The goals of this project are to determine whether planting date affects the necessity of a fungicidal seed treatment in soybeans and identify the most effective fungicidal seed treatment in early planting situations. In 2019, research was conducted at three NC locations (Beaufort, Sampson, and Yadkin Counties) to answer these questions. We compared three soybean planting dates (late March, mid-April, mid-May) across three soybean maturity groups (III, IV, V). We compared five fungicidal seed treatments to an untreated control within each planting date and maturity group combination.

A fungicidal seed treatment protected stand at two of the three 2019 locations across planting dates and maturity groups; the impact was similar across fungicidal seed treatments. In both locations where soybean yield was harvested, the use of a fungicidal seed treatment protected yield (+5.9-6.9 bu/A) across planting date and maturity groups. If you broke down impact on soybean yield by planting date was broken down, there was a 9.1, 5.9, and 2.4 bu/A yield protection from the use of a fungicidal seed treatment at the March, April, and May planting dates, respectively. Soybean yield was impacted similarly by all fungicidal seed treatments evaluated