We hear from a lot of customers at Real World Wildlife Products who are fighting herbicide resistant weeds in their soybean plots. Most of the time the comments come with a question regarding whether or not we are working on a Liberty-Link® or other herbicide tolerant soybean blend. I understand the battle with resistant weeds as I have fought it myself.

In regards to Real World looking at other herbicide tolerant soybean traits, I will say that we are continually testing new soybean varieties and have done so every year we have been in business. With that said, there are a lot of high hurdles to clear when bringing a patented technology to market. Don’t expect this to happen any time soon.

The good news is that I have first-hand experience with this problem and can offer some sound and proven advice to help you win the battle. Let’s start with the assumption that you have been fighting this battle and simply cannot plant glyphosate tolerant soybeans on your property without losing the battle. In that case you need to plant a different herbicide tolerant soybean or crop on your property for 1-2 years to help get those tolerant weeds under control. Liberty-Link® and dicamba are a couple of options.

Once you are ready to go back to planting Real Worlds glyphosate-tolerant soybeans to give yourself that proven edge when it comes to attracting whitetails, here are some tips to help you win the battle regarding gly-tolerant weeds –

1. The only time you should ever spray glyphosate herbicide ANYWHERE on your property is over the top of your soybeans!!!! Using glyphosate at any other time or for any other reason or on any other crop just exacerbates the problem of gly-tolerant weeds. Save this herbicide for spraying over the top of soybeans only!
2. Use a different herbicide for your pre-plant burn-down of weeds. I personally use Liberty herbicide for my burn-down before planting. I realize that these other herbicides are more costly than glyphosate and are typically harder to get but unless you want to lose the weed battle, you better do it.
3. Incorporate a residual pre-emergent herbicide when spraying your pre-plant burn-down. There are several options – Authority XL, Enlite, Trivence and Sonic are some options. I suggest going to your local ag co-op and asking what they recommend for your area.
4. Once your soybeans are up and growing along with the weeds, spray glyphosate at the maximum recommended rate and do so right away, before the weeds get 3” tall. I have personally sprayed glyphosate at well over the recommended rate without any harm to my soybeans. It is very important that you kill these weeds when they are as small as possible. The bigger they get, the tougher they are to kill.
5. Keep a close eye on your plots and do a second spraying of glyphosate before the soybeans canopy over, again spraying before the weeds are 3” tall.

Glyphosate-tolerant weeds is a problem that is likely not going away any time soon. That doesn’t mean that we have to lose the battle however. By taking a new approach we can have new results.

While we are discussing soybeans I feel it is a good time to discuss Real Worlds Generation-2 soybean blend. This blend of 4 different soybean varieties is the result of over 15 years of continually testing different soybean varieties for shatter resistance and whitetail attraction. For the past 11 years, sales of Real World soybeans have made significant increases in sales. This just doesn’t happen with a gimmick; customers soon catch on to whether a product is as good as claimed or nothing more than a slick marketing campaign.

Anytime success comes along, the critics are soon to follow. Some claim that Real World soybeans are “just another ag bean”. Maybe someone should tell that to the deer! It is like comparing a hamburger to a ribeye and saying “they’re both just beef”. The next time you hear someone bashing Real World soybeans, ask them if they have ever planted them. We have found that the loudest critics have zero experience and thus zero knowledge in what they are bashing.

We often hear from new customers who have planted forage soybeans or ag soybeans in the past and are planning to switch and try Real World soybeans. We always encourage these folks to continue planting the same soybeans they have in the past on 50% of their plots and plant Real World soybeans on the other 50%. They can then see the difference first-hand for themselves on their own property under the very same growing conditions. If we can get someone to do this side-by-side trial, they almost always become Real World soybean fans and promoters. If you have never experienced the Real World difference, make 2019 the year. Dare to Compare!