Garry Hnatowich’s first piece of advice to Saskatchewan soybean growers is to take it slow, but he knows he will be ignored.
Saskatchewan farmers do not dabble. Instead, they tend to do things in a big way.
With soybeans, acres have gone from almost nothing in 2011 to an estimated 200,000 acres last year.
“At that rate of growth, we could be under sizeable acres in a short period of time,” he told growers at CropSphere 2014.
Hnatowich, a research agronomist with the Irrigation Crop Diversification Corp., has conducted soybean research since 1979, but most of his work was done outside the province.
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He said there are no experts on growing soybeans in Saskatchewan, and it would be wise if farmers waited until researchers had solid agronomic advice based on years of working with the crop.
However, he knows that’s not going to happen, so he provided them with an educated guess based on his experience with the crop in other provinces and states and limited research he has conducted in Saskatchewan’s Lake Diefenbaker area.
Hnatowich said variety selection is the most important decision a farmer can make. Growers need to plant the earliest maturing varieties they can find.
“The bottom line is only in one year out of the last 10 or so did a later mat-uring variety outperform the earliest maturing varieties that we have acquired,” he said.
Growers should use the Saskatche-wan Agriculture website to find our what the average corn heat units are in their area and then find a variety suited to that rating.
The soybean yield ratings in the guide published by the Canada-Sask-atchewan Irrigation Diversification Centre can differ from those contained in Saskatchewan Agriculture’s guide. Hnatowich said his trials are conducted under dry land and irrigated conditions.
Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 soybeans have quickly taken over a big chunk of the market. The company claims the new trait delivers more pods per plant and more seeds per pod.
“I was a little skeptical. I thought maybe this was a marketing gimmick,” said Hnatowich.
“It’s not. We’re finding at least a 10 percent yield advantage over the original Roundup Ready material.”
He said there are definitely more pods per plant, but he hasn’t seen more seeds per pod.
Soybeans are a long season crop that typically takes about 125 days to grow, but it should not be planted until the soil temperature is 10 C, which in the Outlook, Sask., area is around May 15.
“If there is one thing to remember on this talk, this is it,” he said. “Do not rush it because you’re not going to be doing yourselves any favour.”
Soybeans should be handled gently because it is a fragile crop. Farmers should consider using elevation rather than augering.
Seed treatments should be used, and seeding depth is critical. Soybeans should be planted 19 to 38 millimetres into the soil.
The seeding rate should be 180,000 plants per acre for solid seeded fields and 160,000 per acre for row cropping.
Nitrogen inoculation is critical because there are no native species of the bacteria required for nitrogen fixation in Saskatchewan’s soil. Some Manitoba growers are double inoculating their soybean crops.
Fifty percent of a soybean’s nitrogen requirements come from fixation and the rest is obtained from the soil.
Soybeans are sensitive to phosphorus, so it should be placed away from the seed if possible and limited to 15 lb. per acre. It can be bumped up as high as 25 lb. if soil moisture is good. The crop is an effective scavenger of phosphorus.
The crop is a poor weed competitor until the canopy is formed, but most varieties are Roundup Ready so weed control is straightforward.
Soybeans are susceptible to root rots, pythium, rhizoctonia and fusarium, which is why seed treatments are a must. Wireworms, cutworms and grasshoppers are the only insects to worry about.
The crop is ready for harvest when 95 percent of the pods have a buckskin brown colour. It is best to allow the crop to dry down to 14 percent moisture before combining.
“It’s a beautiful crop to combine. It’s relatively shatter-proof.”
A flex header is a must and an air assist reel is a bonus. Splits and cracks are not major problems. Buyers can allow up to 15 percent splits and five percent green seed.
Hnatowich said producers in Manitoba and the United States suggest that growing back-to-back soybean crops doesn’t hurt yields.
Soybeans don’t like heavy trash from the previous crop.
