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Join the University of Minnesota Extension Crops team in addressing all your crop-related questions this growing season, from soil fertility, agronomics, pest management and more. We will tackle issues as they arise to help you make better crop management decisions this season.
Welcome everyone to Strategic Farming Field Notes. Our morning sessions, we have every Wednesday from eight to 08:30. This is one where, you know, we wanna give you updates of what's going on out in the field, hopefully, a little bit more timely topics. I'm Anthony Hanson. I'll be moderating today here.
Anthony Hanson:I'm an extension educator based out of West Central Minnesota, cover a lot of pest issues. Today, we're gonna have two speakers. One is Tom Peters Peters. He is our sugar beet agronomist, both University of Minnesota and NDSU. And then Dean Melvik, our extension plant pathologist.
Anthony Hanson:Later on, we'll have the program here. So I wanna thank both of you for being on, and just wanna give a little quick primer for those who've never been on this webinar before. Just remember if you have a question, feel free to ask us. You should be able to do that down in the chat, it looks like there. Basically, that's a way for us to interact with folks based on the webinar here.
Anthony Hanson:Otherwise, I wanna thank our sponsors, Minnesota Corn Research Promotion Council and the Minnesota Soybean Research Promotion Council. They've been helping support this field notes program for a couple years now, so definitely always been helpful there to kinda keep things running. So with that, you know, our topics today are gonna be a bit on sugar beets, especially with Tom, then also disease outlooks with Dean. So, Tom, I think we'll start off with you first. And I just wanna kinda give an update on how are the sugar beets looking right now, especially with the weather we've been having?
Anthony Hanson:Kinda are they looking alright in some areas, maybe a little tougher in others, or kinda what's the outlook on those right now?
Tom Peters:Absolutely. So thank you, Anthony, for inviting me this morning. It's it's always a privilege and an honor to share information about sugar beets. So I think for those that are new, Anthony, I'm gonna do a two minute introduction on sugar beets. So we grow about a 100,000 acres of sugar beets in The United States.
Tom Peters:All of our sugar beets are processed into sugar that is part of our diets. In Minnesota and North Dakota, we grow about 635,000 acres of sugar beets and that represents about 60% of the acreage that is in The United States. So sugar beets are usually grown in a rotation that includes grass and broadleaf crops. I I would say, Anthony, the most common rotation would be sugar beets once in four years and sugar beets following a a grass crop. In the southern areas, it's usually corn, in the North it would be spring wheat.
Tom Peters:So to your question, I think every year is we have this excitement about this is going to be the year we're gonna finally get it right. And I think typical of every season, the the the crop has developed differently in different areas. I would say our best crop is actually in the area where you live in the Central Minnesota area. We call it Southern Minnesota beet sugar co op. So Kandiyohi County, Meeker, Chippewa, Renville County.
Tom Peters:We have an excellent crop growing in in those areas. If you drive by, you'll notice that our fields have closed rows. So we usually think of row closure around the July 4, we're two weeks ahead of schedule right now which really bodes well for having a strong sugar beet crop in that area. Now as we go west and north into the Red River Valley, a little more variation in our crop. Some of that is due to cold temperatures that we had at planting time.
Tom Peters:Some of it is related to some wind events that we had the week of May 10 and those wind events definitely affected sugar beet growth and development and for many growers it required that they replant their sugar beets and start over again, essentially.
Anthony Hanson:Yeah. No. I've definitely heard about some of those where it was tough looking due to that wind. But speaking of weather, we're talking a little bit about this earlier. How have you been for catching rain in kind of the Fargo Moorhead area there?
Anthony Hanson:I know, like you mentioned here, West Central Minnesota, we're kind of the oddball. It sounds like we've actually been getting plenty of rain. Not the case for a lot of area other areas in the state, though.
Tom Peters:Yeah. Our jet stream is still coming out of Western Canada, and we're not we're not catching that Gulf moisture, Gulf Of Mexico moisture. So we have not had a single thunderstorm yet. And, you know, you gotta knock on wood here. You gotta be careful for what you hope for.
Tom Peters:But but by and large, our summer rains, and I'm thinking of June, July, and August, are from thunderstorms. And those have not materialized, Anthony. So if anything, we're on a drier projection going into July and August, which is concerning, quite frankly, and we'll have to see how that materializes. So like the meteorologists say, one good thunderstorm and everything's back to normal again. So it's I'm I'm not panicking, and I don't wanna create a lot of anxiety, but the weather is going to be something we're gonna have to watch as we transition into the warmer March months of the summer.
Anthony Hanson:Alright. I got a question that came in here for you, Tom. Any issues with sugar beet root maggot this year or kinda outlook on that?
Tom Peters:Yeah. Absolutely. So so the root maggot is the most important insect pest that we have in sugar beets. And the area that has root maggots is the northern part of the valley. So I'm thinking about Walsh County on the North Dakota side, Marshall County on the Minnesota side, Polk County to some degree, Grand Forks County.
Tom Peters:I've been up there looking at fields, and there are flies all over the place. So I I am expecting that we're gonna have a significant root maggot challenge again this year. And just exactly when peak fly is, I think, is going to be determined by the weather. I'm guessing it's gonna be a little later than normal because of how cool it's been. And I think that bodes well for the sugar beet crop because it'll be a little more established.
Tom Peters:So but we have an entomologist named Mark Botel and Mark is all over the root maggot, and and I would watch what Mark produces, what his communication is is about root maggots.
Anthony Hanson:Well, I think that starts to lead into another topic here, Tom, especially, you know, other folks get ahold of because you're retiring. We kinda wanna have you on for kind of one last session here before July 1, I believe, is your retirement date here. So twelve years with the university. I just wanna mention a little bit kinda, you know, what you've been doing this whole time, but also Yeah. What you're looking forward to for, you know, issues that, you know, you want folks to kinda keep an eye on that, you know, you really wanna highlight or what you're hoping that potential replacements might be doing in the future for you?
Tom Peters:So maybe maybe I'll start with how I got here. I was a grad student under doctor Alan Dexter in the nineteen eighties. So Allen was the first extension sugar beet agronomist, weed control specialist, and Allen worked really from the beginning of when university supported sugar beet, and Alan retired in, I believe, 1998. So I was his student in the nineteen eighties and my my career after graduation was in industry. I worked at Monsanto Company for twenty five years.
Tom Peters:I worked with Biotech Crops. So I had the opportunity, they asked if I would come back in 2014 and I accepted the invitation. So I've been the extension sugar beet agronomist since 2014 or 12 seasons. This is my thirteenth year and it it's been a a real interesting time. So, Anthony, during the time that I've been the the sugar beet specialist, the development of glyphosate resistant weeds has really taken off.
Tom Peters:So waterhemp is number one. Waterhemp is number one. But also common ragweed and kochia as well. So a lot of the emphasis in my program has been strategies to control waterhemp not only in sugar beets but also in the crop sequence with sugar beets because quite frankly the best products that we have for waterhemp control are those that we're using in the rotational crop. The other thing that I have been trying to study in my research and talk about in my program is to integrate weed control using chemicals with other weed control strategies.
Tom Peters:So for example, cultural practices, using the crop itself as an ally, cropping density, row spacing, that kind of thing. Cover crops, nurse crops are important. And then also mechanical approaches like the weed zapper cultivation, and we're just at the forefront of the AI generation. And I wanna say a little bit about that too, Anthony.
Anthony Hanson:Sorry about that. A little delay. Yeah. So you wanna mention AI a little bit because, you know, that's always been a hot topic. People are wondering where what direction that's gonna go or is this some areas that might fizzle out?
Anthony Hanson:So, yeah, where are you seeing where that might catch on here?
Tom Peters:Yeah. And I think this really gets into the job description for my successor. I feel like where I've fallen short, where I wish I could have done more is in the cover crop, nurse crop area. And 26 is an example of that. Tremendous wins the week of May 10 and we lost some soil, we lost some crops because of the wind damage.
Tom Peters:So more emphasis on cover crops, nurse crops and then how to integrate those into the crop production system. So it was interesting, I was on a conversation yesterday with Jokim Werzema, so everybody knows Jokim. And he was talking about how the insects are moving out of the rye strips that we've used as a cover crop and into the spring wheat. So it's an example of making a change in one crop using cover crops that may have an implication in another crop. So this is going to be a long term project I believe and it's going to have to be done across disciplines.
Tom Peters:And I think a cross discipline work is going to be very, very critical as we go forward. You mentioned the AI tools. I I I mentioned I worked at Monsanto, and my work at Monsanto was in the biotech area, Anthony. I and and, you know, I think people in general, recognize the significance of biotech crops to agriculture, I think some of these AI tools that we're developing have the opportunity to have the same impact or even a greater impact than what we've had with biotech crops. So I am really excited about the development of these tools.
Tom Peters:They're too expensive today. They can only be used in the high value crops. But we're gonna get there and I can see in the next five, ten years integrating these tools along with some of the other control strategies that I mentioned.
Anthony Hanson:Alright. Well, thanks, Tom. Yeah. It's we're gonna definitely be missing you in terms of definitely resource to lean on for, especially, the sugar beets, but just weed science too. So I know you've definitely covered a lot of ground there.
Anthony Hanson:Any last minute thoughts?
Tom Peters:Yeah. I've got one out, and this will be a transition into Dean. I always say that we have three challenges with sugar beets. First, we've gotta get stands. Second, we've got to control the weeds and third, we have to control our foliar diseases and our number one foliar disease is Cercospora leaf spot.
Tom Peters:So there is a segue to the next segment of our meeting today. I will say this about Cercospora, our cool temperatures, our low humidity temperatures have reduced the emphasis on the development of cicospora at least for now. But it's a whole second half of the season challenge for our growers and we'll have to manage this very closely as we get into July and August and September for that matter.
Anthony Hanson:Alright. Thank you, Tom. I think Dean will move on to you, and we'll talk more about what's going on in the disease world. So I don't if you just wanna briefly mention kinda what areas you especially work on folks that maybe haven't heard from you before, but then I'll kinda give you a similar prompt as Tom before just with the kinda crazy weather we've been having across the state in terms of some areas getting more than enough rain, maybe disease concerns there versus other areas where we're not seeing as much rain. How does that kind of affect your outlook on things?
Dean Malvick:Yeah. Anthony, that sounds good. So I I'm Dean Malvick. I'm a faculty member here at the University of Minnesota based in Saint Paul. My responsibilities are research and extension on diseases of soybeans and corn.
Dean Malvick:And so that's what I've been doing here for a while at the University of Minnesota, and that's what we'll talk about today. A few of those, diseases that are important and, you know, especially some that could be affected by recent weather and those that, especially on corn that have been of considerable concern lately, and what do we know at this point? So, yeah, as we were talking about, obviously, the, the weather has been rainfall have been inconsistent across the state. And I had a map to show you of the the drought monitor from May 12 and June 9 showing the spots that are, you know, dry to drought to normal. Know, there's a large swath across the middle of the state into the Southeast that have been getting, you know, more rain.
Dean Malvick:Of course, this is changing in many parts of the state today as it's raining on this, on this morning. But, nonetheless, as we said, there are some places that are quite dry and some places that have been getting enough moisture and sometimes more than enough moisture. So two of the early season diseases of soybeans that certainly can be affected by, you know, high levels of rain are a Phytophthora root rot of soybean and rhizoctonia. You know, they both prefer warm soils, and they both prefer wet to very wet soils, especially for Pytophthora likes very wet soils. And actually, it does best is is brought on most when we have some period of saturation.
Dean Malvick:Rads like Tonya doesn't need that, but nonetheless, it is something that can be very damaging at this time of the year. In our plots, where we're doing research on rhizoctonia in soybeans and Waseca, once again, in our plots where we inoculate at a not very high level of the pathogen, we've lost at least half of our stand again this year. So we've had good conditions there, you know, enough rainfall. And with inoculum and the disease, susceptible soybeans, which, of course, most soybeans are susceptible, unfortunately, to rhizoctonia, we can see significant stand loss. Now we certainly don't see this all over the state in most fields.
Dean Malvick:We see it occasionally, but I've seen fields with almost complete loss from this. So it is something to watch for.
Anthony Hanson:So, Dean, especially, I'm thinking you mentioned Phytophthora needs saturated soils. So how does that do on, let's say, sandier ground? I'm picking on West Central Minnesota where I am where we can get a lot of rain, but also it can dry out relatively quick. Are those is that ground a little safer potentially?
Dean Malvick:Or It's
Anthony Hanson:it's a
Dean Malvick:little safer, but I've seen other diseases that are favored by similar conditions. And with enough rain, it it can do just fine. So, sandy soils are not out of the woods, so to speak. They are still prone to the problem if we get saturating rains, you know, at the right growth stage of the plant, which is primarily early stages of vegetative growth. Yeah.
Anthony Hanson:So then folks that are at higher risk right now, I think the question is could be, is there anything they can do about it right now, or is it something that's kind of basically set in, we can't really treat too much for things? How does that shake out for these different diseases you're talking about for especially early season, at least?
Dean Malvick:Good question. You know, for most root and stem diseases, you know, there's very little we can do in season. You know, one exception being a couple exception might be stem canker, stem bladder, and soybean and white mold. You know, we can use fungicides to help manage those. But, otherwise, the root most of the root in the stem diseases, we can't control them in season.
Dean Malvick:But, of course, what is valuable is to know when, where they occur, and we can take steps in the future to help manage them, whether that's through a different resistant variety or appropriate seed treatment. And that brings up the next disease as well that I wanna mention, which is probably favored by some of these places of state that are beginning adequate rainfall, that's sudden death syndrome. Now we need rainfall. We need wet soils during the first two to three weeks after that seed is planted when it's germinating, when that initial radical root is very small, you know, up to a couple inches long. That seems to me when most of the infection occurs initially.
Dean Malvick:If we don't get that early infection, the disease seems to never get as severe. That's sort of the general rule anyway, maybe not always the case. But if we don't have the herb moisture early, the disease risk for SDS is certainly much lower. And, again, we've had parts of the state where certainly we've had enough rain for that to happen. And, again, seed treatments and resistant varieties are the management tactic for that, and lots of those are being used now, you know, at considerable expense.
Dean Malvick:So, you know, it's good to watch and check to see how well they're working. And this brings out the more general rule. You know, we're beyond the stage where we have to see a lot of the other seedling diseases, which would have occurred a little sooner. But nonetheless, we can see where there's stand loss. I'm trying to figure out where there is stand loss and what caused it.
Dean Malvick:You know, some seed treatments, for example, are effective for different kinds of pathogens. And it's always good to know if the seed treatment package, if you're using one, is being effective against the prevailing pathogens and diseases in your fields.
Anthony Hanson:So, Dean, I know you sometimes have
Dean Malvick:Go ahead.
Anthony Hanson:I know you sometimes have different surveys you're doing to seeing across the state, you know, where diseases are showing up. And any of these you're talking about you wanna highlight and where they're either hotspots or areas where you're not really sure, you're kinda looking for more info or word from growers if they have some of these diseases around.
Dean Malvick:Yeah. Well, the two I've mentioned three three I've mentioned so far. So rhizoctonia is widespread. Hytophthora is widespread. SDS is not as widespread, sudden death syndrome, but it is now definitely spreading to the Northwest more.
Dean Malvick:It's been found on the southern edge of the Red River Valley in Minnesota. It hasn't been found in the northern parts of the Red River Valley as of yet, but it's been found further north in North Dakota. So that is one disease we're watching for to see how far north it is actually occurring. So if you have suspected samples, you know, feel free to send me a picture or send a sample, and we'll look at it. Kinda like to know how far that disease has spread.
Dean Malvick:And I think the last soybean disease I wanna mention, which many of you have heard about now, it's new in Minnesota. It's red crown rot of soybean. So that is a disease we definitely want to monitor and try to figure out where it might be occurring in Minnesota? So far, it's only been found in the very southwestern corner in Rock County. I suspect there's other places and just hasn't been noted yet.
Dean Malvick:So if you see samples, see plants that are dying or subject to a different symptoms that look a lot like rhizoctonia or maybe STS or brown stem rot, yet don't look quite right, you know, feel free to send me a picture, contact me. We'd like to get an idea of where that's occurring. And so we'll be doing some survey work for that later in the season. Now red cronad occurs mostly later in the season. About the time in in August is where it often shows up.
Dean Malvick:But we've noted in the greenhouse if we inoculate plants or put them in soil with the pathogen, they can succumb at the b two, b three stage. So it can be an earlier season disease as well, although I don't know how often that occurs in the field.
Anthony Hanson:Alright. Yeah. Thanks, Dean. The, yeah, red crown rot question that comes in, quite a bit sometimes, including when we had in just now too. How about looking forward just a little bit?
Anthony Hanson:I know we're ahead of white mold season or the peak of that right now, but people probably gearing up, basically checking out their fields, wondering about growth staging pretty soon here. Anything you wanna mention on that just looking forward for the next couple weeks here? And then people probably asking about tar spot too. But, again, later season diseases, but, what do you wanna prime people on just for this kinda earlier session here?
Dean Malvick:Yeah. Yeah. White mold's a good question. And that one is really driven by the weather. So just to review, I think most everyone knows this.
Dean Malvick:It's it's primarily a problem when the soybeans are flowering, the canopy is full, and we have cool, wet weather keeping the foliage and soil wet. And and if we don't have those conditions, we don't really get much of any white mold typically. Although we can have fairly short periods like that and still get the disease. Nonetheless, it's a little too early to think about what the risk will be, but certainly something to keep in mind. You know, if we wanna get a spray on to control it, in those fields that are especially prone for the problem, you know, that late r one, early r two stage, maybe early r two is maybe the primary time now, we think, to to put a fungicide application on.
Dean Malvick:So moving ahead, you mentioned tar spot of corn. That's certainly been a concern. Yeah. Relatively new problem in Minnesota. It's just been here a few years, but it's not spread across much of the state.
Dean Malvick:Although, fortunately, it's only been a problem affecting yield in small areas so far. Nonetheless, the pathogen is widespread, residing in a lot of fields, and I think we're just waiting for the right conditions to come along to get a bigger problem in more areas. So what's the status this year? This is very early at this point to detect a tar spot. I'm not sure we've ever had a a confirmed report before the first week of July in Minnesota.
Dean Malvick:Nonetheless, it's being reported now in Southern And Central Iowa, and it's been found in Indiana. So it is developing now in the Midwest, and it's also been found in Nebraska. So we'll be watching for it for sure. It's a disease that likes relatively cool temperatures, you know, averages in sixties to low seventies. And we need some moisture, but we don't need a lot of heavy rain.
Dean Malvick:So, again, we'll be looking forward to that and to those conditions and seeing what we find and be scouting for that one as well. We'll we'll alert people when we start finding it in Minnesota.
Anthony Hanson:Alright. Sounds good, Dean. I have, one question, it looks like came in here, and this is more on a you know, some folks that are, selling chemicals suggesting for controlling white mold that you spray with half a rate of cobra or similar herbicides. Do you wanna comment quick on, you know, what's going on there, what might be valid there, or the ideas behind that?
Dean Malvick:Yeah. That's that question has been coming up for literally decades. And I've been see different ways to approach this. So I have I used to talk quite often with Jeff Gonzales, which was our our lead scientist here at the Minnesota University of Minnesota for many years, retired a few years ago, and he'd done some work on it as well. Cobra can do two things.
Dean Malvick:Right? Well, three things. It can control weeds, can also burn soybeans very readily, but can also stimulate defenses to plant diseases. So it can actually it's been proven it can stimulate defenses to white mold. Now the question is, does it cause more damage, or does it cause more benefit?
Dean Malvick:Jeff always thought the risk of damage was greater than the likely benefit it would provide. In the trials that I've done the last two years, that's exactly what's happened. It has suppressed white mold, but it's also suppressed yield. So it's a it's a matter of a balance there. And some folks think different rates, different timings, you know, kinda tip the balance in the favor of the disease control versus the damage.
Dean Malvick:And I probably don't have enough data to support all of that, But I guess I'll leave it at that.
Anthony Hanson:Alright. Well, thanks, Dean. I think it's time for us to wrap up. So, again, I wanna thank both you, Dean, and also Tom Peters as well too for being on this morning. Just wanna give a quick plug for next week.
Anthony Hanson:We'll be basically talking about current crop additions, crop stand management, and then also preparing for soybean insects this summer. I do wanna mention quickly, we mentioned armyworm a little bit this session with Tom already, and just wanna say that, yeah, the people have been having issues with that across the state this week especially, so be out there scouting for it. Try to get them earlier. If they're more mature insects, insecticides may not work very well at that point. But keep an eye on that.
Anthony Hanson:I've heard about some fields that have been cleared out pretty thoroughly, so be worried about that one. But, otherwise, just wanna thank again our sponsors, Minnesota Soybean Research Promotion Council as well as the Minnesota Corn Research Promotion Council. When you log off today, there should be a quick survey, and we will see you again next week at this time, eight to 08:30. If you need CCA credits, you can try for self certification for that one. And, otherwise, thanks again, everyone.
Anthony Hanson:Have a great rest of the week here. Alright. Dean, Tom, thanks again. I think we're gonna hop off here, and a couple of us are gonna be on the debrief call after this one too. So we'll see you all there.
Dean Malvick:Thank you
Tom Peters:so send a link for that?
Dean Malvick:I don't think so.
Anthony Hanson:Do that. Yeah. I'll email that out quick to you.
Dean Malvick:Okay. Thank you.
Tom Peters:I'll take a few minutes.
Dean Malvick:Alright. Thank you all for listening. Thanks, guys.