Sudden Death Prevention

Sudden Death Syndrome is a soil borne fungus that infects plant roots and sends toxins to plant foliage. The yellowing and browning of the soybean leaves is a result of the toxins not the physical fungus in the plant. The actual fungus has a blueish cast and can be seen at the crown of the soybean plant. SDS can sometimes be mistaken for Brown Stem Rot, but to tell the difference you need to split the soybean stem and if the middle pith is still white and not brown, that means you have Sudden Death Syndrome. Other characteristics are a light brown hardened soybean crown. When SDS is widespread in a field it is not uncommon to see 10+ bushel yield reductions. Sudden Death is important to think about this time of year because management starts with proper soybean selection and soybean treatment options purchased during seed ordering.

The best management practices are using a SDS Seed treatment and planting resistant varieties. Adding Saltro to the soybean seed treatment is the recommended option and can be used on any soybeans purchased from SFG. When using Merschman soybeans the treatment with Saltro is called Starting Line Plus. This treatment includes fungicide/insecticide, tripidity biostimulants, and two new treatment add ons called Heads UP and Trunemco. Heads up treats for White Mold and Sudden Death Syndrome, while Trunemco treats for Soybean Cyst Nematodes. Right now is a good time to be thinking about which treatments will be best and planning them into the seed order. The seed treatment controls the disease but in years that pressure is heavy you will still see some sudden death out in the fields. We are here to help provide Sudden Death Syndrome control so reach out to your SFG Agronomist to talk about new treatment options in 2023.