A large amount of soybean acres in the Northern Plains this year are infested with soybean cyst nematode., also known as SCN. Iowa State University Nematologist Greg Tylka who’s the director of the Iowa State Soybean Research Center says SCN can be difficult to deal with because it’s difficult to spot.
He says areas of drought in the Midwest along with very dry conditions in many areas has led to higher numbers of SCN. Tylka says it’s imperative producers do fall soil testing for it.
He recommends growers do most of their SCN testing in this year’s corn fields because it’s likely those will be planted to soybeans next spring due to rotation. Tylka says the yield loss from SCN can be astronomical.
Tylka says every soybean growing state is part of the SCN coalition and they have a website producers can go to for maps and management recommendations to help them in dealing with SCN. That website is SCNcoalition.com.
