A corn field in DE.

Here’s some advice from local agronomists as you begin to plan for 2021:

Planting Recommendations

• Deciding on when to plant is one of the most critical decisions any grower can make early in the season. Look for spring conditions with adequate soil moisture, soil temperature (greater than 50° F degrees) and warming weather patterns; likely between April 1-May 15.
• Depending on what Mother Nature has in store for us this year, a fungicide seed treatment solution can reduce the risk from early-season disease and insect pressure while optimizing root health, stress tolerance and plant vigor for better emergence. For soybeans, we recommend CruiserMaxx® Vibrance® Beans seed treatment to reduce the risk from early-season disease and insect pressure.

Keep Weed Seed Out of Your Seed Bank

• Keeping your corn and soybean fields free of unwanted weed seed is crucial for weed control in the years to come. Here are some tips to consider:
  • Avoid harvesting crops located in areas that are densely populated with weeds.
  • Adjust your combine’s cutting height settings to minimize the amount of weed seed that is harvested.
  • Regularly clean farm equipment between harvesting different fields to avoid cross-contamination.
  • Destroy all weed seed left in the field after harvest.
• As you plan for next year, we recommend the following corn and soybean herbicides to start and stay clean all season long. Fewer weeds mean more sunlight, nutrients and water will be available for the growing crop, which leads to more bushels and more revenue potential.
  • For burndown control in corn and soybeans, consider Gramoxone® SL 3.0 herbicide for convenient, flexible and dependable results.
  • For corn, consider a 2-pass herbicide program with multiple effective sites of action in an overlapping residual system like a foundation rate of Acuron® herbicide followed by Halex® GT herbicide.
  • For dicamba-tolerant soybeans, we recommend Tavium® Plus VaporGrip® Technology herbicide, the market’s first premix residual dicamba herbicide. Through its active ingredients, it controls the emerged weeds you see, and manages the weeds you don’t see yet.

Beware of Curvularia Leaf Spot

• Curvularia leaf spot is a new corn disease that has begun to spread further into Mid-Atlantic areas in 2020. Symptoms include small, tan colored lesions with brown margins that may be surrounded by a yellow halo. Lesions can be scattered across the leaf or in dense groups. The disease yield loss impact is yet to be understood for our area, but we do know that this fungus can overwinter in corn residue in no-till acres or when crop rotation does not occur. We suggest a VT/R1 fungicide application of Trivapro® or Miravis Neo® fungicide to reduce disease development.

More Detailed Tips for 2021:

• Last-minute Tips to Adjust for Uncertain Planting Dates
• How to Keep Weed Seed Out of Your Corn and Soybean Harvest
• Four Considerations When Choosing Your Corn Herbicide
• Your Checklist for Controlling 2021 Corn and Soybean Weeds

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