# Killer Beans



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Brazil.

Regards, Mike

http://www.agweb.com/article/sales-surge-for-monsantos-new-intacta-soybeans-blmg/


----------



## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

What do these beans control?? Caterpillars or plant bugs or what?? I'd be interested to know.

Later! OL J R


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

luke strawwalker said:


> What do these beans control?? Caterpillars or plant bugs or what?? I'd be interested to know.
> 
> Later! OL J R


I would venture to say a heck of alot more than you listed.....of course, companies in S America or C America do not have to deal with the EPA.....making it a whole new game.

Regards, Mike


----------



## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Vol said:


> I would venture to say a heck of alot more than you listed.....of course, companies in S America or C America do not have to deal with the EPA.....making it a whole new game.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Maybe, but like a most reporting nowdays, it reads more like a fifth-grade writing exercise than any real information-- has such a dumbed-down feel about it.

It would be nice if a writer who was writing about a technical subject would actually include some technical information, other than vague third-grade level generalizations about "bug killing crops". I think it comes down to a lot of these guys are too lazy to do their homework, and figure most of the audience is "too stupid to understand it anyway" and just "phone it in" and be done with it. Couple that with editors more worried about ad profits than journalistic excellence instructing them "don't use big words" and this is the sort of stuff we get.

I'd be interested to know what sorts of GMO traits they're putting in stuff down there. We have various "flavors" of Bt for lepidopterous pests (caterpillars, ie "worms" that pupate into moths as adults but feed on crops during the larval stage), especially in corn and cotton here in the US. Are there Bt soybeans out there? Not being in row crops, I'm out of touch I'm afraid. I know my BIL plants everything Roundup Ready (corn and beans) and has various Bt traits in the corn, and is planting the GMO "Plenish" high-oleic soybeans for the premiums they bring (with excellent yields in his conditions as well, right up there with the best "ordinary" beans he's planted). I'm not aware of any Bt traits in soybeans he plants, though.

From what I gather, and my own experience growing soybeans here in southeast TX years ago, soybeans are like cotton in that they're prone to damage from a host of different insects-- for us, stinkbugs and such were the biggest issue, but aphids and armyworms and soybean loopers and such "worms" were close behind. In cotton bollworms (corn earworms) and plant bugs, boll weevils (before "functional eradication") and stinkbugs were the biggest issues. Of course Bt is ONLY active on lepidopterous pests and has no effect on aphids, plant bugs, stink bugs, jap beetles (which we didn't have but are prominent in the Midwest), etc.

If they have anything new beyond Bt for these other insects, then I'd like to know about it, myself.

Later! OL J R


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

luke strawwalker said:


> Maybe, but like a most reporting nowdays, it reads more like a fifth-grade writing exercise than any real information-- has such a dumbed-down feel about it.
> 
> It would be nice if a writer who was writing about a technical subject would actually include some technical information, other than vague third-grade level generalizations about "bug killing crops". I think it comes down to a lot of these guys are too lazy to do their homework, and figure most of the audience is "too stupid to understand it anyway" and just "phone it in" and be done with it. Couple that with editors more worried about ad profits than journalistic excellence instructing them "don't use big words" and this is the sort of stuff we get.


I think Luke that it has more to do with holding the general readerships attention. If they get "too" technical, most readers will move on rather quickly. Unfortunately, I have run into many ag folks who do not read the labels and "just ask so and so about how much of this herbicide they are supposed to mix".

Sad but reality.

Regards, Mike


----------



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Vol said:


> I think Luke that it has more to do with holding the general readerships attention. If they get "too" technical, most readers will move on rather quickly. Unfortunately, I have run into many ag folks who do not read the labels and "just ask so and so about how much of this herbicide they are supposed to mix".
> Sad but reality.
> 
> Regards, Mike


I think it's also that the writer has 0 knowledge of the subject he is writing about.Interview someone and change one word and it will totally change the meaning.They have a degree in writeing,etc but no experience what so ever in what they are writeing about.


----------



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Wow the article says they have to spray the soybeans 6-10 times! That is worse than alfalfa and I thought it took a lot of spraying. With the price of beans now I would hate to have to make that many trips across the field. Here only occasionally do beans have to be sprayed for insects.....most of the time the damage from the wheel tracks would be worse than what damage is from the insects.


----------



## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

FarmerCline said:


> Wow the article says they have to spray the soybeans 6-10 times! That is worse than alfalfa and I thought it took a lot of spraying. With the price of beans now I would hate to have to make that many trips across the field. Here only occasionally do beans have to be sprayed for insects.....most of the time the damage from the wheel tracks would be worse than what damage is from the insects.


Sounds like cotton around here. Spray, spray, spray.

Either that or eat the yield loss, which the BTO's won't do.

Oh well, someone else's kettle of fish now.

Later! OL J R: )


----------



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

South America has more issues with Rust,etc.that they have to spray fungicides on soybeans.

We deal with Aphids here every yr now.That started about 15 yrs ago and was a every other yr thing for awhile.Now we just figure they will need to be sprayed about Aug 1 with bug juice.


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Thing is though, even if S America doesn't have to deal with our EPA, the beans still have to past muster before anybody will buy em for import to their country.


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

swmnhay said:


> South America has more issues with Rust,etc.that they have to spray fungicides on soybeans.
> 
> We deal with Aphids here every yr now.That started about 15 yrs ago and was a every other yr thing for awhile.Now we just figure they will need to be sprayed about Aug 1 with bug juice.


Only if it gets real dry do we have any problems and thats with spider mites. Real dry hasn't been a problem in a long time, even in 2012 we only sprayed the sand ground for spider mites and caught those early enough 3 rounds around the outside of the fields got em.

I remember when rust was the next huge boogeyman, even have a set of nozzles in the shop just for spraying fungicides for rust, got em free when we bought the new spray boom or something&#8230;.

Have never used em&#8230;.


----------

