Observation
Soybeans with less pre-plant Nitrogen seemed to grow more nodules with better pod spacing than fields that were heavily applied with soluble Nitrogen. Excessive early Nitrogen may lead to taller lankier plants—some tipped over in the field—making harvesting a greater challenge.
Field #1
This field had 10,000 gallons of quality liquid manure applied. Beans were tall, tipping over, and had signs of white mold.
Non-treated plants had 25 pods and Bioactive LiquiLife™ (formerly CX-1) treated plants had 39 pods with noticeably more soil on the roots. Pods were spaced far apart, and beans seemed to have the poorest nodulation of any fields walked that day.
Field #2
No signs of white mold, but the manure applied field had tall (lanky) beans with a lot of space between pods. Pod counts were again higher in the LiquiLife™ applied area.
Field #3
This field looked great and was a deep green. This field had been stressed with Engenia earlier in the year but grew back nicely.
This non-manure applied field had tighter spacing between pods with no signs of white mold. Rather than soluble Nitrogen early, these were planted with biology and a foliar application of LiquiLife™ with liquid Nitrogen applied later. This strategy seemed to promote nodulation, tighter pod spacing, increased plant health, girth, and a natural resistance to disease pressures according to the farmer.
Field #4
This was also a non-manure applied field. The beans looked great. LiquiLife™ and Amino 15 were applied June 18th. Beans had more girth, and no signs of white mold. The non-treated area had 39 pods, and one plant from the treated area had 63.