It was so great to hear rain/thunder and to receive some rain Thursday night! I don’t know how many felt this too, but it was so hard to want to work Friday after harvest has been going so hard. I saw that rain as such a gift for rest; hopefully you were able to take a little time that day for some rest too or intentionally choose that the next time we receive rain!

Old World Bluestem: Last fall, a producer near Garland shared there was a grass he had noticed his cattle weren’t eating and it was spreading in his native pasture. It was confirmed by the UNL Herbarium to be Old World Bluestem. I was grateful he gave me a tour of his pastures and it appeared that Roundup was killing it. Received another call in the Garland area this year. This resource from K-State shows ID characteristics and management info: https://www.frontierdistrict.k-state.edu/livestock/docs/2%20Old%20World%20BluestemsID.pdf. It is very drought tolerant, so it may be more visible now in the midst of drought. It’s actually not in the same genus as our native bluestems and has more characteristics of silver bluestem as they’re both in the Bothriochloa genus. It doesn’t green up as early as our native big bluestem but it will produce a seedhead quicker. It has a yellowish appearance to the leaves and stems. While cattle can graze it early, they often avoid it once it produces a seedhead. It’s extremely competitive and replaces native plants and forbs. Would encourage you to scout native pastures for any grass clumps that cattle don’t seem to be eating. If you see Old World Bluestem, make note of its location. I can also help ID the plant if needed. Management includes 2 lb/ac Glyphosate at the 4 leaf stage and again before seedheads are produced. Because it can contain both rhizomes and stolons, one may need to treat a good 1-3 feet beyond the clump. It also produces a prolific seed bank where it may take a few years of treatment on newly emerging plants before the seedbank is exhausted. When purchasing native grass seed for pastures, check with seed suppliers that the seed is free of old world bluestem. Another source of contamination can be from feeding hay, particularly from Texas and Oklahoma. It’s become an increasing problem in Kansas as well.

Soybean Yields: Last week received numerous calls and texts from people disappointed with soybean yields. That high heat period in August was really the last straw for non-irrigated soybeans, but it also greatly impacted irrigated soybeans. Other specific factors this year for the irrigated soybeans have included all the disease from irrigating since planting (white mold, sudden death syndrome, phytophthora, Fusarium root rot). Soybean gall midge has also been a factor in some fields, particularly in Seward County.

Small Grain Cover Crops: While there’s been some tremendous challenges with cover crops this year with moisture use in the midst of drought, they are a management tool for helping with disease and weed challenges. For example, a producer in the Gresham area who grew cereal rye for the purposes of weed control did see good weed control in those fields overall in spite of other challenges he faced. At least one of those fields was prone to white mold. I’d seen this in the past, but the rye kept the fungus from getting up into the soybean canopy and infecting the soybean plants. That’s in spite of how much extra he had to irrigate in the beginning of the season to get his beans up with a tall rye cover crop. Some have applied two fungicides for white mold this year and were still battling it. There’s tradeoffs to everything.

I’m often asked if I’m ‘sold out’ on cover crops. I don’t recommend cover crops to everyone because it takes another level of management. However, if a person is looking for a different tool for pest problems and is willing to look at management in another way, cover crops have the potential to help. So, if you’re dealing with soybean diseases like sudden death syndrome and/or soybean cyst nematode, small grains, particularly oats, have been proven via research to help reduce the fungus and nematodes. And, oats winterkill so they’re an option I was sharing with people who didn’t want to worry about a small grain surviving next spring. It’s late to plant oats right now, but they can be an option to consider for next spring or fall. Rye is another option before soybean because of the biomass it produces for weed control against palmer, its help in reducing soybean diseases, and it can be planted throughout the winter. I’ve been recommending wheat before corn and seed corn because it doesn’t get as much biomass and there’s not the same scare factor to plant green into it because of that. All these small grains will take moisture, but we’ve also seen them recycle moisture and nutrients back into the system in the July time-frame for May-terminated plants (research shows 6 weeks post-termination). While not a silver bullet, small grains are an option to help with pest problems if you’re open to managing a field differently. Feel free to contact me if you’d like to talk more about this.