Post-emergent rolling of soybeans can improve harvest and, ultimately, yield.
Manitoba Agriculture crop production adviser Brent Reid said producers should consider taking the time and investing the money in field rolling to get all the crop they can from the field.
“Soybeans set their first pods very close to the ground. If you can’t reach them (at harvest) because of uneven soil, you can leave a lot of crop in the field,” he said.
Leaving only four seeds per sq. foot is equal to a bushel of beans per acre.
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“It pays. And you can do it after the beans are up,” Reid said.
Making sure that the beans are up is critical to success.
When the beans are still in the hook stage, the cotyledons can easily be snapped off and the plant killed.
Rolling before germination can be effective, but it can also create problems if it is followed by heavy rain.
Crusting of the smoothed soil, especially in dirt that is low in organic matter, will impede plant development.
Research at the North Dakota State University in 2003 indicates that rolling between the late cotyledon-early unifoliate and first trifoliate stage will limit injury to less than six percent, without reducing the plant population.
Reid said producers can cut the damage done to their crop by rolling in the afternoon when the plants are less stiff, waiting until all beans have emerged from the ground and are in the unifoliate stage, and monitoring the effect of rolling after a few acres before continuing with the field and again if there are weather changes.
Agronomists at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture say if producers miss the cotyledon stage, they should expect up to a one-third reduction in the plant stand if they roll during or after the first trifoliate.
