Late Planting Soybean Considerations

Soybean planting is in high gear and most plans are likely in place already but a few management suggestions might be relevant. Given the later planting dates, it’s likely we would see a greater response to narrower rows and perhaps more of a response to plant populations than we have seen in the some recent early planted trials where a 140,000 seed drop was adequate. I’m not sure I’d change much in my game-plan unless I was on the low end of recommended seeding rates.

There is also likely not a need to cut back on soybean maturity. If anything, the full season soybeans for your area will likely develop more vegetative growth before flowering in late June. Soils will be warm and emergence should be fairly rapid under the conditions we are experiencing this week. I have had some feedback that heavy spring rain and warm temperatures resulted in hard soil conditions. That said, I would spend some time monitoring planter penetration and seeding depth in soybeans being planted this week — and do what can be done to ensure good seed-to-soil contact and a seeding depth of one inch or so. Also given the warm temperatures, be mindful of handling inoculated seed and inoculants. Exposing seed or inoculants to high temperatures can reduce viability and lead to non-nodulated soybean and this mismanagement will be particularly evident on soils without recent soybean cropping history.