Visitors walk through corn and soybean trials at the Grow More™ Experience site in Iroquois, SD.

It is no surprise that weather can have massive impacts on crop performance. Western Midwest growers encountered various weather conditions earlier this season, and so did our Grow More Experience sites. We heard from 3 local agronomists about their experiences below:

Iroquois, SD – Wally West

Wally is one of our Agronomy Service Representatives for Syngenta Crop Protection in SD. He manages the Grow More Experience site in Iroquois, SD. When we spoke to him, corn was at the V10 stage and soybeans were at R1.

Q: What has the weather been like so far this season?
A: The rains have been spotty, so overall it has been very dry. Outside of that, we’re getting plenty of heat, plenty of sunshine. The crops are maturing well.

Q: What are some key insights you’ve made this season, compared to last season?
A: 2020 was a wet year. This time last year we had 14 inches of rain. This year we’ve had roughly 1.4 inches. We’ve seen the extremes back-to-back and are able to see how too much or too little moisture impacts herbicide and crop performance.

Q: What are you seeing when it comes to weed management best practices?
A: We’re reminded that under the dry conditions, it is best to use soil residual herbicides with multiple effective and overlapping, active ingredients. We were reminded again this year, just as we were this past year when it was extremely wet, that the best time to manage a difficult-to-manage weed is before the weed comes out of the ground. That’s where the effective residual herbicides come in and are the best performing products year in and year out.

York, NE –  Travis Gustafson

Travis is one of our Agronomy Service Representatives and manages the Grow More Experience site in York, NE. When we spoke to him, corn was at the V12-V14 stage and soybeans were at R1.

Q: What has the weather been like so far this season?
A: Our crops are looking really good. The corn is about to tassel, so we’ll be looking at some fungicide applications being made here in a couple of weeks. The preemergent herbicides held really well, and we’ve gotten some timely rains to help keep the post-emergent herbicides activated.

Q: What are some key insights you’ve gained from your site’s trials?
A: The timely rains have held our residual activity on our herbicides. That took the pressure off of our post-emergent applications just because our preemergent herbicides held for such a long time.

Scott City, KS – TJ Binns

TJ is one of our Agronomy Service Representatives and manages the Scott City, KS, Grow More Experience site. When we spoke to him, corn was pre-tassel.

Q: What has the weather been like so far this season?
A: In western KS, we went into corn planting very dry. It was nice and cool, but then it became a very wet season for us. We had a 2-to-3-week period there where we weren’t getting any corn planted. After we started planting corn again, we got hit with the western KS heat. Had a week there that was 105 to 110 degrees. That stressed the corn out, but since then we have cooled off and continued with isolated rains.

Q: What are some key insights you’ve gained so far this season?
A: We did a great job over the wintertime having plans, but then things changed. Growers didn’t get corn planted when they wanted and needed to delay their herbicide applications. When timing is of-the-essence, it is important to have a preemergent herbicide that has overlapping residuals with multiple effective sites of action.

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