What we learned in our 2018 Ole & Sven Research Study

We finished harvesting our Ole & Sven research plots recently. This 14 year program is our practical research aimed at bringing something more than just hybrid and yield data to our grower’s.

In our corn and soybean research, our main, recurring tests include Planting Date, Speed, Population, and Depth. All studies are done in 30” rows, 200’ long.

Soybean research takeaways:

• Population study (over four replications using two varieties): Showed little difference between populations from 115k – 180k. There was a slight gain as population increased, but the range was from 55.9 bu/A to 57.0 bu/A. The 85k plot dropped down to 52.7 bu/A.
• Early planting study: 2.5 bu/A advantage to early-May vs. mid-May planting.
• Fungicide seed treatment study: 1 bu/A advantage over the 12 years we have studied.
• In-furrow fertilizer study: Adding 10-34-0 in-furrow does not gain yield and actually returned 0.4 bu/A less over the five years we have studied. While it does not reduce yield, why risk application if there is not a benefit?

Corn research takeaways:

• Planting date: Overall study average shows that early planting is better. This year we did see a 24 bu/A Mid planting date advantage. This was likely due to rainfall patterns since we didn’t get much rain until end of May. Recommendation is still follow the early planting dates.
• Population study: with dryness we didn’t see a lot of difference between 28,000-40,000 populations. There was a slight yield drop-off at 24,000. Likely that dry weather contributed to the higher populations not taking. Recommendation would be to use variable rate planting on dryer or less productive soils.
• In-furrow fertilizer study: This is the 5^th year we’ve been studying. We saw a 5 bu/A advantage this year. This practice is proving to be a good safe guard especially in years of stress like this one.
• Planting speed: This year we had the DeltaForce and SpeedTube working for the first time and saw parity results between 10 MPH and 5 MPH. If you have the right technology in play it looks like you can get after it!

Stay tuned throughout the year for more in-depth articles on our Ole & Sven findings. If you have any agronomy questions, you can always give me a call or drop me an email. adam@petersonfarmsseed.com or call (701) 282-7476.