Fill the Planter and Go with Heads Up Soybean Seed Treatment
Matt Oehmichen closes his recommendation for Heads Up® with a practical point: the seed treater handles the application, and the grower gets seed ready to plant.
“All you have to do is just fill the planter and go,” he says.
That convenience matters to Matt because of the results he has seen. In back-to-back years of split-field soybean trials, he reports a 5-bushel-per-acre advantage with Heads Up.
Matt is part of Short Lane Ag Supply, LLC in Colby, Wisconsin. His father started the business in 1987 while milking about 50 cows and managing roughly 500 acres. The company has since grown to four Wisconsin locations, serving grain and dairy farmers as well as customers working in conservation and land management.
White mold makes seed treatment a priority
Matt describes growing soybeans in Wisconsin as challenging. Cold, wet conditions can give way to heat, dry weather, or high humidity. White mold is a major concern for his customers, with sudden death syndrome (SDS) also part of the conversation.
For Matt, a strong finish starts with early plant health. Seed treatment fits into a broader approach that includes fertility, pest management, and decisions made across the crop rotation.
Testing Heads Up on local acres
“You got to try it out yourself,” Matt says.
Short Lane began evaluating Heads Up through split trials, expanding the initial acreage as the team gained experience. Matt says the two consecutive years of trials involved different soil and fertility conditions. Seeing the results firsthand gave him something concrete to discuss with participating growers.
A dry season offered another observation
For one closely documented trial, the team selected a field with a history of white mold problems. A dry summer meant disease pressure was lower than expected.
Even so, Matt reports differences in plant color and soybean fill, along with a 5-bushel-per-acre yield advantage. That particular trial strengthened his interest in Heads Up even when white mold was less prominent.
The application is handled before planting
Matt’s closing point connects the field results to the grower’s workload. Heads Up is applied during seed treatment, so including it does not require a separate field application of Heads Up.
His advice is to evaluate the product on your own acres. Keep a check strip, walk the field, and look below the soil surface as well as at the crop above it.
For Matt, the appeal is the opportunity for a yield response from a treatment already on the seed. The seed treater does the application. The grower can “fill the planter and go.”
Ask your seed dealer about Heads Up, or learn more at https://headsupst.com/.
You can learn more about Short Lane Ag Supply at https://www.shortlaneag.com/
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