This week's rains are good news for area soybean growers for a couple of reasons.
Parrish and Heimbecker's Jeff Jacques says it's going to help fill out the pods, boosting the final yield for this year's crop.
He says the rain will also help growers deal with spider mites.
"Spider mites are a tiny, tiny little insect you can barely see with the naked eye but they do big damage. They're a suckling insect that pull juices out of the plant with all the nutrients that plant needs for growth."
According to Jacques, the one insecticide that's effective against the mites has been sold out for several weeks.
But he says the rain will wash many of those mites off the soybean plants and drown them.
Rain will also promote the growth of moulds, which are natural enemies of spider mites.
Jacques reports where the soybeans are good this year they are really good - but there are fields where the soils have dried out and the plants are not in very good shape.
He doubts the rain will be enough to bring back the yield in some of those dry areas.
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Jacques says there are some fields with patches where the rain likely won't be able to help - but it will make a real difference in the yield of most fields.
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Jacques says spider mites have been showing up in a lot of soybean fields across the region.
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Jacques says the rain will also promote the growth of moulds that are a natural enemy of spider mites.
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