In Seneca County, 80 soybean fields were surveyed by driving in a circular fashion around the county. The weeds that were observed were Marestail, Giant Ragweed, Volunteer Corn, Giant Foxtail and Grasses, Velvetleaf, Redroot Pigweed, and Waterhemp. Common Ragweed, Common Lambsquarter, and Pokeweed were not observed. Out of the 80 fields surveyed, 49 of those fields had no weeds observed. This is up from 27 in 2023. Volunteer corn had the highest occurrence meaning that 27.5% of the fields had volunteer corn present. 61% of the fields had no weeds observed. The average field size was 65.8 acres with a total acreage of 5265 of the fields surveyed. (View graph titled Overall Weed Occurrence)
Out of the 31 fields observed with weeds, 22 of those fields were observed with Volunteer Corn while only 8 fields were observed with Marestail. (View graph titled Fields with Weeds)
While observing the fields, the infestation of those weeds was also recorded. The infestation levels were 1, 2 and 3. Level 1, Occasional, meaning a plant of the species as an occasional individual plant. Level 2, Larger Patches, meaning a patch(s) of 8 or more plants of individual species scattered in the field. Level 3, Widespread, meaning numerous patches or individual plants of the species across the field. The highest average infestation level was with Waterhemp at 2. Although the infestation levels are low, 7 of the 31 fields had more than one species of weeds observed in those fields. (View graph titled Average Infestation)
If you have any questions about the survey or wish to learn more, please contact Pressley at 419-447-9722