The AdFarm North Dakota pinto beans are now turning golden from lush summer green. (That’s a good thing.) Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens says: “These beans are now above average. There are lots of pods, including plenty of big pods with six more beans each.

“There’s no frost predicted for the next two weeks, so the crop should finish strong. Our Central Crop Scout, Patrick Estvold, looked at the crop on September 1 and predicted 2,000 pounds per acre potential for this field. The county average is about 1,300 pounds per acre.”

Scout for yourself

Look at the AdFarm pinto beans, including what’s inside most pods and a reminder of what mature pinto beans look like—and what these beans ought to look like off the combine in two weeks without a frost.

It’s all at http://griggsdakota.blogspot.com (scroll down to Thurs, Sept. 3 post)

Recent rains have created excellent growing conditions for edible beans–and white mold–in eastern and northeastern North Dakota. As a result, AdFarm Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens decided on Saturday morning, August 22, to spray the AdFarm pinto bean field as well as all of his remaining pinto bean fields for white mold. He explains, “Left unchecked, white mold can decimate beautiful edible bean fields. Several years ago, before modern fungicides, we saw pinto bean fields on our farm that had 2,500 lbs. per acre potential turn to 1,200 lbs. per acre as a result of severe infestations of white mold.”

The decision to spray for white mold is complicated in that the fungicide is preventative, not curative. This means fungicide must be applied to the plant while the pinto bean plant is still healthy. A second complication is the cost of the fungicide and application. Fred expects the cost in the $30/per acre range. He explains, “We’ll use the highest labeled rate of Proline fungicide, 5.8 oz. per acre. With adjuvants, the cost of the fungicide will be nearly $24 per acre. With the heavy crop canopy, we’ll save beans applying the fungicide by plane. Air application is more expensive, but does no damage to the standing crop.”

Another complicating factor in the decision to spray this year is timing. Normal frost dates for the Aneta area are around September 20. Early killing frosts have come in late August. Late killing frosts have come in early October. “With this late season spray application, we’re gambling on at least an average killing frost date. We have a potential for a big yield with conditions conducive to white mold. Our call is that in this situation, the fungicide application is worth investment,” Fred says.

He concludes: “We’ll know in about a month if this was a good decision.”

To see the airplane applying the fungicide, go to GriggsDakota.blogspot.com.

AdFarm North Dakota Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens reports: “Our AdFarm pinto beans have had about three inches of rain in two major rain events with a couple of smaller rains from August 7 through today August 20. Area meteorologists say the faucet is supposed to turn off for awhile now.”

He continues: “To keep the white mold at bay, we could use two weeks of dry, sunny weather. ”

Rain also brings disease threats

Also addressing disease potential, Northarvest Bean Growers Association President Jon Ewy says the light red and dark red kidney bean crop, grown under irrigation in central Minnesota, looks good, but they are having some white mold issues. He says white mold is quite difficult to control. “We’ll just have to see what Mother Nature gives us in the next few weeks as to how much damage we do get from the white mold,” Jon says.

In other news from Northarvest, a minimum of 30 fields will be scouted throughout the dry bean growing areas in North Dakota. The goals of the survey are to assess the impacts of different diseases on edible beans, detect any new diseases, and collect any diseases that attract the pathologists’ attention. It was during this survey last year that the new race of rust was collected and identified, thanks in large part to several consultants and growers who pointed researchers to several suspect fields or sent in samples. The data generated in the survey helps plant pathologists develop management strategies and determine future pathology needs.

As for AdFarm North Dakota’s pinto beans, Fred says: “Disease issues (white mold and rust) and early frost are now the biggest threats to our pinto bean crop, yet the current yield potential of our crop is very good.”

Follow the crop more closely at http://griggsdakota.blogspot.com

Cooperating Farmer Fred Lukens reports the AdFarm pinto beans received a timely rain on Friday, August 7.

Neighbor Rodney Frederick lives next to the AdFarm pinto bean field. Rodney had 1.75 inches of rain on August 7. Down the road on the Lukens farmstead, the rain gauge read ¾ inch.

The AdFarm pinto beans are flowering. Ample soil moisture at the flowering stage is critical for optimum yield.

The National Weather Service is predicting warm weather and more rain the week of August 10 in the Aneta area.

Follow the AdFarm crop at: http://griggsdakota.blogspot.com