Death comes to us all. Life's but a walking shadow | Do you happen to have a sample of the very same soybean seed left over? The rizobium will be long since non-viable but maybe you can still detect the carrier. Can you verify that the seed was actually innoculated? The rizobium bacteria is notoriously vulnerable to drying, temperature, etc, There are strict limits as to how long the bacterium remain viable after applied to the seed. I don't know if anyone has a carrier system proven to really guarrentee viable bacteria for pretreated seed. That said the peat carrier has been shown to be reasonably effective but not so convenient.
Can you determine how long after the seed was treated it was planted? And was it within the required time limits,
It is my impression that some farmers and seed dealers are quite cavalier about the importance of proper handling of innoculant. This is probably because once innoculated soybeans have been grown in a field it is difficult to demonstrate that re-innoculation is effective. As a consequence a farmer can repeatedly improperly handle the innoculant and never realize it.
Even though it is likely that the innoculation was non-viable and ineffective how would you prove (without a great deal of work) that it isn't some other factor?
The beans are waist-high and pods are set and beans are about to begin filling, even if you could apply nitrogen fertilizer now how much good can it do? Would a foliar application using a highboy be effective. A highboy with a 60 or 90 spray booms wouldn't trample much crop and just might be economically justified.
Personally I apply fresh liquid innoculant the same day I plant and re-innoculate if planting is delayed.
Good luck. |
Soybeans not fixing nitrogen
