Spring planting agronomy update

Chris: Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ag View Pitch. We are heading into planting season for for many people, and there's already some planters rolling as this podcast gets released. We're recording it here in the middle part of April, right around the 11th of April, and we are lucky enough today to have with us Troy Deitemeyer. How's it going, Troy?

Troy

Deutmeyer: I'm doing well. How are you today, Chris?

Chris: Well, I'm pretty good. I, uh, kind of visited with you for a minute or two here, uh, before we got recording, and kind of, kind of gave you a little heads up on what we want to do. And kind of what I want to do here in this conversation is just hit on some of the best practices with a bunch of different things that are going on out there now, navigating around a few showers. The people listening to this, we're in probably 25 different states or more with people listening to this and all kinds of different conditions. The guys in Texas are pretty well done, and the guys in North Dakota are maybe a week or two away from when we're recording this yet. So I think it's a good time to hit on some best practices in our area. I think, you know, right around this recording time, around the 11th, 12th, we were sitting in some really good soil conditions.

It's kind of dry where we're at, but let's get started here. I wanted to hit first on some best practices on tillage. You know, we've got guys all over the place. Some are no-till, some are strip-till. Some are VT, some are field cultivating. What's some things or challenges or things you think guys need to be watching out for with tillage this spring in different conditions?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Sure. I guess one of the things, Chris, that we always try to recommend if possible, depending on residue flow, is if that last tillage pass could be in the same direction of the planter. And that gets to be pretty important, especially when you start looking at your tillage floor. And if it's not perfectly level, if you go at an angle, then that planter row unit is constantly going over different tillage floors and we can see row unit bounce. Whereas if with today's equipment with individual row down pressure systems and things like that, if that row continually stays on that one specific tillage floor, then it can adjust and do a good job. So that would be one of the main things I guess to point out with the tillage.

If you are incorporating herbicides, this is one thing as our weeds have become more challenging to manage here over the past few years, is you can figure that your herbicide is going about half the depth of your tillage. So if you put herbicides on and then incorporating it, we want to make sure that we don't go too deep with our tillage because then obviously, you know, we're looking at, uh, diluting that herbicide out too much. So, you know, about 3 inches, 4 at the most is kind of what we would recommend the deepest for tillage if you are going to be incorporating herbicides with that.

Chris: Gotcha. How about the strip-till guys out there? Any pointers there? I know some guys do some strip freshening. There's a lot of guys that if they have it done in the fall, they don't if it's not necessary. Any comments on those tillage passes and managing that.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, I guess on strip till, and, you know, probably the guys that are doing it have found this out, but if you are using a Shank kind of type for your spring, at least in our area, we've noticed that we got to give that, you know, probably a week to 10 days and maybe an inch or two of rainfall for that to resettle out— excuse me— and get those air pockets out. Otherwise, sometimes, you know, the planter will roll across and then all of a sudden some of those air pockets collapse and now we got corn planted at 2 to 4 inches deep. But no, overall the strips that I've looked at look, look really good other than some residue blown over top with the, you know, South Dakota type winds we've been having lately. The strips look to be in excellent condition.

Chris: Sounds good. Let's shift over to planting and it kind of is the next logical place You know, you talked about those air pockets and things like that, that, you know, and just getting that really good seedbed, and that, that kind of sometimes in places starts with the row cleaner, not running it too deep, and, and, but on the same token, moving some of the residue out of the way. So talk a little bit about, you know, the, that part of the planter, and we'll kind of work from front to back on the planter unit.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, the good part is, is, you know, a lot of guys now have row cleaners that are adjustable from the cab. And that makes a big difference in fine-tuning these things. And it basically, it comes down to Chris, like he said, you know, not having it set too deep that we're basically doing inverse ridge till. Just moving the trash out the best that you can. And, you know, in corn-on-corn tillage situations, we're just going to have to accept the fact that there is going to be some residue in our furrow. There's, there's just no way around it. And so we don't want to go too deep.

Now, the one thing that I did see last year when we got into super dry planting conditions, and I don't know if that will happen here over the next week or two, but actually guys use their residue or the row cleaners to actually move maybe an inch, inch and a half of dry soil on top so they could get essentially down to moisture a little easier without having to plant as deep. Um, so depending, I guess, on where you're at, that's one thing I've seen as far as going deeper with the row cleaner that, you know, might actually be beneficial.

Chris: Talk a little bit about planting depth then. You know, obviously you want to get into the moisture, but, you know, everybody kind of seems like maybe has their different method for measuring depth and I know last year when we spoke, you talked about, you know, if you were going to err on one side or the other, err on the side of deeper. Talk a little bit about, you know, what is kind of that sweet spot for planting depth.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, excellent point. I guess, you know, I've been doing this for 30 years now and I can probably count on one hand the amount of times that guys have planted too deep. And I go on 10, 20 phone calls a year where they've planted too shallow. So if you ever are questioning whether you're not, you're deep enough, go another notch or maybe even two. Deeper with the, with the, with the genetics and things that we— and seed treatments we have these days, those plants can, can emerge. But generally, I like to see corn at least 2 inches, if not 2 and a quarter. And then, you know, that inch and a half or so for soybeans seems to be a nice spot that gives us consistent emergence. And the one thing that we've been finding in our research is Uniform emergence is just as important in soybeans, especially as we're striving for 80, 90, 100-bushel field averages.

You know, we need to, we need to get that uniform emergence. And the one thing that we do when we go deeper, whether it's with corn or soybeans, is we get more uniform temperature and we get more uniform moisture. And that in turn turns into more uniform emergence. So I guess, yeah, main point, you hit it right there, Chris, is don't be afraid to to plant a little bit deeper.

Chris: Let's hit on spacing for a second here too. That always is a, is, you know, I think everybody in corn specifically talk about the importance of that spacing and that sometimes has a little bit to do, you know, we've got these high-speed planters now and stuff too, and some of them that aren't high-speed. And so talk a little bit about the how critical, you know, spacing is.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, one of the interesting things is myself and my counterpart Bill Long, just to the west of me, we've done emergence and spacing trials in soybeans. And we're actually finding that the spacing in soybeans, uniform spacing, is probably more important than it is in corn. And what we found in corn is that, you know, if you're planting at 34,000, you have a plant ideally about every 6 inches or so. We can be off 2 inches, maybe up to 3 if they come up evenly and not really see much yield loss. So I guess I would be more focused on uniform seed depth, uniform seed to soil contact than be as worried about spacing. Obviously we want to do the best job that we can, but if you're off an inch or 2 on that corn from plant to plant, our data shows you really haven't lost much. But in soybeans, you know, it really can make a difference.

And that's where some of these high-speed planters with, you know, some people call them speed tubes or, you know, brush tubes and things like that. I feel personally that we're getting the most benefit from those planters in soybeans.

Chris: So that's interesting. You know, I think that's important A lot of times the soybeans have kind of been just get them in the ground, just throw them in the ground. It's not that important. But what you're saying is, you know, if you really want to capitalize on productivity with the soybeans, that's one piece of it. But let's expand a little bit, talk a little bit about how that might affect seeding rates and variable rate seeding too. Because if you're planting those soybeans like a picket fence, like we do with corn, then is there any options for, you know, changing that seeding rate, or talk a little bit about seeding rate as well?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, seeding rate in soybeans, you know, there's all kinds of things in the magazines with some people going super low and, and things like that. I guess if you do not have variable rate capabilities on your planter, or you're just going to set it once and be done, then that 140,000 is still kind of a middle point, if you will. The high productive soils, so where we're getting our highest soybean yields, we can actually probably pull off of that, you know, maybe 20,000, 30,000, especially if there's been lodging issues in the past. I have customers with very high fertility from livestock manure, and there's probably some leftover nitrogen. The beans get tall, then they end up falling over, and that's where we see the lower seeding rates. Especially in those high-yield environments, you know, can maintain yield and obviously cut seed costs.

And then in your poor yielding areas is where we actually want to bump that population up maybe to 160, 170. And I know if you're in the Des Moines lobe, you know, and have high pH soils, then even maybe 170 in some of those spots can, can be there. So there's always been a lot of talk in the in the past on variable rate seeding with corn. And I actually think that, you know, we're missing out if we're not doing it on the soybeans. But it's the inverse, you know, in corn, we kind of bump populations up in the good spots and back it off in the low yield areas. And with soybeans, it's just the opposite. And the reason for that is, you know, we need nodes, you know, nodes on plants to get yield. And in those poor areas, you know, those bean plants don't put on as many nodes. So we want more nodes, we need more plants.

As far as the corn population, I would say talk with whoever you're buying your seed from and just remember that every hybrid has its own sweet spot. You know, we've got some Pioneer products we recommend a seeding rate as low as, you know, 31,000 and up to, you know, 35,000, I guess, in my geography. But it's very hybrid specific in the, the kernel flex that those have. So be sure to talk to your sales rep.

Chris: I'm going to stay on this topic for a second here. So based on what you said, you know, if a, if a person had a field that had, say, some lighter soils in it and some very heavy soil both in the same field, you might have your variable rate settings in a range, let's say, from, say, 110 to 170, and you might end up averaging that 140, but you're, you're really you know, setting yourself up to capitalize on, on both spectrums.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Exactly. Yeah, what we find— you're exactly right, Chris— is a lot of times you don't end up using more or less seed. You end up using the, uh, you end up using the same amount. But just like variable rate fertilizer, we're putting it where we can best optimize our return on investment.

Chris: And if you happen to have a field that's super heavy and you're planting 140, you're probably a little on the high side. If you got a field that's, you know, super light and you're planting at 140, you probably need to bump it up.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Correct. So yeah, lots of opportunity there for variable rate seeding in soybeans. I think it's been something that's been very much overlooked.

Chris: Yeah, yeah. No, I think, you know, a lot of, a lot of guys, when you look at the price of soybeans versus corn, and, and, you know, from what we're seeing is the corn's a little more profitable this year, but, you know, I think if, if we start paying attention to capitalizing on yield on soybeans like we have for the, for years on corn, I think we could maybe start to narrow that gap a little bit just on the yield side alone. And I always tell people the fastest way to lower your cost of production is increase yield. And so that's, that's really good, good information. Um, talk a little bit about seed treatments as well while we're still on the seed topic. Are there anything— is there anything in particular that either on corn or soybeans that's noteworthy on the seed treatment side?

Troy

Deutmeyer: At least on the Pioneer side, the corn's pretty well coming with everything that you need already on it. And on the soybean side, the seed treatments have always shown to do their work, especially as we plant earlier. We can maintain those lower seeding rates. Plant in April and still get a stand. It's— I'm actually just— my next stop here this morning is Manchester, where we planted some soybeans February 26th. I was out there last week Friday, and they were just about ready to poke through. So I'm guessing they're probably going to be up today or tomorrow. That's just a testament of the seed treatments. The one thing that I would have guys think about is, you know, if you are going early, to include Alevo on your seed treatment, especially if you had a history of Sudden Death Syndrome and also soybean cyst nematode.

So that's kind of the one thing that would probably be an add-on, I guess, if you'd want to call it that, to, you know, help protect that seed because soybean Sudden Death Syndrome infects in, you know, cold soils. And so obviously when we plant earlier, that increases that chance.

Chris: Last thing I want to talk about on planters before we hit on some herbicide and spraying topics, but as far as planting date versus planting conditions versus moisture conditions and dry conditions, you know, we all, you know, you talk to 10 different producers and you hear 10 different philosophies on, I'm going to wait till the 20th, you know, and there's those who look at the calendar, those there are those who look at conditions and temperature. Talk a little bit about your perspective or your experience in, you know, how do you decide when is the right time to start planting? Because, you know, this is one of those years where it's super early in some areas and guys have gone early and are rolling hard already now. And then there's, you know, those who are like, now I'm gonna watch soil temperatures and and that forecast.

So talk a little bit about what you guys need to think about in terms of timing.

Troy

Deutmeyer: Sure. The— I'll start with this. The biggest yield-by-planting-date database is held by the insurance companies. And at least for us here in Iowa, you know, April 10th is when the insurance companies show that they, you know, have a significantly reduced risk of paying somebody for a replant on corn and April 15th on soybeans. So in my opinion, you know, that's, that's not just them pulling date, you know, that's just not them throwing a dart at the calendar. That's actual a huge data set showing that, you know, once we get past these dates, the chances of a replant situation, you know, due to a late frost or something like that are very minimal. So in my opinion, once you get past the insurance dates, I would stop worrying about the calendar and then just go completely, you know, based off of conditions and somewhat soil temperatures.

I do believe that, you know, we always used to talk about 40 or 50 degrees. I think that number can come down to 45 now, one with the genetics, the seed treatments that we just talked about, as well as guys' planting equipment is so much better than it was 10, 15 years ago. So those are the things, you know, so as of basically now, I'm throwing the calendar away. And I'm looking at, you know, soil conditions are always the main yes or no. Is it fit? You know, can I get out there and do a good job without creating sidewall compaction and making sure that, you know, we're getting uniform depth? And then, like I said, the soil temperatures probably aren't as critical as long as we're going into a forecast that looks reasonable for at least a couple days. You know, we've had instances last numerous years where we've had excellent conditions, excellent soil temperatures.

You know, guys get stuff in the ground and 2, 3 days later it snows and we get excellent stands and excellent yields. So, you know, I guess that's kind of where I'm at. You got to— everybody has their own sleep factor, I guess I'll call it, Chris. And, you know, the one thing to keep in mind is at 50-degree soil temperatures, it's going to take about 3 weeks for our corn and soybeans to come up. So, you know, that's pushing us now to about the first week of May. And, you know, our chances of getting a freeze to kill stuff off the first week of May are about 10%, I guess, along Highway 20. Now, if we have soil temps that are 60 degrees, the stuff's going to come up in a little less than 2 weeks. So, you know, you might want to gauge, gauge that by your sleep factor.

And if you think it's too early to go, but I guess with the way the forecast looks, and current soil temperatures and the calendar date right now, I have no issues at all if guys want to pull the trigger and start getting after it.

Chris: Gotcha. So, um, anything else that I didn't ask on the planter before we switch, switch over to the sprayer? Any, any other, like, just when you're out rolling, pay attention to this, pay attention to that, or we kind of hit the high spots?

Troy

Deutmeyer: You know, I think we hit it all. I do think sometimes guys get a little bit too hung up on their singulation. Well, this hybrid's only singulating at 98.5 versus 99.9 like the other one. And, you know, you could have 97% singulation if you were on your monitor and if you were targeting 34,000, you're actually dropping 33,000 if they're all skips. So don't get too out of whack. Obviously, you try to adjust things the best you can, but A lot of guys get stressed out on the, you know, being 1 or 2% low on the singulation on a hybrid. And, and I can tell you from experience, don't, don't worry about that as much as what people do.

Chris: Gotcha. Gotcha. Well, that's all awesome and great, great stuff to kind of be thinking about and probably listen to this podcast a couple of times to get these things in our minds as probably as we're out in the truck or in the tractor rolling around. Let's shift over to the sprayer for a minute. There's a lot of things going on, a lot of things sprayers need to do in front of the planter, behind the planter, you know, the prees. Is there any particular thing? I know there's a lot of COVID crops out there and stuff. I'm throwing a whole bunch of stuff at you here, but I'll have you— I'll shut up for a minute and let you take the sprayer here for a minute and talk a little bit about what people need to pay attention to with with that?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, just a few things to be honest with you, Chris. You know, we do for the guys no-tilling or strip-tilling, there are annual weeds that have emerged and most guys are throwing some chemistry in for burndown anyway. But if you aren't, you know, take a look. I mean, there's giant ragweed and lamb's quarter that are up. We just want to make sure that whatever is going in our burndown, our pre, is making sure that we're capturing that. The other thing I guess that I want, that I've kind of been seeing over the past few years is while guys maybe have switched to a two-pass herbicide program, they maybe are taking a product, putting half the rate on, you know, pre-emerge and then half the rate on post. And in my opinion, that's a one-pass program because we're only essentially putting on the chemistry that can go on in one pass.

And with today's challenges with waterhemp and velvet leaf and things like that, we need full rates of our pre's. And so that would be, I guess, the main thing with guys is, you know, let's not, let's not be cutting rates. And like you mentioned, margins are tight, but boy, weeds can rob a lot, a lot of yield. And let's just be diligent making sure that we're getting that full rate of pre on. On the COVID crop, One of the things that we found is if you have more than 60% ground cover, you know, our residual herbicides are getting absorbed by the COVID crop and not making it to the soil.

So if you're going out there to kill a cover crop and thinking, well, I'm just going to put my pre in there with it, if you have a really thick, dense cover crop where if you stand and look straight down, you can't see any bare soil, that essentially means that very little, if any, of your soil residual herbicide will actually make it to the soil and do any good. So in those cases, you probably have a thick enough mat of COVID crop that it's going to suppress weeds anyway. And we want to make sure that that cover crop would be dead and brown and then go out and get our residual herbicides on. And that could very well be when the crop's up.

Chris: Gotcha. Any, anything else on, on the sprayer with, you know, like I said, there's a, there's more weed pressure out there I think than people realize too. You get out there around the waterways and stuff. We just had such a warm season. Is there any additional things guys need to watch on the prees?

Troy

Deutmeyer: You know, I, I wouldn't mind for guys to maybe, we call it beef up your borders and maybe around those edges, the, the fence lines, the waterways,, you know, maybe put on 120% rate of a pre and because that's where the majority of our weed problems start. And if we can, can prevent them from ever emerging, you know, we can maybe save a field from turning into a problem.

Chris: Yeah, I love that because, you know, one of the things, you know, it comes right back to what I said a little bit ago. You know, if any, any, you don't want to cut back on anything that either enhances or protects yield. And, you know, the fastest way to lower your cost of production isn't, isn't to save money on the inputs that are going to either protect or increase yield. So I love that you bring that up because it's, that's so true. I guess one of the other questions I have for you as we get closer to wrapping up here is with commodity prices where they're at and stuff, I think people are being super cautious, you know, and, and looking at particular products when corn prices are $6 plus or $5.50 even plus versus where commodity prices are at now.

I think it makes it a little bit more difficult for people to consider, say, a biological or that extra seed treatment, um, product or whatever. Um, talk a little bit about making some good decisions on the farm with respect to some biologicals or things that are working. Obviously we need the basics, the first, you know, the tile and the, you know, the pH and the balancing the fertility. But talk a little bit about that and, and, you know, what extras do we, should we be considering and what things maybe do we bypass?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Well, you kind of summarized what I was going to say there, Chris, is is we, you know, at Pioneer, we have what we call the yield pyramid, and people can check that out if they haven't seen it. But basically, at the bottom of that pyramid are the big chunks, the tile, the soil pH, phosphorus, potassium, you know, sulfur, your planter pass. You know, if we can get those things done properly, you know, we're maybe 95+ percent of the way there. And I guess on some of the things, you know, like the biologicals or some of these new products, do some homework and see if there's data out there other than from the manufacturer, you know, that shows that this has a positive ROI. And one of the things that I will just say with biologicals in our research, even with our own biological products at Corteva, you know, we do have a hard time in consistently making money off of those things.

And keep in mind, guys, that those are living organisms and how you treat them before they are applied will have a big impact on how well they work. So, you know, if you're putting them into a tank mix of something that, you know, let's just say has chlorine or something like that in it that, you know, is designed to kill bacteria, you know, you are not going to get good results. Or if you don't handle that stuff as the manufacturer recommends, And, and your, your bugs in the jug, if you will, if they're all dead when that jug gets poured, you know, then you've just lost your— lost everything. So, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty there yet. And so let's just make sure that we're doing the basics and maybe just try some of the biologicals, you know, for a year or two on certain acres and see if it does give you a return.

And you're right, the high dollar commodity prices have brought everything and anything from outside of the closet to say, hey, this works. And there was the margin there that you could play around with that kind of stuff. But, you know, just try it on a few acres and, and then make sure, verify on your own farm that it works.

Chris: Yeah, I like that a lot too. I think, you know, you don't give up on those things. I think you continue to do your own on-farm research and continue to learn. And, and, you know, because a lot of those things, you know, adding an extra 4 or 5 bushel here or there,, really makes a difference on the bottom line, but, but the ROI is really important on those products for sure. Um, last thing I want to hit on is scouting. So let's say, you know, we've, we did all those things right with the tillage or the strip till or the no-till and the settings of the planter. We've killed the weeds, we're setting up things, and we think anyway, and the weather's been okay, but maybe we've had this weather event or that weather event Talk a little bit about scouting. I think that's one area that sometimes we, we get so busy, um, you know, getting ready for post-spraying.

We're tired, we're catching up on, on sleep after the planning process and maybe gearing some things up for side dress and stuff. So we're super busy, but I think there's a lot of opportunity with some scouting and learning and educating ourselves on kind of what happened and, and taking some notes there. Talk about what are the kind of the key scouting things that people need to do post-planting?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, you know, if yourself or someone in the operation can maybe do what we call some flag tests on emergence uniformity in both corn and soybeans and then follow them through the year. And then also, you know, when— what I'm talking about there is about every 12 or 24 hours, you know, go out and mark plants that came up that day. Or in that time frame. And then essentially what you're doing is evaluating the uniformity of emergence. And that's really something that we have to do at that time, because come fall, when you have a runt plant, whether it's a corn or soybean, then it only has about half the grain or any— no grain on it, you wonder what the heck happened there. And we need to be out in the fields, like you said, when the crop is coming up. And some of those runs, you know, or late emerging, dig them up. You know, was it shallow planting?

Was it residue in the furrow? Was it, uh, you know, maybe it was a bad seed. I don't know. But, uh, you know, dig them up and make notes for next year. And that's the only way that we're really going to be able to improve on that. The other thing that I guess I like to see guys do while they're planting, and it could be the guy that's tendering to the planter, is, you know, do a lot of digging and dig across every row and making sure that every row unit is doing its job properly. And instead of just taking pliers or a screwdriver or knife and just digging straight down, what I like to do is, is take a spade and put it perpendicular to the row, stab that down in and then pull it back. And what that's going to do is give you a cross-sectional view of your seed trench. And then that way you can kind of see, am I creating sidewall compaction? Are there air pockets at the bottom?

You know, am I doing a good job with, you know, getting good seed-to-soil contact? So I guess that's something scouting while the planter's going. But I think the main thing for scouting after planting is done is just keep an eye on the uniformity of emergence, making notes, and allowing yourself to be able to improve on next year's planter pass.

Chris: Those are all awesome, awesome things. Um, I guess, you know, one other thing I will hit on is the, um, the side dressing and stuff, and that's a little ways out here, but are there any— anything while I've got you on here, anything that you want to point out when it's time to side dress? There's guys out there, you know, with 32 relatively quickly after the corn emerges and different things too, and they're navigating that around spraying time and stuff too. Any Any final comments on, on just managing that crop after emergence with, with spray and, and side dress type activities?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Sure. On the, on the herbicide part, I guess I'm a big fan of, you know, once we have two-leaf corn or, you know, two-trifoliate corn— or I'm sorry, two-trifoliate soybeans— to get out there and get spraying. Um, I, I do feel that A lot of people do their post-herbicide applications too late or later than what maybe is optimal. And the reason why I say that is a couple things. One, the earlier you're out there, the smaller the weeds are going to be, the easier they're going to kill. And in pretty well about every post-emerge herbicide application now, guys are including residual herbicide products. And if the crop is big, and weeds are big, it's kind of just like what we talked about with the COVID crop is a lot of that soil residual does not make it to the soil.

And again, the smaller the weeds, the smaller the crop, you know, the more opportunity we have for that soil residual to actually make it to the soil, get rained in, and give us protection through canopy. So I guess that would probably be on the herbicide part. On the side dress, I guess if you are using a liquid product and coming in with either Y-Dropping or Toolbar, if you haven't been incorporating especially sulfur and possibly boron into that mix, I'd ask you to maybe try it on a few acres this year and see if you can have some side-by-side comparisons and see, you know, what you get for a response. We do continue to see many fields are deficient in sulfur. And we do know that anytime that we apply nitrogen, especially in season, there should be some sulfur along with it. It just seems like 1 1 3 when we have that combo.

And then, you know, boron does quite often come back deficient on our tissue samples that we do in customers' fields. So, you know, maybe adding in a half unit of boron or something like that might be something to play around with to help maybe offset, you know, some deficiencies.

Chris: It's interesting, we've got a fair number of guys that, you know, are doing the 2x2, and, and if you take the sulfur out of that mix, or if you just don't even turn the switch on on the planter, you know, on one pass or something, I mean, you talk about a huge difference. Specifically in corn, it's just such a visual difference in terms of plant health You know, once you get to about, you know, V3, V4, you can start to really see it. And up to V5, it's a big deal. Talk about that. And also with soybeans, does it make sense to be putting some sulfur out there with soybeans, or what's your thought on that?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, on the corn, like you said, you know, it does make a very large visual difference, and sometimes guys are surprised the yield isn't as different as they had thought. You know, in most cases it's very economical and profitable to put it in. But I also tell guys, the thing that we've seen in our research is the sulfur versus the no sulfur right next to it, because of that difference in rapid growth, the sulfur trial— the trials where the sulfur has been applied generally hits pollination about a week sooner, which means it hits black layer a week sooner. And a week of extra dry down in the fall can be 1 to 2 points of moisture. So I encourage guys to include that into their return on investment when they do their calculations on their sulfur. Not only are we getting yield response, but we're also seeing, you know, drier corn in the fall.

And you start talking 1 or 2 points, you know, that can definitely add to that ROI number. On the soybeans, it seems like there's some very good data that has just been released from University of Purdue, that the earlier you plant your soybeans, the better chance there is of a profitable sulfur response. And so I tell guys, you know, go try some, maybe split some fields, you know, whether you're putting some potash on, maybe put some AMS in, or if you can run some trials, possibly do, because we have seen in soybeans maybe the yield response has not been as consistent So maybe it's based on your soils, your environment, your tillage. But we do know that there are some cases where we see, you know, some eye-popping yield differences with sulfur on soybeans. We haven't quite exactly figured out where it needs to go and when and how much.

So unfortunately, I can't give you a straight-up answer on that, Chris, other than to tell guys, if you can do a little bit of experiment and go ahead and do so. And the one thing that it looks to be very consistent is if you are a super early planter of soybeans, you will most likely get a very nice profitable response to sulfur.

Chris: That's, that's awesome. What kind of rate are you thinking? Like, if you're 2x2 with the planter on the beans, what would the rate be?

Troy

Deutmeyer: You know, it seems like that 20 units of sulfur is a pretty darn good starting point. We do have some guys that pushing closer to 30. But I think, you know, like you said, you know, try 20, flip it off on a pass or two and see what happens and kind of go from there. Awesome.

Chris: So what, uh, what do you want to leave producers with? I'm going to give you the last word here. Anything I didn't ask or anything that you want to make sure guys are thinking about as they roll with the planters and, and start getting into the 2024 growing season?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Yeah, for, you know, guys that want to get rolling, like we talked about earlier, I think it's, it's definitely an opportunity, a window here that we a lot of times don't see this early. And if you're not comfortable getting rolling, you're not behind the 8-ball by any means. We still have, you know, several weeks here to get this crop in without any, you know, yield loss. And just hope guys enjoy the enjoy the spring that we get to do this one more year and, and be safe out there.

Chris: That's awesome. Yeah, I think the, the safety thing is a great place to wrap up is take, take your time. And, uh, um, one, one note I'll, I'll throw out there is always keep your cell phone on you. You get out, uh, around a piece of equipment and you're working on it, and if you have an issue or a problem, your cell phone is on you. Um, had a client, good friend of mine in Nebraska that had his phone in the cab and got his fingers pinched between two pieces on the planter and could not get away and was trapped there for several hours before somebody found him. And he could see his cell phone sitting in the cab of the tractor. So, um, you know, that's just one instance. So there's all kinds of things that can happen. So that's, that's my, my tip bit for safety, I guess, to leave everybody with. But Troy, you do an awesome job. Um, you also have a newsletter that you put out.

Is there any way, like, people wanted to reach out and, and access that, how would they do that?

Troy

Deutmeyer: Uh, sure, they could. Um, I guess my email address is troy.deutmeyer, last name spelled D-E-U-T-M-E-Y-E-R, @pioneer.com. I guess if they want to be on that, they can just go ahead and, uh, send me an email. And then I also am on Facebook and Twitter, and most of the information that's in my updates I usually space out during the week on social media.

Chris: That's awesome. Yeah, you do a great job with that. And, and again, today and with all this information, sincerely appreciate all your wisdom and your, your years of dedication to Pioneer and, and everything. Really appreciate it. And, uh, thanks again.

Troy

Deutmeyer: You bet. All right, be safe out there, guys.

Chris: Yeah, will do. And hey everybody, um, thank you for listening. If you got some questions or want to reach out to Troy, do that. Also email us if there's any other topics you'd like to see us hitting. And also pay attention for the input and things that are coming out on 19 Minutes. When you get a chance, get signed up for that too. With that said, have a safe spring. We'll catch you guys next time on the Ag View Pitch.