I am receiving images and calls about yellowing in the canopy. This does not appear related to disease or a specific nutrient issue (although I have not run a tissue analysis.) My impression is that this is a decline in overall plant health towards the end of the season. Nutrients are mobilized as pod demand increases and that can cause yellowing of the canopy. It has also been a growing season of extremes in weather with lots of stress at times. This seems to be more prevalent than what I and others have seen in the past, but this year has seen its share of swings in weather.

When I have dug up plants, I don’t see pods shedding like they would with disease. The number of plants that are declining will likely increase over time, but if you have moisture and maturity is progressing (if you had rain from last week, you likely gained a lot of ground from a maturity perspective and will gain more through the end of this week), I would not dig early based on the yellowing I am seeing.