Bruce Sundeen 0:00
This is the sugarbeet report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugarbeet growing season. Today, we're getting a crop update from Todd Geselius, Vice President of agriculture for the southern Minnesota beet sugar cooperative. Todd, how did this season start out for producers in southern valley,
Todd Geselius 0:19
Not unlike those of you in Red River Valley, we had a very challenging spring, lots of rain that kept us out of the field, we did have an area that was able to get some beets planted about what I would call our normal timeframe, which is towards the end of April, planting kind of get sprinkled through all the way up until last between in probably the first week of June. So very wide planting dates. And of course, that means we have a varied growth stages out in the field right now. That also impacted somewhat the stands that we're seeing, generally speaking, the early planted beats have pretty good stands in that 170 to 200 range stuff planted after that was much more variable in January speaking has less good stands. I don't think anybody would say there anything to write home about. But generally, I think they're okay.
Bruce Sundeen 1:10
How does inconsistent planting affect weed control?
Todd Geselius 1:14
We have very widespread glyphosate resistant waterhemp in our growing area, it really became evident this year, as we have seen in the past, you really got to get started controlling this particular weed early. Those guys who got a pre down and got a nice activating rainfall on it, they're doing pretty good on weed control, really their waterhemp is for the most part under control and looking pretty good. Those guys who chose not to do a pre or didn't get a good activation on their pre, they are struggling much more to try and get waterhemp under control. Everybody has been very diligent about using lay bys. In a lot of cases, we're seeing a lot of ultra blazer being used, that is working pretty good. I would say the key to have an ultra blazer work well in your situation is really about weed size. If you have big weeds, say six inches or more tall, you're going to be challenged to have ultimate laser control those weeds. If your weeds are smaller, four inches or less, I think you have a pretty good chance. That's a pretty valuable tool in our toolbox. Because we just don't have any other means to post emergency control waterhemp.
Bruce Sundeen 2:26
What about controlling Circospra Leaf Spot in your area,
Todd Geselius 2:29
Of course, for us Circospra is always a worry, those earliest planted beats are tracking as we would normally expect and those rows closed some time ago. And a lot of those fields have one or a lot of them have to Circospra fungicide applications already applied. So those beats are coming along nicely. Our DIVs the last couple of weeks have been quite high with the heat and some thunderstorms that came through give them some guys some relief from the dry. And so those areas are really need some protection, the later planet stuff, probably not at a point where the roads are closed yet. And so we really haven't started in a Circospra applications there. But with the heat and humidity that we have seen, it's not going to be long before every acre is going to need some kind of protection against Circospra, we just know it's a real battle for us here.
Bruce Sundeen 3:22
Are there any other tools being used to control Circospra?
Todd Geselius 3:26
We have been working with the USDA on doing some testing to see if we can detect sick cost brah actively growing and leaves before we see the actual spots on the leaf. Last week's results showed Circospra in every sample that we sent. And that is probably about 75 samples that we sent up. The week before that we had about two thirds of the samples had Circospra actively growing in them, even though we didn't see any spots on any leaves. Just this week, we have started to see spots on our leaves. And so we know that the fungus is actively growing out there. So it's time to be proactive and get ahead of that.
Bruce Sundeen 4:08
With all these challenges. What kind of potential do you see for the seasons crop?
Todd Geselius 4:13
I think we really have a lot of potential. It's been generally dry the last month or so. And that has really helped minimize the amount of root rot that we're seeing out in the fields. That's really critical. And so I think that's not going to hold us back. And we can really have some good growth going forward here. We're taking root samples this week. We're anxiously waiting that with the varied planting dates that we experienced this year. It's going to be interesting to see where we stack up compared to previous years.
Bruce Sundeen 4:43
Thanks, Todd. Our guest today has been Todd Geselius,Vice president of agriculture for the southern Minnesota beet sugar cooperative. This has been the sugarbeet report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugarbeet growing season
Transcribed by https://otter.ai