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Patience when early planting soybeans

A researcher at Ohio State University says patience can be key when evaluating early planted soybeans.

Dr. Alex Lindsey, associate professor of crop ecophysiology, says soybean plants can often make up for poor initial stands.

“If plants are more spread out, they’ll tend to branch more.”  He says, “They’ll sense higher quality light and result in more compact growth, but more branching.  They’ll end up producing more pods per plant and end up potentially producing more seeds per pod.”

Lindsey says soybeans can also utilize a broad emergence window.

“Leading to some later emerging seeds actually surviving but still being able to leverage that early planting date.”  He says, “Even though they weren’t emerged with the first round, the fact that they came up later may help explain some of that yield.”

During a recent webinar hosted by Science for Success, he told growers the challenges of early planting are often worth it.

“Even if it was slightly later emerging, you still have more days with full sun.”  He says, “It’s more days for photosynthesis to occur.  More days to put on yield from that earlier planting date.”

Lindsey says farmers should allow for adequate time before evaluating early planted soybean stands, and he says weed control is the biggest challenge in fields with lower plant populations.