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Low moisture, green stems slow down soybean harvest

An extension soybean agronomist with Purdue University says low moistures weren’t the only harvest challenge for soybean growers this year.

Shaun Casteel says green stems have also plagued many farmers.

“We’ve had a lot of dry conditions across the Midwest and the latter part during seed fill, and so a lot of these fields are green stem, but the pods are ready,” he says.

Southeastern Illinois farmer Don Guinnip says it’s become an annual challenge that slows down the combine.

“Some combines are different when you’re running all that green stuff through, but most everybody’s figured out how to do it.”  He says, “We try to get ahead of the extremely low moisture we’ve got on the beans.”

Casteel tells Brownfield the issue can be caused by environmental factors, as well as management decisions.

“Primarily this year and last year, we’ve got this dry condition and the seeds have aborted, or the pods have aborted, and so then we’re maintaining stems.”  He says, “Versus the fungicides that are high-yield management type scenarios, which extend plant health.”

He says that high levels of insect damage to pods can also lead to issues with green soybean stems, but mature beans.  

AUDIO: Shaun Casteel – Purdue University