Farming Video | Matt Miles Digs Into Root Knot Pressure and Averland in Corn

6 Jun 255m 30s

In this in-field update, Matt Miles shares observations from his in-furrow corn plot trial using Vive’s Averland to address root knot nematodes. On a hot day in a historically tough field, Matt compares two plants—one treated with Averland and one from the check—and spots key differences in stalk girth, root depth, and overall plant health. He breaks down why corn might not be the yield-robber we once thought it was when it comes to nematodes, but how suppression now could pay big dividends in next year’s soybean crop. This trial could prove whether using a nematode product in corn gives you better root health now—and better yield protection later.

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00:00 So we're out here today, it's a Friday afternoon in our, uh, Alan in furrow corn plot. 00:00:06 And, uh, it's about 93 degrees here today. Gotten a little warm and, uh, went and pulled up a couple plants here, one in the Alan Plot 00:00:15 and one in the, uh, check. If you don't know what a, what Alan is. Alan's a product by, by vibe we've been using in the cotton 00:00:22 last year, and, uh, getting better results than the competitor at, you know, way less money. 00:00:29 So we have a lot of root knot and, and this is for root knot. So we have a lot of root knot and nematodes in this area. 00:00:34 This field here behind me is, uh, you know, one of the, probably one of the worst that I have on my farm. So we put a Alan Vero root knot 00:00:45 nematode test together and, and put out an application of that. So in both of these, the check and the, uh, 00:00:52 and the Alan plot, we had our grower standard practice, and then we added Alan to the, to the mix on, on this plot. And, uh, you know, 00:01:01 I went through there, looked at the plants. I've dug up two plants. I randomly went out there about the same depth off the lower 00:01:06 end, just pulled my shovel down. And that's the plant that I dug up. Were both of them as far as maturity is the same, uh, 00:01:13 where three leaves before tassel on this one, and we're three leaf before tassels on a check bow. So, you know, I was looking at maturity. 00:01:20 One thing I do see, and, uh, I don't know how much you can tell it here, but you know, this, the, 00:01:27 the Alan plant's got a little bit more girth to it and a little bit healthier stalk. Now that could be from, you know, 00:01:34 just having a better root system. It could be from the root knots not really attacking the plant as much. 00:01:39 Uh, you know, there's several different factors that can make that happen. Both plants look similar, 00:01:43 but what I've seen here that I really like is, in my opinion, we've got the, we've got the ever land plot here, 00:01:48 and you see these big robust, you know, longer roots. And then on the check, you know, it looks pretty good too, but it's more little small fibrous roots 00:01:59 and not as many of the big robust roots. Well, one thing I see straight off the bat is we've had so much moisture. 00:02:05 This plant has actually went deeper down than the check has. Now, I would assume that might be because of root knots. 00:02:12 We've never worried about root knots in corn. Corn is a host for root knots, but it's not a yield robber. Let me back up. We didn't think it was a yield robber. 00:02:21 So this is gonna be a telltale test. All we having the same yield reductions on root knots with corn as we do in soybeans 00:02:28 and cottons, one of our real huge yield robbers in, in soybeans and cotton are the root, not nematodes. So therefore, we're gonna run, you know, products there 00:02:36 to try to, try to curb the appetite of the nematode, eliminate the nematode, you know, rotation is the best way to do it. 00:02:43 There's, you know, with corn being a host, that's, that's a rotation that's good for the soil, but not so much for root knot. 00:02:49 So, but if we could keep the root knots from being active in the corn plant, then that's, there's something 00:02:54 to value there to take into the next year's soybean crop. If they can't get active in 00:02:58 The corn plant, then maybe they're not as active in the soybean plant. And that's up to, you know, sometimes I've seen it up 00:03:05 to 40 bushels difference with, uh, varieties that were planted that were non-resistant to root knot and nematode plant, the soybean variety. 00:03:13 And there'll be places in the field where the yields are zero root knot and nematodes a huge problem here. 00:03:18 And if the corn, the corn could actually make a better yield. Also, like I said, I, you know, my opinion and, 00:03:25 and 50 cents no used to be 50 cents, my opinion, and a dollar 50, I'll buy you a coke sometimes, but I just think that root system 00:03:33 looks a lot better than that root system. They're both about the same diameter. This has got more smaller roots, which is 00:03:39 where I think the root knots have kind of attacked this plant a little bit. This one's got a robust, longer root system, 00:03:46 which should pick up more nutrients. Now having said all that, you know, there's not a lot of of things we can check on this plant. 00:03:53 The plant looks healthier. There's a little bit more girth to the, to the bottom of the, of the, uh, the stalk. 00:03:59 You know, I do see that. I like the root system better. But as far as you know, really knowing, is there a lot going on? 00:04:05 Like I said, we're three ta we're three leaves from tassel. So we're probably looking at seven to 10 days, you know, 00:04:10 with this heat, it may be five or six days before that tassel comes out. Then we'll start developing an ear. 00:04:15 Then we'll be able to come back in here at that point, count rows around, count, count length, you know, say 10 ears from each one 00:04:22 and see if we see a early yield difference. We don't see anything there. Then the combine will be the, the, the next determinator. 00:04:28 But what I see so far, just in this one root dig, uh, I like the root system better here. I know what root knot nematodes do to cotton and soybeans. 00:04:37 If we can keep 'em from being active in the corn, then maybe we can suppress 'em better in, in the soybeans. So just say that these plants yield the same, 00:04:46 but we get some more suppression from the root knots by having a active ingredient in our corn crop, then does that reduce the amount of nematodes we have 00:04:54 to fight when we're in soybeans or cotton? So these are some things we're gonna look at all year. So far, I like what I see. 00:05:00 I've loved the product in our cotton so far that we did several, several tests last year and it outperformed the competitor. 00:05:07 Uh, there's a lot of other products by vibe that are really, really good. This is the one I completely concentrate on mostly 00:05:13 because this is one of my biggest limiting factors. We'll watch it through the year. Hope we'll have yield out at the end of the year 00:05:19 to verify everything that we're talking about and we'll see what happens. 00:05:23.665 --> 00:05:25.005