Corn, Soybeans Potential Ingredients In New Plastic Pots

The corn and soybeans so abundant in Iowa could someday replace many of the plastic pots and flats at your local garden shop.

 

Researchers at Iowa State University set about to create pots for plants that were not made from petroleum products and that could biodegrade. They started with a corn-based bioplastic and tried a number of different formulas. Some of those included a polymer made from soybeans.

 

"The plastics that had a soy component were consistently leading to plants with darker green leaves or to growth that was enhanced compared to containers that didn't include a soy component," says Bill Graves, an ISU horticulture professor and associate dean of the graduate college. He says further study revealed that microbes from the plant and soil placed in the pot worked to release pent-up nutrients in the soy ingredient.

Video: The Cost of Waiting: Early Weed Competition Explained

Weeds don’t wait — and neither should your weed control. Early-season weed competition can steal nutrients, water, and yield from corn starting day one. In this video, Mark Kitt, Technical Product Lead for Corn Herbicides at Syngenta, explains how small weeds can lead to real yield and ROI losses — and why a strong, overlapping residual herbicide program is critical to protect yield potential early. Learn why preventing weeds from emerging matters and how early control helps keep resources where they belong: with your crop.