By Jeff Bates, Thunder Seed chief production officer
With the harvest wrapped up, it’s a great time to reflect on how your crops performed and prepare for next year. If soybeans are a prominent crop on your farm, there are some key factors to consider when making your seed selection, especially if you have had persistent weed issues.
Our LibertyLink® soybean varieties may be the right combination for your 2016 planting season. With LibertyLink, the Liberty herbicide quickly attacks all visible weeds to minimize damage to the pods. In addition to the maximum effectiveness against weeds, the LibertyLink varieties feature other key traits, such as good IDC tolerance, excellent white mold prevention and several maturity ratings to help with staggering the harvest schedule with other crops such as corn or sugar beets.
To help you determine which LibertyLink variety is best, we have compiled information on each type.
5401
Choose this variety for consistent yields from up north near the Canadian border down to the southern edge of Minnesota and into South Dakota. At a 0.1 relative maturity, this early variety allows you to more easily pace the schedule between harvesting soybeans and other crops such as sugar beets and corn. The variety also features strong white mold tolerance and a very good IDC rating to handle salty soils.
5605
For consistent, high yields for fields from Wahpeton to Carrington, select this variety for year-after-year maximum results. No matter the weather, pest or weed challenges, there’ll be minimal dip in yields. The variety is also resistant to the soybean cyst nematode and has a very good IDC rating of 1.7.
5411
For greater protection against the root disease phytophthora, choose this variety with a 1K trait. There are several different races of phytophthora and with this resistance bred into the seed, it will minimize root and plant impact for soybeans that come into contact with this disease. The variety is a 1.1 maturity making it ideal for southern Minnesota and South Dakota. Its traits also include a very good IDC tolerance and excellent white mold tolerance.
5615
Select this variety if you’re planting soybeans in South Dakota and southern Minnesota and need a maturity rating of 1.5. It’ll minimize white mold impact, is resistant to the pesky soybean cyst nematode and is developed with a strong IDC tolerance. And, it features excellent shatter resistance, preventing the soybeans from falling onto the soil and decreasing yields.
As we grow to meet your needs, we’re planning on expanding our LibertyLink lineup to include a .7 or .8 relative maturity rating variety. We’re excited to see how those varieties perform in the 2016 trials to determine which will provide overall qualities needed for maximum yields.
We’d be happy to discuss this further with you, so contact your dealer today to get locked in with seed for 2016. We’ll make sure that you’re stocked with the highest quality seed so that whatever weeds or weather come you’re way, you’ll have a great crop.
