Crops & Comments

Potassium is the nutrient where Midwest thinking gets Southeast farmers in trouble. Our soils don't bank K the way theirs do, and the numbers on your report don't mean what a lot of folks think they mean. We work through the soil chemistry, the plant physiology, and the arithmetic behind reading an NCDA&CS report for potassium.

• Our soils don't hold a K reserve. — Midwest 2:1 clays trap and slowly release potassium between the layers. Piedmont kaolinite doesn't. There's no savings account here, which means the crop is living on what's on the exchange complex right now.
• Yes, potassium leaches in the Southeast. — Low CEC means few places to hold a K ion. Add sand and rainfall and applied K moves. Calcium and magnesium from lime actively push K off the exchange, which is why fall-banking K on a Coastal Plain sand is a losing proposition.
• How to read the K index — and why base saturation misleads you. — The K-I is a rescaled ppm number with no CEC in the equation. We run the conversions on air. And we work the math that matters: 3% K saturation on a CEC 3 sand is about 75 lb K₂O total, while 3% on a CEC 12 clay is 300 lb. Same percentage, four times the potassium. Chase the index, not the ratio.
• Some soils physically can't hold a season's worth. — We calculate maximum K holding capacity by CEC class and compare it against what corn, cotton, soybeans, and wheat actually pull. On the lightest ground, splitting isn't a refinement — it's the only way the K stays there.
• Cotton is the problem child. — Roughly 70% of cotton's K comes in by first bloom, on a small root system, right when bolls take over as the sink. That's why you see late-season deficiency on the upper leaves and Stemphylium on fields that soil-tested fine. We cover UGA's foliar K work and where it actually pays.
• Crop-by-crop rates, removal, and litter credits. — NC's actual K₂O equations by index, removal figures for grain versus silage and grain versus baled straw, and why poultry litter K credits nearly pound-for-pound while litter N doesn't.

Every fertility decision you make sits on top of soil pH. Get it wrong and you're paying for phosphorus the soil won't release, nitrogen the crop can't use efficiently, and soybean nodules that never form. In the first episode of our soil testing series, we get into why Piedmont soils fight us on acidity, how often you really need to pull samples, and what your NCDA&CS report is actually telling you.

• Why we test in the Southeast. — Piedmont Ultisols are old, weathered, kaolinitic, and low-CEC. Bases leach out, nitrogen fertilizer drives pH down, and there's not much buffering to hold the line. NC State data show 37% of row-crop samples come back below pH 5.8 — and about 9% are already over-limed.
• How often to pull samples. — Once every three years works on stable Piedmont clay. We talk through when that's not enough: sandy low-CEC ground, cotton, heavy nitrogen programs, and after a big lime application.
• Active versus reserve acidity — and the aluminum it hides. — The meter reads active acidity; reserve acidity sits on the exchange sites, which is the whole reason a pH number alone can't set a lime rate. Below about pH 5.5, aluminum goes into solution and attacks the root tip directly, shutting down cell elongation — short, stubby, brittle roots that can't chase water. Manganese toxicity rides along with it.
• What we shoot for. — pH 6.0 on mineral soils, 6.2 for cotton, and why chasing 7.0 costs you manganese, zinc, and boron.
• Why North Carolina doesn't report a buffer pH. — Most states run a buffer (Adams-Evans, Mehlich, Sikora) to estimate reserve acidity. NC skips that step and calculates lime straight from exchangeable acidity, or "Ac," on your report. We walk the actual equation — and why that means NC's CEC number isn't comparable to a private lab's.
• Buying lime on the tag, not the sticker. — Tennessee dolomite versus South Carolina calcitic, the geology behind each, and why dolomite reacts slower — let your magnesium index make the call, not a Ca:Mg ratio. Then calcium carbonate equivalent and fineness combine into effective neutralizing value, so you can compare two quotes on delivered tons of actual neutralizing power. And gypsum is not lime — it's calcium sulfate, it won't move your pH, but it has a job to do on subsoil aluminum.

POST resistance has taken most of the traditional cleanup options off the table in Southeastern ryegrass. That makes pyroxasulfone the best soil-applied tool we have for stopping ryegrass before it ever establishes. Geoff Reeves walks through the chemistry behind its staying power and lays out a two-pass overlapping residual program built to draw down the seedbank and keep this chemistry working.

• Killing it in the crack. — Pyroxasulfone shuts down very-long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA) elongases in germinating seedlings before the shoot ever reaches daylight — which is exactly why it does nothing to ryegrass that's already up.
• Low rate, tight binding. — It runs at roughly one-eighth the rate of the older chloroacetamides. High enzyme-binding affinity, low water solubility, and moderate soil binding are what stretch the residual window.
• Two passes, overlapped. — A fall application — late October into November — with a burndown partner like glufosinate, followed by an overlapping pass around February to catch the spring flush.
• No water, no herbicide. — You need 0.5 to 0.75 inches of rain to activate it. Sitting dry on the surface, it lets ryegrass through even though the product is right there.
• Where resistance actually comes from. — Target-site resistance is rare here. The real risk is the declining low-dose tail at the end of the residual window, which selects for metabolic, GST-based resistance. Full label rates and zero tolerance for seed-set on escapes are what keep the seedbank shrinking.
• Rotation and cover crops. — Fitting winter peas, crimson clover, or cereal rye into the program for added ryegrass suppression — without boxing yourself in on the next cash crop or blowing through seasonal rate limits.

Late-season desiccation is one of the few tools that lets you pick your harvest date instead of letting the weather pick it for you. In the Southeast, that's the whole argument — a September storm can undo a season's work in a night. But the same application that buys you a week can cost you real yield if it goes out too early. This episode is about reading the crop and getting the timing right.

• Buying days ahead of the storm. — A harvest aid applied at the right stage can pull harvest forward 5 to 10 days, and up to 15 days in the Deep South. In hurricane season, those days are the point.
• R7 is the line. — Timing is the entire decision. Land-grant trial work shows up to 68.5% yield loss from an application at R5.5, versus no measurable loss at physiological maturity (R7). Green pods are still filling seed, and you can't shortcut that.
• Fast versus thorough. — Sodium chlorate dries down quickly on a 0-day preharvest interval. Saflufenacil runs a 3-day PHI. Paraquat gives the most complete burn but carries a 15-day PHI. Your combine schedule decides which trade-off you can live with.
• What a desiccant won't fix. — These products manage green weed biomass and leaf tissue. They don't cure green stem, they don't pull moisture out of the seed, and they won't stop pod shattering.

Stink bugs cost Southeast soybean growers real money every year — but not all stink bugs are created equal. This episode breaks down the full complex hitting Piedmont and Southeast beans and gets into the science behind why some are so much harder to kill.

• How they actually damage a pod — the enzyme cocktail they inject that shrivels seed, drags out maturity, and can trigger green stem
• What your sweep net counts are really telling you — thresholds by species, and why grain and seed beans aren't scouted the same way
• Why brown stink bug shrugs off a pyrethroid that drops its green cousins dead — the biochemistry behind it
• Why redbanded stink bug might be the toughest bug in the field — lower threshold, deeper feeding, and a knack for reinfesting after a spray

If you scout beans in July and August, this one's for you.

Does a Kelp-and-Carbon Biostimulant Actually Pay in the Piedmont?

Loveland's Terramar is showing up in more fungicide tanks across the Carolinas, so we dug into what it actually is and how it works inside the plant. It's a 0-0-4 — which means the potash on the label is a rounding error and the value proposition lives entirely in plant physiology. We walk through the mechanism, the tank-mix logic at VT/R1 corn and R3 soybeans, and whether a stress-mitigation product makes more sense than a full-season foliar nutritional on high-fertility poultry litter ground.

• What's actually in the jug — Biologically extracted kelp paired with leonardite-derived carbon; why the extraction method matters more than the guaranteed analysis.
• Mechanism at the plant level — Antioxidant enzyme induction, nitrate transporter upregulation, stomatal and water relations, and a measured 3–5°F canopy temperature reduction.
• The elicitor question — Laminarin and fucoidans have real defense-priming credentials in the literature, but here's why that doesn't make this a disease tool.
• Additive, not synergistic — Strobilurins already deliver a greening effect, so we break down where the incremental bushel actually comes from.
• The poultry litter angle — Why P and K foliars struggle to pay on built-up soils, and whether a physiology-limited product escapes that same ceiling.
• Piedmont fit — Thin A-horizons over Cecil and Pacolet clay, record-warm overnight lows, and why this region should be a best-case scenario if the mechanism holds.
• Running your own numbers — Breakeven math at current corn and soybean prices, plus a replicated check-strip design you can run this season.

In this episode we dive into the physical mechanisms of how top insecticides take down corn earworms in soybeans. Designed for row-crop farmers and agronomists in the Southeast, this episode strips away the marketing to look purely at field performance and how these chemistries operate inside the insect and the plant. We compare two fundamental approaches: a rate-flexible tank mix of Coragen Evo and bifenthrin, and the fixed premix Intrepid Edge.

Tune in to learn:

• Speed vs. Duration — The critical tradeoff between fast-acting contact knockdowns (like pyrethroids) and slower, ingestion-driven residuals that provide long-lasting control.
• Modes of Action — How different active ingredients attack the insect, from locking up muscles and overstimulating the nervous system, to triggering a lethal, premature molt.
• Scouting Expectations — Why finding live but "moribund" (doomed) twitching worms days after spraying means your diamide or insect growth regulator is actually doing its job.
• Performance Realities — How documented pyrethroid resistance in the Southeast impacts the heavy lifting your tank mixes have to do.

Whether you are prioritizing rapid knockdown for a broad pest complex or extended residual control for caterpillars, this episode gives you the scientific reasoning needed to make informed product selections for your fields.

Did you know that cleaner air has quietly turned sulfur into a yield-limiting nutrient for row crops in North Carolina and South Carolina?

In this week's episode, we sit down with an agronomy expert to unpack the "Clean Air Act effect." With power plant sulfur dioxide emissions down 95% since 1990, the "free" atmospheric sulfur that used to mask soil deficiencies is practically gone. We dig into the inseparable biochemical link between nitrogen and sulfur — and explain why piling on more nitrogen won't fix a sulfur problem, and will actually just drive nitrate accumulation and poor crop protein.

Key topics covered in this episode:

• The Soil Risk — Why deep, sandy, low-organic-matter Coastal Plain soils (like Candor and Conetoe) are the most vulnerable to sulfur leaching.
• Testing Tactics — Why standard soil tests are notoriously unreliable for sulfur, and how to properly diagnose issues with plant tissue testing.
• The N:S Ratio Debate — A nuanced look at whether to rely on the traditional 15:1 to 20:1 nitrogen-to-sulfur tissue ratio, or follow newer research that judges nitrogen and sulfur on their individual sufficiency.
• Fertilizer Strategy — The benefits of treating at-risk fields with immediately available sulfate-based fertilizers (like AMS or ATS) rather than relying on slow-releasing elemental sulfur for a quick correction.
• Economic ROI — The break-even math showing why 15–25 lbs of sulfur per acre is a low-cost investment that pays for itself in responsive crops.

Every March, Italian ryegrass shows up armored, oversized, and resistant to nearly every herbicide group in the toolbox — by the time you can see it, it's too late. On this episode we aim to lay out the fall program that actually works.

We break down Geoff Reeves' October burndown strategy: pairing Liberty Ultra (glufosinate) + AMS to wipe out early emerged seedlings, layered with a Zidua SC or Anthem Flex (pyroxasulfone) residual — anchored with the adjuvant Infuse so winter rain doesn't wash the barrier below the germination zone. Then we get into the cover crop debate: why bin-run winter wheat, not cereal rye, is Geoff's pick for physically choking out ryegrass without overwhelming your planter, tying up nitrogen come spring and most importantly -- simply giving the farmer options.

If you grow row crops anywhere ryegrass is a problem, this is the fall checklist to have locked in now.

EPA just cleared three new herbicide active ingredients for corn, soybeans, and wheat — and they're aimed squarely at the weeds giving Southeast growers the most trouble: resistant Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, and marestail.

In this episode we break down what each one actually is and where it fits: epyrifenacil (Valent's Rapidicil, sold as Empera) and trifludimoxazin (BASF's Tirexor and Voraxor) — two next-generation Group 14 PPO inhibitors built to control PPO-resistant pigweed that older chemistry can't touch — plus diflufenican (Bayer's Convintro), the first effective Group 12 "bleacher" residual for pigweed control in corn and soybeans.

We keep it practical: how they differ from glyphosate, glufosinate, and the PPOs you're already running; where they slot into burndown, preplant, and pre-emergence programs; why none of them is a silver bullet for Italian ryegrass in wheat; and how to use them to diversify sites of action instead of burning them out. If resistance management is on your mind heading into next season, this one's for you.

RNA interference — RNAi — is quietly reshaping how we think about insect control in row crops. The technology is already commercial: corn growers have had an RNAi rootworm trait since 2022, and potato growers got the first sprayable dsRNA product in 2024. But for soybean and cotton? Nothing is registered yet — and there are real biological reasons why.

In this episode, we break down how RNAi actually works, why beetles responded first while caterpillars and sucking insects are a harder problem, what's in the pipeline for soybean and cotton pests, and what a realistic timeline looks like for row crop farmers. We also sort the independent university data from the manufacturer claims — because in a category this new, that distinction matters.

Why are farm managers spraying an EPA-registered biochemical pesticide to force their crops to grow?

In this episode of the Crops & Comments podcast by Field to Yield, curated by Geoff Reeves, we cut through the glossy agricultural marketing to explore the hidden science behind Radiate by Loveland Products. We explore how a tiny active fraction of the product utilizes a highly specific 5.7 to 1 ratio of auxin to cytokinin.

Tracing this exact chemical formulation back to the 1957 Skoog-Miller principle discovered at the University of Wisconsin, we explain how this mathematical ratio acts as a "master biological switch" that aggressively drives root development and floors the plant's underground architecture pedal. We also dive into severe competitor patent warnings to reveal the catastrophic 20% yield loss that occurs when this delicate hormone balance is inverted, forcing leafy canopy growth while starving the roots.

Finally, we break down the real-world field agronomics. Learn why applying this root-boosting trigger during early vegetative stages (like V2 to V5 for soybeans) gets a "free ride" in the herbicide tank, acting as a cheap structural insurance policy against late-season droughts and heat stress. Tune in to find out if chemically altering your crop's foundational blueprint is a scientifically sound risk management tool or just a placebo.

Why does a trace element punch so far above its weight in the Carolina Piedmont and the broader Southeast?

In this episode of Crops & Comments, we take a deep dive into boron to explore the fundamental science of why it acts as the literal "mortar" holding plant cell walls together by cross-linking pectin. We explain the critical concept of "phloem immobility" — the fact that boron is a one-way ticket up the plant. Because your corn and soybeans have no internal savings account to draw from, they rely on a steady supply exactly when reproductive demand spikes.

We cover the specific impacts of boron deficiency on both crops, from barren stalks, "tip-back," and erratic kernel loss in corn, to impaired nitrogen-fixing nodules and hidden pod-set losses in soybeans.

Given the highly weathered, low-organic-matter, and highly leachable soils of the Southeast, we discuss why even a brief deficiency window can quietly cap your yield. Most importantly, we explore the trend of adding boron to your mid-season fungicide applications at VT/R1 for corn or R1–R5 for soybeans. While this timing perfectly aligns with peak reproductive demand, we explain why tissue testing is essential to ensure boron is truly the limiting factor before you spray.

Tune in to learn how to keep your crop's "mortar" strong and ensure your plants have the fuel they need exactly when reproduction counts.

What is Falling Number? Falling number is a physical test (the Hagberg-Perten test) that measures alpha-amylase activity in your wheat. In the lab, ground grain and water are mixed into a slurry, and a machine measures the exact time in seconds it takes for a plunger to fall through the mixture. If the wheat has sprout damage, the alpha-amylase enzyme thins out the slurry, causing the plunger to fall faster and resulting in a lower falling number.

Environment Outweighs Genetics: When it comes to falling numbers, the weather conditions at your specific farm matter far more than the variety of seed you plant. Rain after maturity and temperature fluctuations dictate FN to the point that a single wheat variety can swing more than 140 seconds between two different locations during the exact same crop year.

The SY Viper Question: The data shows SY Viper isn't necessarily a silver bullet for high falling numbers — it tested right in the middle of the pack for FN performance. However, it does possess a few favorable traits, specifically an awnless (beardless) head type that can help the plant shed water and dry out, which modestly reduces the risk of pre-harvest sprouting.

Testing is Outdated — Test Your Own: Official variety testing for falling numbers is extremely limited; the most comprehensive regional data we have comes from a 2018–2019 NC State study. Because multi-year public data isn't currently available, the best strategy is to do your own testing. You can submit your farm's wheat samples for free through the NC Cooperative Extension to be tested at NC State's new Grain Quality Lab.