00:00 You know, we want her to be a lot of residue on the topsoil. We want there to be the stuffing around as organic 00:06 matter. It preserves and conserves moisture. And also it's generally a good thing except for when it prevents germination or your next 00:15 crop to flourish. That's what we're talking about today. Welcome to extreme ads cutting the curved podcast 00:24 where you get a guaranteed return on investment of your time as we cut your learning curve with the information. You can apply to your farming operation immediately 00:33 extreme AG, we've already made the mistakes so you don't have to managing. Your Farm's Water Resources is a critical component 00:42 to a successful and sustainable farming operation Advanced Drainage Systems helps Farmers, just like you increase their yields up to 30% 00:51 with their technologically advanced Water Management products visit ads pipe.com to see how they can keep your business flowing. 01:01 Now, here's your host Damien Mason. Well Grace and welcome to another fantastic episode of extreme acts cutting the curve we're talking today about when residue from 01:10 corn causes problems for soybeans you Mike Evans sent a couple of pictures a couple weeks ago and said, hey, we've got a problem with our soybeans because 01:19 the residue from last year's corn crop is causing problems. He's gonna explain that to us. Mike is with integrated AG Solutions. That's a company he has with 01:28 Kelly Garrett one of the founders of extreme AG in Aryan Iowa Mike what the hell's going on? You said some 01:34 pictures it looked like it was a little bit of a problem. But you know what we want residues tell me the balance tell what's going on. 01:41 Yeah, we we started noticing as the beans came up. here this spring that there's some Thin areas on some of the ridges and long The Terraces and 01:52 stuff and and we went out and looked at it and just a heavy residue mat was there and we're trying to see if the beans are growing or not and they 02:01 weren't because of the residue. So we kind of we're scratching our heads and what happened and how how it came about that. We were having germination issues 02:10 with this residue. Because we kind of new residue. Planning for this year's crop was going to be a challenge. We know we raised some of the best corner. We were raised around 02:22 here. So we're gonna have a lot of residue to deal with we put Road cleaners air air control Road cleaners on the 02:28 bean Planters because we've been using no-till colters for years and 02:32 We're okay with them, but we're happy with what performance was. So we put the row cleaners on 02:38 don't move the residue and we're trying to figure out. It was a mechanical issue what was going on with it? So we're scratch 02:48 your heads for a little while. So let's talk about a bunch of different issues here first off road cleaners for somebody that's conventional till person. They don't use these you are all no 02:57 till you got a lot of hills and slopes over there in you're part of the world in Iowa. So you you don't do 03:03 a lot till as you do almost no tillage, right? You're okay. I mean stuff for cleaning up a few spots 03:09 then maybe washed out. That's not it. So yeah, you do basically know till on every anchor which is good 03:15 because the soil conservation because of the carbon program that Kelly is on Etc. So you do essentially no tillage you 03:21 do row cleaner. So to the person that says what the hell is he talking about explain a real cleaner since you're going through a lot of residue when you are in your plant your 03:30 soybeans on 15 and just Yes. All right. So talk to me about row cleaners on 15 inch rows. 03:35 So our cleaners in 15 inch rows, it's a little more of a challenge than your typical 30 inch planner because everything's so tight and compact 03:44 with those. We've Kelly runs 1790 John Deere planner. So there's a front front rows and then he's got the back rows. So everything's kind of 03:53 compacted in the on the planner. So moving trash through that small area is is I can 03:59 be a challenge. So any proper setup and proper height control on those Road cleaners to get the residue to flow through flow through and 04:11 and not affect your planning depth and planning performance. Okay did not work. 04:17 Of this being our first year we had some challenges on a few first few Fields is just getting things set and learning. I mean, it was just the learning curve for us, you 04:26 know, as we got through the season we got better at it and we were extremely happy with the performance. Once we figured out how to 04:35 get the planner set. Right and what depth to set those things at, you know, everything worked great, you know, the later planner 04:41 beans look a lot better than the first planet means just because okay. So do you think okay you you sent pictures and it looked 04:47 like you had a little bit of a population problem on your soybeans and you attributed to too much corn Revenue. Let's start the beginning lots of 04:56 corn res do because you ring the bell on last year's crap. Like you said these were in fields that had 20 bushel corn, right? 05:04 Yeah, some of those areas. I mean is 300 bushel. I mean, there's just a lot of residue there that that we got a break down for one and the winner 05:13 we had here in at Western Iowa was not conducive to speed up that residue breakdown, you know, typically we get snows and stuff that'll help 05:22 get bring moisture into that that residue and and night that biological life to start that process a little faster. We 05:31 did not have much moisture at all this winter as far as snowpack or anything like that to to accelerate that. 05:39 Okay, so you in a person that's listening to this. That's like wait a minute. Why would high-yield corn have more residue? Why does high yield corn have more resident? 05:48 ah You know, we verberate everything here. So in those High yielding areas, we have more plants typically. So, you know, we're at 34 35,000 those high yields. 06:00 So we got more plants for one and we're building the healthier more robust plant, especially when you're in that 283 airbrush of 06:06 corner here to a person that never plants corn that's listening to extreme act for the first time. You got 34,000 population three or four thousand plants per acre that 06:15 you planted in a high yield area because it can support it because you got some of your best soils Etc. What would be in a lower yielding area? 28,000 06:23 Are we gonna be real lesson that will be a 24-25 and some of the really tough areas. We're down to 2022. Okay, so you 06:32 got more plants per acre. Also, the plant got bigger and therefore made a bigger year stocks are bigger. Yep. 06:38 Leaves are bigger. Okay. So every part of it's bigger, she got more residue out there. And then also the winter that you had you described it didn't break down 06:47 the stuff because you didn't have as much snow you didn't have as much moisture Etc usually freezing thaw and 06:54 temperature changes and conducive to riding the stuff down. You didn't have as much of that. So I'm here you I mean 07:00 we'd have much moisture that's enough enough moisture that we needed. Got it. All right, so, 07:08 We we like residue right? It holds the ground moisture in it. It gives us organic matter. Is there 07:17 a problem of too much residue? I don't think there's probably too much just when it piles up in one spot his problem 07:27 what we figured out was a There's two things the spring that contributed to our issues and it we're not the only ones here. I mean, you can 07:35 go across a lot of areas and see a lot of our neighbors had the same issues talking to them. We had a drier than normal winner that conduced 07:45 to let's break down. So we have more residue probably going in the spring that we typically had in past with their no-till program. 07:54 And we had the third coldest least this part of Iowa. We had third coldest April on record. So we never had to heat in April to help start that 08:03 engine to help there is to break down and I don't For no, but it felt like the windiest April we ever had when we were playing so you get those things and 08:13 the residue was blowing around. There you go North to here there's ditch there was ditches full of corn stocks and stuff because we had 50 08:19 mile an hour straight line winds for for a couple days there. And where all the residue blew and held up. 08:28 Is where we had a lot of issues with with planner with germination and and still too much residue prevents seed to 08:38 soil contact. That's the big problem, right? Yeah in in some of the cases. There was that and there's some of the cases where we came in planted in 08:47 and we got a good you know, check the depth and everything and then that winds came in after we planted. And blew it over top. 08:55 And we got like a three inch mat on top. Of residue so so even if the soybean even the soybean 09:04 did germinate then it got smothered. Yep. Yep, and I mean some extreme cases we seen that you know on some of the steepers slopes 09:13 and stuff and some people will think that you know, we don't residue blow down. We don't But Mother Nature kind of played its card with those 50 60 09:24 Minute hour wind days. I mean, I don't know how we keep it on the ground at all. But it it blew well better the 09:30 better the residue blows than your soil because your soil is a lot more valuable than your residue. I guess from a erosion standpoint. 09:36 You didn't lose the soil. We use a product from from agerson that degrades and helps melt down that residue. Did 09:46 you put that on this Acres? On some yeah, we did we use them there on a spring application with our pre herbicide. 09:57 Okay, is that the product called extract? Yeah, we put extract down. Okay, so it did the job of melting down 10:05 the stuff but not all the way to what we wanted to. Well, it goes back to that April, you know you we started spraying late March early April with their 10:15 pre herbicides and extract in there. And then we got these cold spell in April and You know we can get that acceleration or 10:24 that jump and residue breakdown because of that cool temperatures. I mean it just it just never got the biological life going interesting. 10:34 Fertility 101. Did you know that corn stocks retain up to 80% of potassium 40% of the phosphorus and 30% of the nitrogen 10:43 that you apply to last year's corn crop. Hey, it's me extreme eggs at Damian Mason host of cutting the curve and I want to help you save money and boost your yields, you 10:52 know, you can do that extract last year's fertility for this year's crop, you know that by applying extract powered by accomplished your 11:01 surface crop residue you'll do just that you can get extract from your nearest nutrient AG Solutions retailer for more information contact your local 11:10 nutrient Solutions crop consultant. All right, so you wouldn't have this issue if you were putting out 180,000 population 11:23 of soybeans, but you at your Atlanta cattle have been decreasing population steadily. What's the population average of 11:33 soybean planning across all the soybean Acres this year? I'll be around 105,000. All right, 11:40 so that's remember you do experiments all the way down to 34,000 and still had good yield. So 100,000 basically 100 4,000. 11:50 If you were 108,000 would you have better germination or to is it not matter based on this heavy of residue? 11:57 I I don't think it matter based on what our observations I think the residue. Was the main thing that we struggled with? I 12:08 don't know if we planted 30 or 180 or 200,000 would have made a difference. Okay. So now Mike you're 104,000 one thing that 12:17 we discovered in all of the experiments are doing there at Garrett is when you went 12:23 down to 34 to 60 some thousand soybeans the plants fill and and occupy the space because you give a room they'll just go ahead and fill out 12:32 then and occupy that space are you gonna be? Okay you got less germination than you want. You took pictures. I see 12:38 some big ball areas by by August are those areas going to be filled in with plants that are going to have a hundred and some odds. 12:47 I'm sure some areas will be fine. Some areas. Probably won't be just because the conditions there. Are not a great but I think majority of places we 12:56 have issues to fill in. By the time we come Harvest. Okay. So what's your prediction on on soybean? Are we gonna take a we're gonna take a deduct on 13:07 yield or we're gonna be same as last year or worse or better? Oh, I could see us being about the same as last year on those fields. 13:16 Okay. Well how many how many of your Acres how many percent of your acres are this? Problematic based on the residue issue 20% 13:25 20% Yeah, but be fair. Okay. So 20% area you saying we had too much residue. It didn't break down it blew around and it prevented germination. And you think that those acres 13:37 are going to be still okay? Yeah, I mean. 80% of the field books like we would want to look like, you know, we're just trying to manage this 20% the 13:50 best we can to see what happens. What are you going to do next year or what? Are you going to learn from this year to apply to next year anything you 13:58 do anything differently. Is it weather dependent or is there a practice you can do to change this outcome? 14:05 We are looking at some other products to apply in the fall far as residue breakdown such as 14:13 product from called excavator that we sprayed that we saw some really good rapid. 14:22 Break down in the residue. So if you put excavator on and who makes excavator. 14:26 Ameristem, okay, if you put excavator on in the fall rather than waiting until spring then you get six more months or five more months of activity. 14:36 Yeah, okay. And so did you use any of that on any records last year? No, we just use it on the screen. But what we saw from the breakdown 14:45 and 10 to 11 days was pretty dramatic. So we're gonna put it on in the fall and hopefully start that break down sooner, you know get a 14:56 couple weeks in the fall and then we have it on already coming in the spring and anytime it warms up, you know get a 15:02 For five day window of 60 degree weather. Maybe we can get some breakdown as well. Yeah, so you see yourself putting on a different product to experiment 15:11 the different products. Would you take the agerson product that you use this year and instead of using extract in the 15:17 spring go ahead and put it in right after the corn comes out. Yeah, I'd still you use extract in the in the 15:25 pre-plant herbicide because what about did maybe you should have used it sooner should you use it in the fall? 15:34 Um, I like it in the spring for what it does. You know, I know that some guys use it in the fall and I've had successful that product as well. 15:45 I just like in Spring especially guys putting on 32% or doing any kind of like that. I think it's a it's a must with that kind of program. We don't 15:54 do it here at Carolina cattle. But any guys putting that down with a pre-plant herbicide and in nitrogen, I I know okay, but 16:05 you didn't get the breakdown. So what are you gonna change? You set your starting sound like you're starting to sound like an old farmer. Well, 16:11 yeah, this happened. We're gonna blame the weather. We're not gonna change anything. What are you gonna change? 16:16 Over well, we got the planner set where we want them now. So we've learned that and that's done as a 16:22 matter of depth or a matter of just the the plant the the row clear. That's my room cleaner. Okay what you 16:30 were what you change on the real cleaners? We changed the planter bar a little bit to get it leveled up a little bit better. Then we had in the past and just 16:39 got the Bro cleaners where they need to be far as height and stuff like that. So they run one where we want them people there's much no, I 16:48 just running just so we scraping the top moving the residue. We don't we don't want to do any tillage with them. You know, we're just trying to 16:57 move it the residue manager. So they're not you're not tillage. They're not stripped to bar. Right? I mean, so that's that's where 17:03 it is and you don't know that so you get planting with them. Okay, you know you so what I'm hearing is you you want your real cleaners. Those are just 17:12 Wheels, right? They just wheels on right you to do the right thing, but you do not want them to be going too deep because that disturbs too much soil 17:21 yeah, um, you get all kinds of issues there and start doing too much tillage with them then they 17:28 They actually can bring up moisture as you're planting and kind of create an issue. I've seen that happen a couple times and you 17:34 create furrows and stuff. Especially no till you can create a way through the field. We don't want that. 17:42 Because we can't level it back up with a disc or anything. Okay. So when you let when you used it the right way you're real 17:48 clear again. There's no tell so you go through the planter you're on 15 inch rows. You guys set your real cleaners up. And the main thing is just making sure they're moving 17:57 enough for us to out of the way. So is it look like is it look like a leaf blower out there when you go through right swinging this 18:03 stuff out of the way. What's it look like Not quite like a leaf blower, but you'll see some movement it'll fluff it up a little bit. So it 18:12 it just looks like like you put a drill through the field, I guess with our 15-inch Planters would be the best way explain it. You know, we got a little bit of 18:22 movement you you'll see a little kind of wave through the field but you know, it'll settle down after a couple hours. You're planting depth on the soybeans to 18:31 make sure you got down through the rescue is what Our run about two two and a quarter inches on these beans got it. All right. So you gave 18:41 us a lesson make sure you're real cleaners are on. So the person that's listening to this that says, okay. I've got heavy residues I had big yield corn last 18:47 year main thing I need to know is you say continue to use stuff that breaks down the stuff to put a chemical treatment on that breaks down the stuff. Yes. 18:57 Those right those are actually Biologicals. I said chemical they're actually biological, right? Yeah, I mean 19:03 With the corn hybrids we got today and the fertility that we're putting on many guys in these high-yield environments are gonna have a 19:09 really strong robust plan. So it's gonna take more to break them down versus what we've done in the past. So there's we've 19:15 had accelerate that process, you know, we actually put yet or Devastators on 19:21 the corn head too to help that another mechanical option. So we run that across that helps break down stock explain 19:27 what that is. so it's a it's a roller bar that goes on the corn heads and it's it rolls. Basically 19:36 it's spring. Spring loaded for tension. So it keeps it pressed to the ground as you're going across the field to combine and basically's got these sharp edges. They're not 19:47 really like knives but they're just blades. It's got a roller. It's like a roller roller basket, but the edges are sharp. And 19:53 the idea is it rolls over the top of the stock after the obviously here's where I've been taking off and the idea is it keeps putting 19:59 incisions in the stock. So that way it creates surface area for the you start to be great, right? Yeah, nothing the other key factor for us is 20:08 that breaks breaks the stock off of the crown of the root, so you open that up? to more penetration to the Biologicals and weather and get 20:17 that that process started faster even guys in conventional till we'll see a huge benefit from this system because You know, I've worked with guys conventional until before and they'll 20:27 bury that with like a ripper or whatever their neck their tool. They're using and you can dig up those root balls, you know 20:36 middle mid season still and there's still a stock attached to it. This would break that open get more 20:42 penetration and get that process started a lot faster got it. So the answer is use this system on 20:51 your corn head, especially if you're high yield corn, but even if you're not to and that's called a lot. 20:56 I stock Devastator from yetter. All right, so it just starts the process of degrading the stock and then in the 21:05 fall, you would consider you're gonna see what this works like using this excavator product for meristem where you go out and spray it on 21:11 the fall to begin breaking down stuff and then you're still gonna stick with agerson's extract product in the spring first pass with a 21:17 sprayer. Yep. Okay, when you go across the fall and spray something on the develop that down is there anything else in the mix? 21:25 Here, we we use plant food for fertility program that Kelly has so we'll be adding it in there. 21:34 That process you know what there's guys that they're doing fall burn Downs with chemicals in certain geographies. Definitely be adding it there. 21:43 Okay, and then Your your big answer then is at planting time having your real clear setup properly and set up properly means just moving the rest of the way, but not going too 21:55 deep. Yeah, exactly. I mean we were little apprehensive about putting row cleaners. On a 15 inch planner because we kind of messed with 22:06 it you prior years and had not very good success with it. the company who worked with on these 22:14 and more better knowledge, I guess and some patience that we learned how to get it to work properly and work really well got a 22:24 lot of guys use Motel cultures and in those 15 inch beans and I think they're more of it can be more of a detriment than a benefit. 22:32 Okay, so you're saying no till using using no-till holders. What goes too deep? Yeah, if they're not set, right they can go do deep a lot 22:42 of times from what I've seen and We've ran a couple different blades here over the years and it 22:48 just chunks the dirt up too much in our hotel world and it really creates a core seabed behind it for the planner to 22:57 go through see a lot. We'll see some uneven emergence and stuff like that and for for rep quality 23:03 and stems from the beans. Got it. All right. So as there anything we didn't cover about this Lessons Learned 23:11 when you have too much residue the things you're going to change to make sure you still have a good soybean emergency and and germination Etc. 23:21 I'm coming quite a bit. I just I recommend guys looking at that and trying something change something on your operation to handle it whether it 23:31 be mechanical or Vera biological application, but you don't think there's going to end up cost me a lot of yield on the 20% of the Acres that 23:40 are impacted. Well, there could be a penalty. They're always always a chance that I'm sure we'll see something somewhere, but overall. I'm hoping we have 23:51 a keep a maintained. You don't have as many convictions of opinion as your boss. Kelly. Garrett knows he's very he's very convicted on his opinions and 24:00 you're not as much you're more of a you're more of a Dodge the question you're more political ideas. 24:06 Well, I got what the day to talk so I can't really say a whole lot until the day to show something my all right. All right. Well recording this July 7th. So check back about what 24:15 October 1st when we get these beans harvested and we'll know what the answer is. 24:19 Oh, we might know by September 1st. So once we get the Pod set and can go look at them. We'll know a lot more. Alright, stay tuned. We're going to decide 24:28 how this ends up but you just heard answers on residue management. You've got heavy heavy Revenue residue making sure you 24:34 still can get your soybean yield out there. He just told you the method to talk about the right holders talked about 24:40 the row cleaners talked about biological products to melt down the residue and then also talked about trying to control the April weather which you can't do so we gave the other 24:49 engines we can of course population management as well. He's my cabins with integrated eggs Illusions. I'm David Mason with extreme 24:55 AG. We appreciate being here share this with all your friends and stay tuned. We'll get you answers on how these fields this 25:01 20% of Garrett Landing Cal soybean Acres end up on the yield. Thanks, Mike. Good things that's a wrap for this episode of cutting the curve, but 25:09 there's plenty more check out extremead.farm where you can find past episodes instructional videos and articles to help you squeeze more profit 25:19 out of your farm cutting. The curve is brought to you by Advanced Drainage Systems the leader in agriculture Water Management Solutions.