Earlier soybean planting has become increasingly common as growers look to extend the growing season and capture more yield potential. But that shift can also change the timing of one of the crop’s biggest weed management challenges.
BASF Technical Marketing Manager Justin Moritz says planting soybeans earlier can move the crop ahead of the traditional window growers have used to manage waterhemp.
Moritz says that changing the window puts additional emphasis on flexibility within a weed management program. Growers may need to consider where different herbicide modes of action fit throughout the season, including how residual products are used before and after soybean emergence.
BASF is developing a new HPPD residual herbicide option for soybeans as part of that approach. Moritz says the goal is to give growers and their retailers more flexibility in determining how those tools fit into individual weed management programs.
But chemistry is only one part of managing waterhemp.
Moritz says growers have also used practices such as narrower rows and soybean varieties that develop a bushier canopy to close rows more quickly and compete with weeds. BASF believes reducing stress on the soybean plant can contribute to that approach as well.
That is where BASF sees a connection between its work on waterhemp and soybean cyst nematode. The company’s Nemisphere trait is designed to reduce SCN pressure below ground, while maintaining a healthier soybean plant and canopy could also help the crop compete with weeds above ground.
BASF is ultimately looking at the technologies as pieces of a broader soybean management system rather than individual solutions to unrelated problems.
Nemisphere is currently targeted for commercial launch in 2028, with additional testing and development planned ahead of commercial availability.
The post Earlier planted soybeans reshape waterhemp management appeared first on Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
