High SCN Numbers in 2014 - 2/10/2014

It is hard to think about planting crops with the brutally cold weather we have been experiencing in Iowa the past several weeks. But warm weather and planting season will be here in a matter of weeks. As plans are being made for the 2014 crops, farmers and agronomists should be aware that fields planted to soybeans this year may have unusually high soybean cyst nematode (SCN) numbers if soybeans were grown in the fields in 2012. The number of SCN eggs in the soil at the time of planting is a major factor determining how much damage and yield loss SCN will cause.