Farming Podcast | Managing Root-Knot Nematodes | XtremeAg

00:00:00 Nematodes might be costing American agriculture $1.5 billion worth of annual crop loss. Can we correct this and get our money back from our fields? 00:00:10 That's what we're talking about in this episode of XtremeAg's Cutting the Curve. Welcome to XtremeAg's Cutting the Curve podcast, where real 00:00:19 farmers share real insights and real results to help you improve your farming operation. And now, here's your host, 00:00:26 Damian Mason. Hey there. Welcome to another fantastic episode of XtremeAg's Cutting the Curve. We got a great one for you today. We're talking about nematodes and how to prevent 00:00:35 them from causing you crop damage. We visited this subject at Commodity Classic with Matt Miles and George Huckabee. George is with a company called Vive 00:00:44 Crop Protection, and I want to just pull up something because I'll admit, I don't know as much as you guys, so I used AI this morning while I was eating my 00:00:52 breakfast, and I wanted to prepare for this. Nematodes, particularly the soybean cyst nematode, and I know we're going to talk about root... 00:00:59 What's the other one? Root-knot nematode. Mm-hmm. Are the leading cause of yield loss in soybeans, often causing up to 33% reduction without visible above-ground symptoms. 00:01:09 These microscopic worms feed on roots, causing stunted, yellowed plants with reduced nutrient uptake. 00:01:15 Annual losses exceed $1.5 billion in the United States alone, and that is information from the North Carolina State Extension Agency. 00:01:24 That's pretty damn big. So George, does that sound reasonable to you? There's a whole bunch of these microscopic worms out here, soybean cyst and 00:01:31 root-knot nematode in particular, causing these problems. Yeah. So nematodes in general, there's a bunch of 00:01:38 free-living nematodes that are non what are called plant parasitic, which don't affect plants, but there's a lot that do affect plants. 00:01:45 And to me, that's an issue that a lot of guys don't really check for because you've got to do a complete different sample. 00:01:51 It's not goes into regular soil sampling. You got to do a nematode analysis, and guys just don't know they have that problem. 00:01:58 And I think as people do more investigation and they start doing samples and checking, they find out that, "I do have a problem." And it is causing some yield 00:02:07 loss and yield reduction because the worst thing for nematodes is to not do anything at all and just continue to let them proliferate like they're growing, 00:02:15 and they are, and get the numbers up high enough to where they get to where they're causing a lot of damage. So the biggest thing is figuring out if you have a 00:02:22 problem, and then once you have a problem is, what are you going to do to fix that issue or try to decrease those populations? Matt, I'm going to be honest with you, after we did our thing at Commodity Classic, 00:02:32 I knew that nematodes were a parasite that caused problems, but I didn't know that much about it, so I did my research on this. And it's easier now than it's ever been. 00:02:40 And then I thought, "Well, let's make sure this is accurate." Then I pulled it up again. It's against university data, so that's where this came from. 00:02:47 Microscopic worms that are in your soils. And then you have used a product that comes from George's company, Vive Crop Protection, for the last two years on cotton and on corn. 00:02:56 You're going to use it on soybeans. You were nodding your head when George was saying to you, reading some more right here, 00:03:03 about most guys don't even realize they got this problem. So why don't you start there? You were nodding your head about the reality of 00:03:09 nematodes and the damage they do, and maybe it's not even known by a lot of farmers. Well, it's pretty well-known around here because we have the root-knot nematode. 00:03:18 They're in our clay soils, but they affect the roots in our sandier soils. And if you don't know you have them when you plant soybeans on those 00:03:28 particular fields, you will know you have them by the end of the year. We've had 00:03:34 fields that would have spots of 80 bushel beans and spots of zero. And when I say zero, the plant got a pretty decent 00:03:42 size, turned yellow like you said, AI said, and never really produced any pods at all. And what Mr. 00:03:49 George was talking about is it's a complete different sample. So you go out there and you pull two acre grid samples for fertility, that's 00:03:55 not going to tell you anything about your nematodes. And we have reniform and root knot. Those are the two that affect us the worst. We may have cysts, but we're so busy trying to kill the root knots that we probably 00:04:06 never see the cysts even exist. But they're detrimental in soybeans, probably, in my opinion, worse than they are in cotton. 00:04:17 We've always had a nemicide on cotton. When I grew up growing cotton, that was just standard. You put Temik. Mm-hmm. 00:04:22 And that was just something you put out every year, and it produced an ROI. But when we started growing these soybeans on cotton ground, which is the lighter 00:04:30 soils, then we started figuring out that the root knots were probably more detrimental to soybeans than they were to any other crop 00:04:37 that I grew. Mm-hmm. George, you're nodding your head now, but on this particular, you said we test for soil. 00:04:46 I'm looking at my notes here. Mm-hmm. We test for soil, we test for nutrients, we do all that, but maybe we're not testing for nematodes. And Matt says, "Well, we've been doing it here for a long 00:04:52 time because this root knot nematode has been a big issue." You've got a product, because the question I'm going to have is, 00:05:01 I'm thinking we probably had less effective products. When Matt says we used a product called Temik or whatever, so now we've got what we think is the next evolution of stuff to handle this? 00:05:10 Yeah. And the Temik product is a good product. It's been around a long time, but it's also got a real high toxicity to it. So it's a good nematicide, but it's also a good everything else 00:05:20 nematicide. It's toxic. We like to think Averm FC, our product, is safer and easier to handle, too, and it is a restricted use, but it's 00:05:32 not as deadly, I wouldn't think, as Temik is. But going back to the nematode, another thing I wanted to mention, too, is that when you take a nematode sample, 00:05:43 you got to take it in the fall. And it's one of those things you take way ahead of time before you're going to need it because you're not going to be doing anything, 00:05:49 planting till next spring or summer. So you're taking that fall sample, so a lot of guys either forget to take it or don't take it, or they want to find out about a problem later on in the 00:05:58 springtime, and by then it's not too late, but the numbers are not the same as they are in the fall. So taking that sample in the fall is a very 00:06:06 critical part, about the same time to take a soil sample for nutrient analysis, too. 00:06:11 And the thing is, you take it just like you do the nutrients. So these nematodes are going to be concentrated around the root zone of that plant. 00:06:17 So when you go out there in the fall, they should be the biggest numbers you have should be in- Yeah 00:06:22 ... the fall because they're all there living on that plant. And as George said, that's when you got to take them. 00:06:28 You take them in the spring, you probably waited too late to do a lot of good unless you hadn't planted yet. 00:06:33 I see. Yeah. So fall testing. So go ahead- Yeah ... and start in on the proper use of this. We'll get into the soybeans because that's what's coming up, and I want to know 00:06:41 what you're looking forward to. But the experience you had, you used Vive's product called Avail FC, Matt, for the last two years. 00:06:48 I'm looking at my notes here. You used it on cotton and corn. You knew you needed it. So just start with what you've already 00:06:56 seen from this product and more importantly than the results that you're excited about and then 00:07:03 usage, et cetera. Well, my biggest excitement about this product actually is the price. When 00:07:10 XtremeAg started working with Vive, we found out what products they had, and when they said they had a root knot nematode product, that just lit my fire right there. 00:07:20 So I sat down with the sales guy, Jeremy, and we went over it. And correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a little bit of older 00:07:28 technology that was a seed treatment that they encapsulated, correct? Mm-hmm. 00:07:34 Which makes it more potent. So we've been using... When we talk about Temik, Temik was so toxic that everybody just had to get away from it. 00:07:44 Actually, it was outlawed. It's came back now as a different AgLogic, but it was outlawed. If you got 00:07:50 it on you very much, you better go take a shower. Everything was- Yeah 00:07:53 ... closed and sealed when you put the containers on, where you didn't touch it. That was a great product, but it was so dangerous that it wasn't worth the 00:08:02 control. Velum was a product that was developed or came out later, which is an in-furrow type product similar to Avail. The difference is it's 00:08:11 about three times the cost of Avail. So when we started looking at the cost per acre and the control, and Jeremy gave me some references because I wasn't just going to go throw this on 00:08:21 my whole crop without knowing because it could cost me a lot of money. I talked to people that weren't able to sell Avail that were 00:08:29 retailers that said, "I hate to tell you this, but it works, and it works well." And we did head-to-head tests with the competition, which 00:08:36 the competition to me is Velum. And I would say it won 60% of the time. Mm-hmm. 00:08:42 They probably got data that says it was more, but it was like $8 or $9 an acre versus $30. 00:08:48 Mm-hmm. So you could see the difference in the ROI. It was an absolute no-brain for me. And I took a chance on it. I planted my whole cotton crop, and I used Avail on the whole thing, just 00:08:58 hoping and praying off of some references I got that it was going to work, and it worked as good or better, in most cases better 00:09:06 than the competition. This product is always used in-furrow, right? Yes. Correct. 00:09:10 So if you're listening to this and you don't have in-furrow on your planter set up, it's something I can't use, or is there another option? 00:09:19 Yeah. I was going to say, yeah, it's got to have the in-furrow set up because everything goes in-furrow like that. 00:09:24 We don't have a seed treatment label or anything like that, so it's all in-furrow, correct. 00:09:27 Okay. So all right, you used it on cotton, and you were happy with the results. And you said the price got you excited, but obviously there must be some results. 00:09:34 Yes. It had positive results plus a positive ROI, probably one of the better ROIs of any product 00:09:40 that I use. You talked about using that prior product, which was very toxic, and it took me back to the stuff in the '80s, the Counter, the insecticide, that you'd dump that 00:09:50 orange stuff in the planter, and the fumes would come up. And I got to tell you, 00:09:55 I know a lot of guys that died of cancer. So that's a reality. So this stuff right here, how do you use this? It's safer to use, and it's easier to use? 00:10:06 Is Avail an easier option? Are you asking me or Matt on this? Well, let's ask the farmer first. How do you use this? Is it easier to use? 00:10:17 Yeah, it's just like using any other chemical. It is restricted use, but I would say it's on the lighter side of a restricted-use pesticide. 00:10:25 So I mean, you don't want to drink it- Yeah ... but you could spill some on you or something and then go wash it off with water and soap, and you're fine. If you did that with 00:10:34 Temik, you better go home and take a full shower, in all honesty. Yeah. 00:10:38 And it mixes with anything. So we run some pretty sophisticated in-furrows on corn and beans both, and cotton also. And a lot of times things don't 00:10:48 mix well, they don't play well with others. But we've had this product in every... I've never had 00:10:54 a stop up because of this product. So that's a big thing right there, George, on compatibility. When I first started working with these XtremeAg guys, I guess I wasn't aware that 00:11:02 there's sometimes like six, eight, 10 different things that are going in at time of planting, and then all of a sudden you got a compatibility problem. 00:11:08 So one of the big things here is ease of use because it's compatible. Yeah. 00:11:14 We like to talk about our products, our FC line, which stands for Fertilize Compatible. And they were designed to mix with fertilizer. 00:11:20 They're actually designed to mix with anything you can think of. And our AtlasFirst technology is what enables us, our nanotechnology 00:11:27 enables us to mix with things, and it kind of slows down the hydration and the mixing to where things don't clabber up and make a mess. 00:11:33 And that's what our FC line does, our Avail FC, is it allows to mix with anything you think of. 10-34-0, pop-up fertilizer, any kind of 00:11:40 micronutrients, anything like that, it allows it to mix. All right. I used AI to find out about nematodes, and now I just realized that the 00:11:48 FC in Avail FC stands for fertilizer compatible. All right. What'd you find out on corn, Matt? 00:11:53 Yeah, and see, that was very surprising, too. I'm glad you brought that up. So corn is a host for the root knot, but 00:11:59 I'm going to see how to say this. I didn't think that it caused a yield damage, okay? Mm-hmm. 00:12:06 I knew that it was a host, so it actually made the numbers worse for the following crop. But I didn't think there was a yield damage until we did our trial last year with 00:12:16 Avail, and we did it on corn. They wanted me to do it on corn. I said, "Well, corn, we don't fight root knots with corn." They said, "Yeah, you 00:12:22 do, you just don't know it." And it was a double-digit increase. Now I'm real hesitant to-To say double-digit 00:12:29 increases because a lot of farmers don't believe that, and a lot of times I don't either. But we literally, I forget what the number was, maybe 00:12:36 17 bushels or so. I don't remember what the data exactly was, but it was an eye-opening experience to the point that this year on 00:12:44 our corn, I've started using it in my heavy root knot fields. And see, another thing about that is what I was looking at, I didn't expect a yield increase at all, but I expected to possibly lower my 00:12:55 numbers. So if you're controlling it in soybeans or cotton and then you plant corn, well, then they build back. Right? 00:13:02 So if you can control it in the corn too, then those numbers stay lower. Yeah. 00:13:05 The lower the number, the better you're going to be. Yeah. So speak to that, George. Cumulative effect. In other words, 00:13:13 once I start managing my nematodes, I've got less nematode problems to manage next year. Is that what I'm hearing on a cumulative effect? 00:13:20 Well, that's the idea is that's what you want to do. But a lot of times, I look at nematodes as it's something that didn't happen overnight, so it's not going 00:13:28 away overnight. So it is, and I think Matt's a good example of this too, is that it's a program approach. Like once you start doing it, it's something you don't just do for a year and stop. 00:13:38 Like you've got to do it every year and put that part of your program on all your crops because if there's a crop you're not treating, those levels are going to be 00:13:45 coming up too. So the biggest thing is making sure you treat every year and making sure you have a matticide tool, you're combating that. 00:13:51 But it's also along with other things like crop rotation and stuff like that. If you can rotate different IPM strategies that kind of help to 00:14:00 alleviate nematodes, not just the product, the matticide, but everything else you do too. 00:14:05 You're not ever going to get rid of them. Yeah. I mean, the best rotation for nematodes in our area is either going to be peanuts or milo, and I don't grow either one. Right? 00:14:15 Mm-hmm. So, the best thing we can do is just try to limit them. Like you see these guys that say they've got a root-knot resistant bean, mid 00:14:23 root, full root-knot resistant bean. Let me see it. There was one, and it was Pioneer, and they switched to Enlist, and these other ones are semi root-knot resistant. 00:14:34 So when you put a product like this on there, you've got to have this product plus the biggest resistance you can get out of the 00:14:41 variety, and that's not always your highest-yielding variety. Mm-hmm. 00:14:45 A root-knot resistant bean is usually five to seven bushel less than one of your big boys that you plant for high yield. 00:14:51 So you just got to monitor that, knowing that when you plant beans on that field, they're going to be five to 10 bushel less than a field that's absent root-knots, 00:14:59 even though you're doing everything you can to control them, but it's going to be half the yield if you don't control them or less. 00:15:06 Yep. So you just said you might lose five to seven bushels even using mitigation against root-knot just 00:15:14 because the pressure is there. Yes. And no matter- You know going in to... When I go in to plant a root-knot field, I know even with all I do, 00:15:24 the extra money I spent on the Averland- Right ... and using a resistant variety, I'm going to be five to seven bushels lower than a silty loam field that's absent any root-knots. 00:15:33 Wow. It's just the way it is. Wow. Wasn't there a picture, Matt, that we showed at the Commodity Classic where I think a field of yours where a nozzle got stopped up or injection- 00:15:42 Yes ... got stopped up and then basically one row that didn't get treated? Yeah. 00:15:45 And you can look at the size difference and like, wow, that's a huge difference, but also kind of helps you out, Matt, because you're like, "I know 00:15:52 it's working, so it's doing something." That's a fact. That was at my field day. Yeah. 00:15:56 If Kevin seen it, he might remember it, but there was one short row there, and what it was was the in-furrow got stopped up. 00:16:02 Mm-hmm. Well, what's interesting, when I said I pulled this thing up here and they said annual loss is at one and a half billion. 00:16:08 They're just talking about nematodes on soybeans, and I think they're just talking really about cyst, which isn't even what you're talking about. 00:16:17 Well, if you start talking, when Matt just said without any mitigation, you might have half, so instead of you're going 00:16:23 60 bushels, you're going down to 30. So it doesn't take long to rack up a point one half billion dollars if your numbers are accurate, which sounds like they are. 00:16:30 And I want to say too there, I think it's the Southern Soybean Consortium, there's a research group, and they published some public information. 00:16:37 They actually were talking about nematodes are the number one pest of soybeans in the South too, of root-knot and reniform, just from that same 00:16:45 standpoint. So as far as yield robbers and what's causing the most damage, it's going to be nematodes by far versus every other pest of soybeans. 00:16:53 That's diseases, that's insects, that's everything. Okay. I want to get into what's going to happen this year with the soybean application because you're going to use it across a whole bunch of acres. 00:17:03 This new product, not new, Averland FC, which now you've been using for a couple of years. What's new is it just got registration for soybeans. 00:17:09 So for anybody that's listening, whether they're in the South, particularly in the South, and then anybody that's up where I'm from in the Midwest, should be thinking 00:17:16 about using this product. I want to hear how you're going to use it and what you expect out of it for soybeans. Before I do that, I want to talk to you about our 00:17:21 friends over at Earth Optics. If you farm, and you probably do if you listen to XtremeAg stuff, imagine knowing your soil as well as you know your fields. 00:17:29 With Earth Optics, huh. Earth Optics, you get the most precise soil insights in the industry, clear, accurate data on fertility, biology, and compaction. 00:17:37 No more guessing, just the information you need to make smarter decisions. You can optimize your costs and boost your yields. 00:17:43 Earth Optics puts the full picture of your soil right in front of you at the time you need it, so you can farm confidently and profitably, unlock 00:17:53 healthier soils, stronger harvests, and a better bottom line. You want to learn more, go to Earth Optics. 00:17:58 Earth like the planet you live on, Optics like your eyeballs. EarthOptics.com. Go check it out. 00:18:04 All right, you're going to use it on soybeans. Every acre? Every acre of root-knot soybeans. 00:18:09 So I've got a lot of clay beans and sandy loam beans that are not root-knot fields. I'll have about two- 00:18:15 Do you know that from experience, or you just know that from testing? Every fall, you go out and pull the samples. 00:18:19 No, we don't pull them every fall. And I can pretty much rent a farm and drive that farm or disc that farm, and 00:18:27 I can tell you where the root-knots are going to be. It's in the deep... I can tell you where they're going to affect the yield. 00:18:32 We have them in the clay.They just don't, for some reason, they're not active in the clay and maybe George can explain that. 00:18:39 I've never understood that. But you can actually go in and variable rate it based on soil type- Mm-hmm 00:18:45 ... if you were just running that product alone. In my opinion, you could do that. They've done it with other products too. 00:18:50 But we'll have it on right at 3,000 acres this year. So George, do you believe him? He says he can just drive through a field and know whether he's going to have nematode problems or not. 00:19:01 I believe him because once you understand nematodes, you do a lot of samples, and you recognize the symptoms and the signs, I'm not going to say it's easy, but once you do it, you kind of know what to look 00:19:13 for and their telltale signs and stuff like that, and I believe him because if you've dealt with it, you know the problem, I think they can identify it. 00:19:20 All right. So you're going to put it on all of your nematode, root knot in your case, nematode- 00:19:26 infested fields or you've had problems, and you're going to put it in there. It just goes in-furrow, it goes with all your stuff. 00:19:34 Is there anything we need to know? Not really. That's basically it. You just add it to your normal in-furrow or if you don't use in-furrow, 00:19:42 and you just use... A lot of times, we don't run in-furrow on soybeans. As far as any kind of fertility, I've just never been able to get an ROI out of it. 00:19:50 So we're just running straight Averland in there at that point. But when we're doing cotton, we've got it in there with a pretty sophisticated 00:19:56 in-furrow or corn. You mean the mixture? The mixture in corn and cotton has six or seven different things in it. When you plant your soybeans, the only thing that's getting dribbled 00:20:05 in-furrow is this. Is Averland, except for when I'm doing some XtremeAg plots or whatever- Yeah 00:20:11 ... just to see. Yeah, if you're doing a plot. Okay, so this is going to be the only thing in there, so compatibility is not an issue. Can we talk about the rate? 00:20:17 How much are we putting in? So I don't have that in front of me. George, do you know? 00:20:23 Soybeans are five ounces, is that right? Yeah. The rate is, so it's based on row space, but it's anywhere- 100 00:20:30 ... from five to seven and a half ounces per acre is what it comes out to be. Yeah. Can you tell me a rough idea of how much I'm spending? 00:20:38 George? That to me or Matt, to me? What George? Can you tell me a rough idea of what I'm spending? I would say at that five-ounce rate, you're going to be around 00:20:47 $12 an acre. Okay. And that's roughly at one bushel, and Matt said you might lose half your yield if you've got a field that's nematode 00:20:56 overridden. So I can probably justify 12 bucks an acre. All right. Mm-hmm. 00:21:00 What happens if it doesn't go in in-furrow, there's no recovering, right? I can't come out here in July and recover from nematode damage, right 00:21:10 Matt? No. There's no seed treatment, which to me is a little bit inferior to an in-furrow product. 00:21:17 Seed treatment- Mm ... in-furrow. That's the only two options you have to control. There's a product out there that 00:21:25 shows some limited resistance, that will help some. It's probably not on label, so I'm not going to discuss it. But 00:21:35 actually, I think your hands are tied if you don't go in-furrow or a seed treatment. 00:21:39 Okay. And I think that's what makes it so bad is that I think a lot of people are reactionary and they wait till they have a problem if they want to treat it, and this is a situation where once you see the problem and 00:21:50 have the problem, it's too late. And to me, I always like to think once the furrow closes, that's all you can do, and then that's it. 00:21:57 And like I said, there's no rescue treatments there. There's no salvage treatments. You've got to plan for it ahead of time, and that's it. 00:22:04 It don't take but one year to learn that you've got them. I rented a farm, and 00:22:09 I had no idea that I had the farm adjacent to it, didn't have any root knots, right? 00:22:13 Right. I rented this farm, and we were cutting 80 bushel on our original farm and 60 bushel on this farm, like something's wrong. 00:22:19 We went in there and grid sampled for nematodes, and that's what it was. Okay. So let's just go through then. 00:22:25 If you're listening to this episode and you say, "All right, I think I might have a problem because these yields don't seem right," or, "I'm sure I don't have a 00:22:32 problem." Sample in the fall. You did it on a grid. If you're new to this, do you have to do it that detailed George, or do you just need to go and grab a couple samples out of a field? What do you think? 00:22:44 Well, a grid is good, but it's very labor-intensive and it's been expensive. So to me, what I would do if I picked up a new piece of 00:22:51 ground and wanted to say, "Okay, I want to figure out if I have nematodes or what," I'm going to start that spring out looking at the field and making notes 00:22:59 anywhere you have lower areas, smaller plants, anything that's stunted like that. Any kind of issues you see, just make a note of that. 00:23:05 But because in the fall, you want to come back in the fall and start looking at those areas and start sampling those areas and say, "Okay, this was a low spot. 00:23:11 Let's pull a sample here," and really go through there and diagnose some of those issues, and then that'll give you a better idea. 00:23:17 But like Matt said too, you also look at your soil type. So you can pull a soil map up, and if you've got a heavier part of the field, yeah, 00:23:23 you're probably not going to have an issue, but the sandier you will. So you use that soil map along with sampling to kind of figure out where your 00:23:28 problems are and if you have a problem. And I think something we've seen too is we had several growers last year that didn't think they had a problem with just trying to jug Avydol on corn ground and 00:23:39 like, okay, there's a yield increase. So that's telling me that there are issues out there, but they're going undiagnosed or people just don't know they have that problem. 00:23:47 Go to your sandiest spots in your field and start with that. Even if you've got a 100-acre field and you pull two samples, pull them in your 00:23:54 sandiest spots. And if you don't pull them and you plant and you start seeing yellow stunted plants, all you got to do is go and dig up the roots 00:24:02 because you're going to see the galls on the roots. And I think you should put a picture of the galls when y'all send this out on the video, but you'll see galls all over the roots. 00:24:11 Now, a lot of people will mistake that for nodules. It looks similar to nodules if you don't know what you're looking for. 00:24:19 I don't know what a gall on a root is. Well, it's like a knot. Okay. 00:24:23 That's why they're called root knot, maybe. I don't know. Got it. Yeah. 00:24:27 Get AI to show you a picture of root knot- Okay ... on the roots. Yeah. Because what a root-knot is considered what they call an endoparasite, where 00:24:34 it actually gets inside the plant and causes the knots. Yeah. So the nematode gets into the root itself, and that's what causes that. 00:24:39 And then it, like you said, because when the soybean growers look for nodulation, because that's where the nitrogen gets into the plant. 00:24:46 If you cut one of those nodules open, if it's not red, then it's probably going to be a nematode. 00:24:51 I see. Because if it's red, it's going to be your nodule for your nitrogen-fixing bacteria. 00:24:56 So George, as a practical, as an agronomic matter, how this works, it's right there and it's 00:25:03 doing its job throughout the season? Or is it just, as a nematicide, it knocks the nematodes out for that first part of the time? 00:25:11 I mean, is there ever a time where it stops working, or what are we talking about here from an agronomic standpoint? 00:25:18 Well, when we talk about it, we like to talk about it from a protection standpoint. So it's not going to last all season long. 00:25:25 Really, all we're trying to do is we really want those plants to get a head start and get them out of the ground growing and get the root system a head start above 00:25:32 the nematodes. And that way, as the plants get bigger and older, they have a root system that is kind of keeping everything going too. 00:25:38 So it's really about the, to me, it's about the first 45 to 60 days. That's what we're worried about. 00:25:45 We're worried about controlling nematodes in that furrow right there by the seed for the first 45 days, and that gives that plant a head start jump on the 00:25:52 nematodes. Matt's nodding his head. That's all I said. Yeah. Well, he's 100% correct. What this is, it's definitely not all season long. It'd be great if it was. 00:26:00 Yeah. But what this does is let the root get large enough to overcome the nematode damage. So the bigger the root, we all know this, the more fertilizer 00:26:08 it can take up, the more anything, water, whatever, it can take up. Mm. 00:26:12 And if you can get that 45 days to get that robust root system, then you pretty much got them. There's probably still some damage. It'd be great to have something that's season long, but that don't exist. 00:26:24 All right. It's April 1st. We're recording this on April 1st. You're in southeast Arkansas. For anybody that doesn't know that. 00:26:30 You've already got a bunch of your soybeans planted probably, don't you? I've got the majority of them planted. 00:26:34 All right. So this product's already out in the field. And then you said you're dry before I hit the record button. Does the moisture, does that matter to 00:26:44 efficacy of a product like this, George? No, it does not. Because abamectin or Avail FC does not move with water. It's going to stay put where it is. Yep. 00:26:54 Okay. And so- It doesn't take water activation, doesn't anything like that. Doesn't take water to make it work, and then if there is a bunch of water, if 00:27:00 there's excessive water, it's not going to leach it out and make it not work. No. 00:27:04 But you got to have water for your seedling and stuff- Yeah, of course ... your crop to grow. 00:27:10 Got it. All right. What else are we looking for on the results that's going to make you happy? How are you going to say... 00:27:16 Because you were happy with corn, you're happy with cotton. How are you going to look at this, Matt? Of course, you don't have a comparison. 00:27:21 You're not using another product on a sample to compare it. Well, I used Velum prior to the label 00:27:32 coming out on the soybeans. And I know that it is better than Velum, so I pretty much know what my results are going to be. 00:27:41 Got it. George, anything else I didn't cover here? I don't think so. I think we're good. Okay, I got one last thing. He's in southeast Arkansas, a little Vietnam, as Matt 00:27:51 calls it. I've been comedically entertained by that the whole time. Is it worse in different regions? Matt says go to your sandy part of your soil, 00:27:57 which is interesting. Usually, I don't think that that's... I would always think, oh, heavy soil is where more stuff can hang around, whatever, 00:28:03 but he says that's where it's going to be. Is it worse in southeast Arkansas than it would be in Nebraska or northern Indiana where I am? 00:28:13 Is there any regionality to nematode pressure? Well, not a regionality, but a species problem, because you have Matt's dealing with root-knot nematode, where in the 00:28:22 Midwest, your big pest up there is going to be soybean cyst nematode. Yeah. 00:28:26 And that's going to be a completely different species, different kind of nematode. It gets in the plant like root-knot, but it causes different kind of damage. 00:28:33 But that's the one they talk about in the Midwest the most. That's the main one. Yeah, I hear a lot about soybean cyst nematode. 00:28:38 So that being said, does Avail FC handle the soybean cyst nematode as well as it handles root-knot nematode? Yes, it does. 00:28:50 The good thing about Avail FC is it's not species specific. Some other nematicides are somewhat kind of specific. 00:28:55 Yeah. And they're stronger than other ones, where this is an all around good nematicide on all different nematode species. Yep. 00:29:01 Got it. I got a question for George. Mm-hmm. Is cyst nematode harder to control than a root-knot or vice versa? I think cyst would probably be harder to control because you have cyst, but you 00:29:15 also have that sudden death syndrome disease that also comes in typically with the cyst too that's a bad problem. So you really want to have a cyst product that 00:29:22 controls the cyst, but also kind of helps with that disease. Yeah. 00:29:25 Right. You see that in my part of the world where the beans are, it looks like they're turning a month before they really should be, and it's not because 00:29:33 they're turning, it's because cyst nematode and then sudden death syndrome. Mm-hmm. Yep. 00:29:37 But you're the experts, I'm not. All right, his name's George Huckabay, and now you've got an answer for your soybean cyst nematode or your root-knot 00:29:44 nematode. And remember what I told you, I pulled up NC State's extension service had these numbers out there. 00:29:50 Annual loss is one and a half billion dollars, and they're just talking about on soybeans, so what about your other products? 00:29:55 The product is called Avail FC, which stands for fertilizer compatible. 00:30:00 Yep. And it's on now label, it's regulated, it's now registered for soybeans as well as corn and cotton. Everything else, George? 00:30:08 I think that's it, yeah. If I want to learn more about this because I'm a grower, where do I go? Maybe vivecrop.com? 00:30:13 The best place to go is vivecrop.com. We got a new website, just got updated, and go check it out. If you want to learn more about what Matt's doing, check out the videos we record 00:30:21 right here. Also, you can follow him on social media. You doing your field day? No. 00:30:27 No field day. All right. Keep up with him here. His name's Matt Miles. My name's Damian Mason. We're joined by George Huckabay. 00:30:33 Go check out the product at vivecrop.com, and stay tuned for other great stuff. If this was helpful, share it with somebody that can benefit from it. 00:30:40 Till next time, thanks for being here. XtremeAg's Cutting the Curve. That's a wrap for this episode of Cutting the Curve. 00:30:45 Make sure to check out XtremeAg.farm for more great content to help 00:30:49.844 --> 00:30:52.864