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The NDSU Extension weekly podcast In the Pod: Soybean Updates delivers timely insights and expert advice on soybean production.
You're listening to In The Pod, Soybean Updates, a weekly trek into the latest soybean information from NDSU Extension. Like any crop, soybeans grow according to their environment. John Rickertsen, NDSU Headinger research agronomist, has the latest from the Southwestern Part Of North Dakota. John, how was the weather last year as it relates to soybeans?
John Rickertsen:Well, I'd say it's actually things are looking very good this year for a soybean crop because the big plus is we went into last fall with some really nice moisture. We We got some moisture actually in August and then not into September. As a side note, my winter wheat looks probably the best it has for quite some years. Didn't get a lot of moisture over the winter, but we have a good soil profile going down there, inches when you look at the end on soil moisture. I mean, so we're set up or we got some reserve moisture, which is very helpful. Never know what the summer's gonna bring, but actually having some moisture. So, I mean, if we get some summer rains and get some of those July rains, I think we could set up certainly, you can at least have an average year where I'm looking at 20 to 25 bushel soybeans, and it could go higher if you know, it depends what the summer weather does. It certainly looks like it wouldn't be a failure. So I'm looking like soybeans would at least be an okay option for guys out west this year.
Bruce Sundeen:Considering those conditions, when do you think planting will begin in your area?
John Rickertsen:Things a bit warming up here. Guys did start rolling on weed about first April. I mean, there's guys going now on it because we recently did get 10 inches of snow or so. So we've had seven, eight tenths of moisture, which got things really moistened up on top again nicely so we can go out planting the moisture. You know? Some of the fields are waiting a bit. We really won't see soybeans going in probably till the May. We can plant them as early as the first week according to crop insurance. I'll admit, I get nervous when we start talking the May. I did a planning state study here a few years ago, and that first date typically was a little lower. I do worry about we can get those late frosts. You know, if that stuff's up in three weeks and we get a frost, get worried. I feel my ideal planting time for beans is probably the tenth to the fifteenth through the end of the month. And, certainly, yields then start to fall off when I'm getting very into May and into June. But, of course, you have to play with what the weather brings you. And that's what I foresee out here people doing.
Bruce Sundeen:I'd say early planting is like going to the casino. You might hit it big if everything goes well, but there's so many things that can go wrong.
John Rickertsen:There is so many factors that really in the corn soybean belt, they have been pushing soybean, you know, planting dates kinda earlier all the time to the point where a lot of people are doing corn, beans, corn, you know, kinda getting their beans in in the middle of their corn planting. Out here, I get a little, like I said, just a little nervous because, you know, with our elevation and the potential for the late freezes, which can happen, clear into that June depending on the year.
Bruce Sundeen:So is there anything we should watch for in 2026?
John Rickertsen:I think the major issues for us this year is the thing we've been fighting for a while out here, which is kosha. Kosha has been very difficult to control. Of course, last year, we did lose our dicamba trait. This year, we do have it back again. So that I think that's a tool that will be helpful because just the straight glyphosate and some of our pres, they're helpful, but not cutting it. Even with that, I'm gonna tell people, you gotta have any more. Get a preprogram down along with that good post, which this year, I'm sure a lot of people will be using the dicamba option again with their glyphosate. So I think that will be helpful because one of the problems we have with beans out here is sometimes they don't really get very big, so we don't necessarily get a great canopy. So it's really important to get to control so we don't have that late flush coming on us.
Bruce Sundeen:Are the majority of the soybean farmers using conventional or no till?
John Rickertsen:That's probably a good thing to note out here is that we actually are predominantly, I would say, 98% a no till production environment out here. Been that way for twenty years plus. I mean, ground was getting converted to no till in the nineties. A lot of people got it converted by the mid two thousands. So predominantly a no till environment. So that also limits some of our weed control options both for herbicides and the fact we don't have tillage to deal with it, but we need to save that moisture and keep our soil from blowing. And especially going like the beans where I just don't have a lot of residue after beans, I wanna save you know, if I'm planting into that wheat stubble, I wanna save as much as that wheat stubble as I can for after the soybean crop so we don't blow some soil away.
Bruce Sundeen:John, with no till, you'll need to keep an eye on chemicals for burndown and other things, I'm sure.
John Rickertsen:Yep. There is. And, I mean, go ahead and look. And the issue has some great guides on your options for for weed control in soybeans, one of those crops that has a lot of things listed for it. I mean, go take a look at that. And like I said, with the dicamba being an option again, I think that will be helpful for people out here.
Bruce Sundeen:Thanks, John. Our guest has been John Rickertsen, NDSU Research Agronomist. You're listening to In the Pod, Soybean Updates, a weekly trek into the latest soybean information from NDSU Extension, supported by the North Dakota Soybean Council.