of of the pH
soil pH?
Would you start seeing you'regoing to start seeing that
effect of that chloroticappearance on the soybean plant?
(11:10):
Or where do we start getting aconcern where the pH can come
into effect and affect thatsoybean plant?
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Yeah, so certainly, you know, from the availability
of iron point of view, it'sreally that mid-sevens is when
that availability of iron reallystarts to drop off and you know
there's a lot of other factorsthat are involved.
So just simply having high pHby itself might not be the
defining characteristic ofhaving a high IDC soil, but
(11:41):
certainly once we get to thosemid-7s you're probably going to
be prone to this problem andsomething you need to be paying
attention to.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yeah, yeah.
And then for the plant, youknow, does it just have that
effect?
You know, are we just going tosee that chlorotic effect or
what is actually the effect onthat plant?
You know, chlorotic is the onethat we see.
We see that yellowing leaf.
That's our visual.
We see Is there other thingsbehind the scene that it's also
affecting?
That's going to help minimizethe yield potential of that
soybean.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Certainly.
Yeah, you really are justslowing and stunting the entire
plant.
So again, any nutrient that'scritical for development can
slow the plant down.
So by having that iron kind ofremoved from that early
vegetative growth you're reallystunting a lot of different
metabolic pathways, butcertainly chlorophyll is a major
one.
I mean, that's its food source.
(12:29):
So if you start starving theplant from that very early
vegetative stage that's going tohave lingering effects.
So there's kind of a twofoldthere is not only is how sudden,
how quick does the symptomsstart?
But also we tend to measure howwell do varieties recover,
because we can see certainvarieties tend to grow out of
that stress faster than others.
So those are kind of twoaspects of how we look at that
(12:50):
disease or disorder.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yeah.
So, nick, as you think through,you know parent material, you
think about the soils, you thinkabout everything that you have
going on, you know the regionswhere it is.
So let's talk a little bitabout that.
Let's talk about, you know, arethere different types of pHs?
I mean, what's the differencebetween the sodic and the
carbonate, the calcareous?
You know those type of areasand growing regions, so help us
(13:15):
understand what's going on there.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
So I think that is really important to understand
your parent material.
And really where we see IDCmost in Minnesota is our prairie
pothole region and and whatthat region really did is it's
where those potholes developed.
Um, you do get more sedimentcementation, more line there.
That's where we get those more,uh, higher buildups of those
carbonates right and so those,those carbonates are becoming a
(13:42):
major issue because that'sreally that buffering capacity.
So not only do you have ahigher pH where the iron might
not be as available, but alsothe high buffering capacity
really doesn't stress theplant's ability to extract that
iron.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, no, those are good points.
So you know we talk about cornand we talk soybeans and you
know I'll get some individualsover here that say well, that
field's too high a pH, can't putbeans out there.
That's why we've gone corn oncorn on corn for as long as we
planted out there.
You know what is the differencebetween corn and soybeans with
high pH?
Do they have different avenuesthat they access the iron or how
(14:24):
they handle it?
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Or why do we see it that corn can handle it, maybe a
little bit better than soybeansin some cases?
Yeah, so this is where you knowcorn really does have the
unfair advantage.
It's a different type, so cornand any other grass species have
the ability to yeah, so corndoes have the ability to make it
more readily extracted.
(14:56):
Soybeans and other type 1plants rely on an acid that gets
excreted, so similar to moreacid loving plants like
blueberries that need a muchmore acidic soil to properly get
the nutrients that they need.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, so you know, nick, you and I do a lot of work
basically with our screens andour variety screens.
So what type of testing are youdoing in your area to help your
customers understand theimpacts of IDC on soybean
varieties and production?
And then, what other ways areyou thinking about, you know, to
help them and advise them tomanage IDC in their fields?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Sure, Sure, yeah, testing is a major, a major part
of my program here in Minnesota.
A lot of it is.
This is such a visual problem.
My program here in Minnesota, alot of it is.
This is such a visual problem.
It's really getting customersin the field and getting quality
pictures because a varietyscreen is a major aspect of what
we're doing both with ourcommercial products.
But a lot of the work isupstream in our development as
(15:58):
we are testing and developingnew varieties.
They all go through a veryrigorous program screening out
candidate varieties that can'thandle that high pH soil.
On that production side you knowthere are some tried and true
practices using iron chelates.
We've done different kind ofbulletins to talk through
(16:19):
management practices and we'veseen a better kind of economic
return when we use high rates inproblem spots rather than kind
of a lower rate across the wholefield.
We can also work with differentmanagement practices.
Certainly seeding rate has beenone that can help as we
increase our soybean stand.
That just gives us more rootsworking together that can
(16:39):
collectively kind of pool theiracids and get a better response
of pulling iron from the soil.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, yeah, you know we have a me and Bill always
kind of start with a story or wehave a little story that we
like to talk about and Iactually got another one that
it's it's the story into thequestion Used to be, many years
ago, lived in Northwest Iowa andyou know we're in the high pH
acres that we had up throughthere and you know you could see
the tracks through the soybeanfield.
You could see where they haddriven with the tractor.
(17:13):
So the tracks were at werecompacted and they were nice and
green, and then the rest of thefield where the tracks weren't,
it was yellow and shorter.
So I had a farmer one.
One of the guys told me he goes.
Well, I think I'm just going todrive up and down every row with
that tractor and you know, dothat and I'm going to have green
soybeans.
I'm like that's probably notthe most economic, agronomic
sound thing to do.
(17:33):
But why would you see that?
Because you see that every yearYou'll see that where the
tracks going through the fieldyou can see they look good, but
then the rest of the field willhave that yellow chlorotic and
not so well.
What is going on when thathappens and why?
Speaker 4 (17:54):
is that happening and is that sound management to go
out there and pack your fieldwith a tractor?
Yeah, that's a layup questionright there.
I'd never recommend compactingyour field quite like that.
But I think this does reallyillustrate some of the
complexity behind IDC and howthe hydrology of the soil really
does influence the symptoms yousee.
So even if you're in kind ofIDC hotspot, the, the particular
rainfall of the season, thenitrates maybe left over from a
(18:16):
previous corn crop can allinfluence the symptoms we see,
and so tire tracks, any kind ofcompaction zones, can actually
show the opposite response to it.
Sometimes you see an increasedIDC in those compaction zones.
But I think what's commonlywhen we see those kind of green
streaks through compaction?
A lot of times that's kind ofthe compaction zones shedding
(18:38):
off the water, not allowing theroots to imbibe, kind of those
surplus nitrates or maybe saltsin the soil.
So some of that compaction kindof alleviated one problem while
most likely causing others.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Okay, so recommendations not to go pack
your field if you have high pH.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
No, but again I mean in these high pH fields we do
know tile drainage is helpful.
It kind of helps again maintainan appropriate soil water level
throughout that field.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, no, it's all great stuff,nick.
So you know we've kind ofcovered a lot of different areas
.
So really any other commentsthat you have that you want to
share.
You know that we haven't reallyhit on for IDC management and
or just you know things to thinkabout.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
you know, for our listeners, Sure Well, if you're
battling IDC, I think it'sreally important to understand
the whole soybean health, and somuch of soybean health is below
ground and certainly soybeancyst nematode is going to be one
of those compounding factors.
You know this test that is verycommon throughout most of our
soybean production regions isable to prune roots, reduce that
(19:41):
overall root mass and that'sonly going to cause that IDC to
be more severe.
Reduce that overall root massand that's only going to cause
that.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
IVC to be more severe .
Yeah, no, that's a good point,good point.
One thing I wanted to ask hereat the end too, being here in
Nebraska we have a lot, you know, we don't have saturated soils.
We have a lot of water down butwe don't have a lot of at the
surface.
From that standpoint ofsaturating fields the surface,
(20:08):
from that standpoint tosaturating fields Under
irrigation can we see a positiveeffect or a negative effect on
the pH level of that soil and ifso, which one it is?
Why are we seeing that effect?
That happens with irrigation.
You know we have a lot ofpivots where we're putting a lot
of water on and some of theseyou know they may not shut off
for three months in a row insome of those river sands and on
some of these high pHs.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
Sure.
So again, it's notstraightforward, you can make
the problem worse.
If again, at that root zone, ifthere is kind of saturated
environments or at least youknow enough water that reduces
that airflow, right, we needoxygen in that root zone.
You know enough water thatreduces that airflow, right, we
need oxygen in that root zone.
So if you are limiting that,the the bi-permanence can can
build up, reducing again thatthat plant's ability to extract
(20:53):
iron, so you can cause problems.
Also, if you can kind of speedup the growth and development of
the plant, it can help somerecover faster, right.
So if you can get that plantgrowing more vigorously, they
can kind of outgrow this problem.
It is typically constrained tokind of that B1, b4, early
growth stage.
So if we can kind of speed themup, that can help them.
Perfect, perfect.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Well, with that being said, we're getting to the end
of our podcast.
Bill.
Anything to add or to discusswith Nick before we let Nick go?
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, no, of course I've got something.
So, as you dig into it, Nick,and you literally think about pH
.
So so let's just talk pH.
Let's not talk IDC, so let'stalk pH.
So so what other effects can pHhave on soils, chemicals,
chemical carryover, weed control, things like that?
(21:48):
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 4 (21:52):
Yeah, so this can influence a lot of things.
A lot of the chemistries we usein agriculture rely on
microbial activity and socertain microbes are going to be
more or less active at pHranges.
So certain microbes are goingto be more or less active at pH
ranges, so we've particularlykind of soil residuals can be
(22:16):
more or less active or couldpersist longer depending on the
pH of the soil.
So it really does depend on thespecific chemical class and
which microbes are involved inthat degradation.
But you can have a lot ofimpacts in that.
Certainly, nutrients manynutrients have zones in which
they are more or less available.
So iron is not the only onethat is sensitive to a pH of the
soil.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Yeah, that's a good point, because you look at the
chart.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Very good, thanks for joining.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, you look at the chart you see a lot of them
were availability to that plant.
It does make a dictation onthat soybean from there.
So, nick, thanks for joining ustoday, appreciate you taking
the time, as always, and if youyou got any last words you got
for us before we let you go.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
No, I appreciate the invite.
Thank you so much, Jeff.
Thanks, Bill.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Absolutely, absolutely, nick, take care and
take care of that the BradyBunch you're going to have here
after number six comes.
So congratulations and have agreat day, you bet.
So Bill, heard a lot of stuffon pH today, learned a lot of
stuff and you start thinkingabout it.
You know when we're talkingabout it and we talk about pH
(23:18):
and we just think about thesymptomology that we're seeing
out in the field.
But if you start diving into it,just how much of a difference
or how much of an effect a pHcan have, especially a high pH,
if you're looking at thenutrient releases or where
nutrient availability of a lotof different of our main
nutrients out there, you look atthat chart.
(23:38):
You get the specific pH.
You know some of them can'tsupply the plant with them, like
others, and we know, with someof our chemistries that we put
out there and with our mixing,how they can last longer than
that.
You know what are some of thetake-home points you got from
our conversation with Nick todayand then with that, what are a
(23:58):
couple things that you know youcan divulge that will help with
the management or help with thatproducer being able to manage
through it more going forward isabout adding sulfur basically
to the soil and broadcastingthat out there, adding ammonium
(24:20):
sulfate or some other type ofproduct in hopes of lowering the
pH, and really just the simpleanswer on that.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
It can be done, but it's going to take you forever
because it goes back to thatparent material.
So it's really going to besomething that you're not going
to get a lot of reaction out of,you know, over the long haul.
But Nick mentioned the ironchelate.
That's definitely somethingthat's had a lot of traction.
A lot of people are looking atthat.
There's other in-furrow typeproducts that a lot of companies
(24:48):
are looking at and trying topromote.
There's other.
There's even some seedtreatments that are out there.
I've heard about that peopleare trying to use and things
like that.
So other things that we'rethinking about.
But again back to what Nick youknow talked about.
We talked about the, the, thegeology, basically the parent
material, really understandingyou know what's going on
basically in that environmentyou're going into, you know you
(25:08):
think about the buffer pH.
There's a lot of a lot of that,that piece of that puzzle that
we got to think through andwhat's going on there, and you
think about the soil solutionand everything that's going on
there.
And you think about the soilsolution and everything that's
going on in there and you know,trying to, you know help that
you know not be.
So you know, and he mentioneddrainage.
I think that's a big piece ofthe puzzle when you think about,
especially the prairie potholesthat we have through the des
moines lobe and up into the,into southern minnesota, in that
(25:31):
world, a lot of those thingsthat tie into, you know, just
just having a lot of uh, carbonthat's basically in that soil.
Uh, then you know we talkedabout soybean systematode, uh,
basically in the, in the roots,and basically how that damage uh
, and you want to have a healthyroot.
So so we spend a lot of time onthis podcast talking about
genetics, by environment, bymanagement our yield triangle
(25:52):
and thinking about the wholesystem, and roots are a big part
of that.
So we want to have healthyroots and really take care of
business.
So, so, so how about you, jeff?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (25:59):
You know we've got a lot of good information on it.
You know you hit one big partwe deal with over here.
You don't, you don't fix itovernight, right it's.
It's a process and it takes alot of years to get it to, to go
down a little bit, cause youdon't realize how much it takes
to bring it down even a tenth ofa point in the pH level.
So it's something that you haveto manage, not something that
(26:22):
you can do a quick fix like hey,I'm low on nitrogen, so I throw
more nitrogen out there.
From that standpoint, I thinkone of the big points that I
took back is you know, a lot ofpeople think of it what's wrong
with my bean?
I got some disease or somethinglike that.
It's not a disease, it's aphysiological change in that
plant and basically what'shappening is that bean's not
able to take up that iron andthat iron is needed to help make
(26:43):
chlorophyll.
So that's why you're seeingthat yellowing and it shows off
from there.
So understanding it a littlebit more and knowing how it
works can help producers and ourviewers help manage it a little
bit more and get a better thingout there.
And the other thing too, aboutpH is just because you have high
ph doesn't mean the whole fieldhas it.
(27:03):
It might be only a a little 10acre patch or whatever, and it's
not a consistent.
It winds like a river through afield at times too.
So, being able to managethrough that and and picking
varieties because really thebest thing you can do is variety
placement it's picking theright variety that handles it,
but you have to make sure you'reputting things out there that's
(27:24):
going to maximize that yieldout there and help minimize what
you're seeing from that goingon from there.
So, with that being said, bill,do you have anything else to
add before we send it off forthe day?
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yeah, one last story.
So I think about the soils ofwestern Iowa where we got some
calcareous outcroppings, we liketo call them, where there's
just exposed limestone just inthe soil.
You know that goes back to thatparent material and things that
you got to be concerned about.
So pHs can be higher there too,in the hills, which is not an
area that you think about.
We've been talking a lot aboutthe potholes and prairie
(27:58):
potholes and things like that.
So understand that it's goingto be pockets.
Just like you said, a lot ofthings we got to do.
One thing I thought about I didthe other day with a customer,
zarvio Field Manager.
So I was actually at Zarvio andpulled that up and pulled up
some pH maps that he had as well.
We tied that all together tostart thinking about how to
place varieties.
So back to the previous episodewhere we talked about Zarbio
(28:19):
with Greg.
You know I think we think abouthow this whole, this whole
system starts coming togetherand really working a lot of
stuff.
So so think about what you justsaid the variety selection, the
placement, everything that wecan do.
And you know, just think aboutthat that this is a.
It's truly a, a, a deficiencyinduced by pH.
If you think about it that way,it's what it boils down to.
(28:40):
So you know we got to haveeverything that we, you know,
can do to maximize soybeanproduction and iron deficiency.
Chlorosis, basically, is one ofthose pains in our tail that
starts showing up, and if wecan't figure out what we got to
do, you know we got to take careof it.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
So thanks again, Jeff .
Speaker 3 (28:58):
So I'll turn it back to you.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Thanks, bill, and thank you allfor going for again for joining
us today.
On Spilling the Beans, weinvite you to download the Grow
Smart Live app for moreresources and share this podcast
with other growers and otherproducers.
Again, me and Bill say thankyou for joining us and make it a
great day.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Thanks for joining us on Spilling the Beans, where
every episode gets you one stepcloser to maximizing your
soybean profitability.
If you found today's insightsvaluable, subscribe and leave us
a review on your favoritepodcast platform.
Download the Grow Smart Liveapp for more resources and share
the podcast with other growers.
See you next week with moreexpert tips to help you grow
smarter and achieve the bestyields yet.
(29:40):
Of MS Technologies and isexclusively marketed by BASF.
Fasttax CS is a restricted-usepesticide.
Enlist E3 is jointly developedand owned by Corteva Agriscience
(30:03):
LLC and MS Technologies.
Enlist 1 and Enlist 2 areregistered trademarks of Corteva
Agriscience.
Always read and follow labeldirections.
Nemisphere, liberty, ultra andVaraxor are not registered and
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This information is providedfor educational purposes only
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Any sale of this product afterregistration is obtained shall
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(30:25):
any claims regarding productsafety and efficacy shall be
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Views expressed by BASFemployees and guests are their
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