Tips For Harvesting Lodged Soybeans

Oct 04, 2016

By Mike Staton, Michigan State University Extension

Photo 1. Badly lodged soybean field in 2016.

Several factors have combined to cause soybeans to lodge in some areas of Michigan in 2016 (Photo 1). Lodged soybeans slow down harvest operations and lead to harvest losses as the plants are more difficult to cut and gather into the combine. Soybean producers can reduce harvest losses due to lodging by carefully adjusting and operating their combines. The latest Michigan State University Extension recommendations for reducing harvest losses in lodged soybeans are listed below.

Decrease your ground speed to 2.5 to 3 mph.

Position the cutter bar as close to the ground as possible.

Angle the pickup fingers on the reel back slightly to more aggressively pull the lodged plants to the cutter bar. Reduce the angle of the fingers if the plants are riding over the top of the reel.

Run the reel axle 9-12 inches ahead of the cutter bar.

Contact the manufacturer for specific recommendations if using an air-assisted reel.

Operate the reel as low as necessary to pick up lodged plants without causing them to ride over the top of the reel. Raise the reel if this happens.

Consider installing vine lifters on the cutter bar if the plants are severely lodged.

If the plants are badly lodged in one direction, try adding vine lifters to the cutter bar and harvesting at a 30 degree angle to the direction of the lodging. If this doesn’t work, harvest all of the lodged plants in the direction opposite to way they are leaning.

Try increasing the reel speed in relation to the ground speed. This sounds easy, but it can be challenging to find the correct ground speed and reel speed combination in lodged beans having brittle pods. If the ground speed is too fast in relation to the speed of the reel, the cutter bar will ride over some of the plants. If the reel speed is set too fast in relation to the ground speed, the reel can beat the beans out of the pods. The reel should run 10 to 20 percent faster than the ground speed under ideal conditions. However, if the beans are lodged, increase the reel speed incrementally up to a maximum of 50 percent faster than the ground speed if necessary. If the reel is causing shattering, decrease the speed of the reel just to the point that the shattering stops. If the cutter bar begins riding over lodged plants, you will need to decrease your ground speed.

Make one adjustment at a time and stop frequently to evaluate your progress towards reducing gathering losses.

Finally, producers that had significant lodging at harvest should try to identify the cause or causes of the lodging. The most likely causes are excessive rainfall or irrigation during the vegetative stages, high populations, low potassium soil test levels and variety selection. Soybean varieties differ in their susceptibility to lodging and producers should consider this characteristic when selecting varieties. Varietal differences are clearly depicted in Photo 2 taken at the MSU soybean variety performance trial near Hamilton, Michigan. The two varieties were planted at the same planting rate (160,000 seeds per acre), fertilized the same and experienced the same weather conditions. However, the variety on the left is badly lodged and the variety on the right is standing well. Planting date may affect the potential to lodge as mid-May to mid-June planting dates generally produce the tallest plants.

Photo 2. Variety effect on lodging.

This article was produced by the SMaRT project (Soybean Management and Research Technology). The SMaRT project was developed to help Michigan producers increase soybean yields and farm profitability. The SMaRT project is a partnership between MSU Extension and the Michigan Soybean Checkoff program.

Source: msu.edu

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.