Field scouting is critical for managing your crops effectively. When done routinely, you can proactively identify issues that would lead to loss of yield.
Scouting provides you with valuable insights for managing your crops and livestock effectively.
- Early detection: You can catch problems early, preventing widespread damage.
- Informed decision-making: You can use the data you get from scouting to make informed decisions about pest and disease control measures and timing.
- Economic efficiency: You only use crop protection chemicals when they’re necessary, and only where they’re necessary, saving money.
- Environmental stewardship: You minimize environmental impact when you’re proactively managing your crop health.
But how do you go about scouting? It starts with having the proper tools. This may seem like a long list, but if the alternative to scouting is loss of yield isn’t it worth it?
Essential Tools For Field Scouting
- Clipboard with scouting sheets
- Tablet or smartphone with a scouting app
- Good quality camera (your phone is perfect)
- Hand trowel or shovel
- Magnifying lens (10x)
- Sample bags and vials for specimens
- Soil sample bags
- Hand counter for accurate counting (this may be part of an app)
- Field markers (flagging tape, pin flags, or GPS)
- Reference material for ID
- Soil auger for moisture checks and samples
- Sweep net (depending on how you’re scouting)
- Cooler for specimen preservation
It’s always wise to take soil samples at the same time you’re field scouting. Diseases and pests show up at certain times of the year and under certain environmental conditions. On your scouting sheet, note the weather; temp, humidity, last rain, and any abnormal conditions that affect the soil and your crops.
Dig some soil and look at it. The texture and smell of your soil can tell you a great deal about the ability of your field to thrive even under pest pressures.
Visual Observation: The Foundation of Scouting
When you gaze over your acres, what do you see? Most farmers and ranchers are subconsciously gauging the health of their fields. Do you want to make that gaze more data-based to judge the effectiveness of your farming practices?
Start with visual scouting and then go to sweep net sampling, trapping, and environmental monitoring. Ag apps now available can prompt you on what you should look for. You input data and it shoots out questions and more data.
Weekly scouting is recommended for annual crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat, or others. If you’re discovering issues, increasing the frequency of your scouting may be in order.
Non-Economically Threatening Pest Pressure
Not all pests cause significant harm to crop yield or nutritional profile. What is the tolerance threshold at which economic losses are negligible? This varies by crop and season. When pests or disease organisms are below the economic threshold minimal intervention is needed. This is when you step up the frequency of your scouting, to be proactive.
Remember, the fewer chemicals you apply to your fields, the greater the profit margin. You’re also priming the soil for even fewer pest and disease issues in the future. When you’ve got an active microbial community in the soil, there’s very little real estate for pathogens. Pathogens don’t like healthy plants!
You’ll never get rid of all pests and disease organisms. Consider the economic thresholds. Adapt farming practices to benefit soil microorganisms and use biological controls. Use chemical treatments as a last resort. Because when you kill the pathogens you’re also killing the beneficials who do a lot of the work on your farm for free.
To find out more about IPM, field scouting, and how to implement it on your farm contact our team at ST Biologicals. We’re here to help you succeed. When soil speaks, we listen.
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