Is there going to be a drought this year in your area? It’s impossible to know for sure.

Last year on our farm, we were in a severe drought for much of the season, but one of our fields caught nearly three inches of rain in one rainfall event that the others did not. It’s little surprise that was our best-producing field. Even in a widespread drought, there are exceptions.

Let’s explore how you can prepare for and protect your soybean crop from a drought without limiting your upside yield potential in case you do catch ideal moisture.

FERTILITY

If your plants are short on any of the essential nutrients, they will pull in more water, trying to bring in the needed supply of that specific food. Therefore, if you are short on even one nutrient in your fertility program, your crop will become a water waster! If you have irrigation, you can add fertility and feed the crop at any time. In a dryland situation, if there isn’t enough moisture in the soil, your crop can’t get the food it needs to grow and ultimately make yield. To make it even more challenging, a soybean crop needs much of its fertilizer in the latter part of the season.

Key Fertility Points in Drought:

• Apply fertility the fall before soybeans or at planting
• Be sure to have an abundant supply so it takes less water to bring it in
• Use a complete soil test with micronutrients, base saturation, etc. to guide your fertility application plan

5 PLANTING CONSIDERATIONS

1. PLANTING DATE

Plant early if possible to beat the heat and to utilize every drop of moisture you get the entire season.

2. SOIL CONDITIONS AT PLANTING

If the soil is dry and you’re past your first crop insurance date, get the crop in the ground. NEVER MUD IT IN!

3. WEED CONTROL

Perfect weed control is needed to eliminate all competition for moisture and nutrients.

4. ROW SPACING

Use narrow rows if possible to reach crop canopy quickly and conserve moisture.

5. SEED TREATMENT

Use a complete seed treatment with Naturals to expand the root system, as well as insecticide and fungicides to stop insects and diseases.

DOES THE SOYBEAN TRAIT PACKAGE MATTER?

IN-SEASON MANAGEMENT

WEEDS

Stay on top of weed control since weeds take water and nutrients away from your crop. For each inch of growth they have, you’re losing more and more yield!

INSECTS

Spray early for problem insects. This requires you to scout often and take action quickly. You can’t allow your crop to suffer at all, as the effects are much worse during a drought season when the crop is already under stress.

DISEASES

While less likely during a drought season, diseases can still have an impact. For example, charcoal root rot, anthracnose, and pod and stem blight can be a problem even on a year that is dry for much of the way. Also, fungicide applications can be helpful for reducing ethylene production in the plants and reducing the plant’s temperature. This allows the plant to stay greener for a longer time and hopefully be more prepared to make use of a late-season shower.

NATURALS

We’ve seen a nice response using a naturals product called Heat Shield. It contains beneficial fungal endophytes that have been shown to reduce the temperature of the crop canopy and help the plants better tolerate heat and drought.