View from the Field – East

BY: Terry Buss – MPSG Production Agronomist – East

Pulse and Soybean Crop Update for Eastern Manitoba for June 24, 2026

Field Peas:

• Crop stage ranges from sixth to ninth node with flowering anticipated soon if weather conditions allow. Growth has been rapid.
• Herbicide applications are complete and the crop is out of stage for most products at this point.
• Stand assessments were ongoing since the heavy rainfall events on June 9 to 10. Crop damage is extensive in fields that experienced persistent saturated soils or standing water. Crop damage in parts of the southern Interlake area of the province is expected to be extensive.

Soybeans:

• Crop stages for non-reseeded fields ranges from first to third trifoliate. Some fields are uneven due to delayed emergence due to deep and/or variable seeding depths.
• Some reseeding or seeding into emerged crop stands has occurred due to poor emergence or loss of plants in the originally seeded crop. Those reseeded areas are just emerging but coming up quickly given soil temperatures and ample soil moisture.
• Stand assessments were ongoing since the heavy rainfall events on June 9 to 10. Crop damage due to hail, and high winds resulting from the June 9 to 10 severe weather was extensive in some fields, particularly in northerly areas of eastern Manitoba and the south Interlake. Persistent saturated soils and standing water have caused some crop losses but are less extensive than with other crops given soybeans ability to tolerate such conditions. However, higher levels of root rots, damping off and insect damage have been observed in the surviving/recovering plants. The ability of soybeans to yield to compensate for lost stand is expected to be of great help if good weed control can be maintained on affected fields.

Field Observations up to June 24, 2026

• The biggest storm in the soybean and pulse crop production region of eastern Manitoba over the last two weeks was the severe weather and large rainfall accumulations that occurred overnight from June 9 to 10. The map below, prepared by Manitoba Agriculture and based on its network of weather stations, gives an indication of how high rainfall amounts became.
• It should be noted that very concentrated areas of heavy rainfall did occur during this storm with accumulations ranging from 150 mm to more than 250 mm. Areas in the Stonewall and Beausejour are of particular note, as they suffered extensive property damage due to the intensity of the rainfall that overwhelmed drainage infrastructure.

• Hail damage assessments were ongoing over the past two weeks as a result of the June 9 severe weather. Producers were advised to allow affected fields at least four days time to recover so that an accurate assessment of the level of damage could be obtained.
• Of particular concern was damage to the soybean plant growing point which is brought above the soils surface and vulnerable right from the time of emergence. If the growing point was severed off the plant there is regrowth potential from the lower located axillary buds, although yield potential of the plant most likely will be reduced on the resulting regrowth. If plants are shorn off right at or close to the soil surface they were lost.
• In the image above, significant regrowth from axillary buds can be seen. This was at about seven days after hail damage. Note that this growth is unorganized since the plant has temporarily lost apical dominance. A dominant stem will result from this regrowth over time.
• “Hail on the hilltops” was a new phenomenon experienced during the July 9 storm. I was called to a number of fields that were demonstrating hail damage to soybean plants located on the higher areas of the field. Lower field areas that had been quickly submerged under water during the storm were stressed but not hail damaged. We have surmised that, in a manner similar to a bullet travelling into a swimming pool, hail stone velocity was quickly slowed in flooded field areas while unflooded hilltops received the full brunt of the hail stone impacts.

• Since the storms on June 9, higher levels of insect damage and seedling disease have been noted on soybean crops, particularly in fields that experienced persistent excess moisture or extensive plant damage. Fields that were already challenged by issues such as deep seeding and soil crusting seem to be suffering the most. In the above image, a stressed soybean plant that was seeded more than two inches deep and was slowly emerging has suffered what we speculate to be wireworm feeding damage.

• A client of mine found a bean leaf beetle (Cerotoma trifurcata) in a soybean field in the Beausejour area. Bean leaf beetle are a soybean defoliator and an economically significant pest of soybean in U.S. production zones.
• Luckily, although bean leaf beetles have been seen before in Manitoba, they remain rare, and not a problem in our soybean production.
• Adults beetles make small, round holes between major leaflet veins resulting in very distinctive damage symptoms very unlike what you see from something like grasshoppers.
• Late season adults will feed on pods, creating lesions and destroying seeds.
• The bean leaf beetle adult has a very distinctive look making it easy to recognize. Anyone observing bean leaf beetle in soybean crops is asked to reach out to John Gavloski. We want to keep our eye on this pest to ensure it doesn’t become a problem.