Don’t Let White Mold Wipe Out Yields: Act Now to Protect Your Soybeans​ in 2025

How can we manage for white mold in 2025 when we have not finished 2024 yet? The first step is to create a plan, and that plan starts with selecting the right variety for next season.

📷 BASF Employee | illustrating Typical white mold symptoms  include white tufts of mycelium

White Mold Management Checklist

o Variety Selection

Select a variety with strong white mold tolerance scores. No varieties are completely resistant to white mold, but they do differ in levels of partial resistance. Xitavo^® Soybean Seed offers multiple varieties with good white mold tolerance scores.

📷 BASF Employee | illustrating planted strip of a susceptible white mold variety . White mold can result in premature plant death

o Reduce Planting Population

Having high planting populations can result in dense canopies, which creates a humid environment that white mold thrives in. Reducing plant populations helps to maintain air flow and reduce white mold pressure.

o Consider Increased Row Width

Narrow rows close the canopy quickly and more fully which can result in wet canopies and therefore greater white mold pressure. Wide row spacing can help reduce white mold pressure, but may not increase yields.

o Rotate to Non-Host Crops

Rotating to a non-host crop for 2-3 years can reduce white mold pressure by reducing sclerotia in the soil. Non-host crops include corn and wheat.

o Weed Control

Many common weeds are also hosts for white mold. These include Canada thistle, lambsquarters, common ragweed, dandelion, henbit, redroot pigweed, and velvetleaf. Controlling weeds also helps reduce plant canopy density.

o Fungicide Application

For fields with a history of white mold, have a planned fungicide application at R1-R2 (flowering) like Endura®. Fungicide efficacy is greatly reduced after symptoms are visible on the plants. Ensure the application has sufficient coverage deep in the canopy and on the flowers where infections start. Nozzles that deliver medium-coarse size droplets will create velocity to penetrate a close canopy. Consider a second fungicide application at R3 (beginning pod) for continued disease suppression and plant health benefits, like Priaxor®.

 📷 BASF Employee | illustrating Typical white mold symptoms include white tufts of mycelium

Endura and Priaxor are registered trademarks of BASF.

Xitavo is a registered trademark of M.S. Technologies, L.L.C., Xitavo soybean seed is exclusively distributed by BASF.