While recent studies boast the benefits of early soybean planting, this strategy is not without risk. Prolonged exposure to cold, damp soil conditions slows soybean emergence and makes plants more vulnerable to disease. These cold, early-season soil temperatures also slow root development, making the crop susceptible to soil-borne root-rotting pathogens, including Phytophthora, Pythium, Rhizoctonia or Fusarium.
Learn what spring soil conditions to watch out for and how to mitigate early-season planting risks so you can reap the benefits of early-planted soybeans.
Can you plant soybeans too early?
If you’re aiming to plant soybeans early so your planting time doesn’t clash with corn planting, it’s important to find the middle ground. You want to plant soybeans early enough, but not too early. Planting soybeans as early as February in southern regions and March in northern regions is considered ultra early and is not recommended due to the combination of weather and temperature risks typically present at those times of year.¹
Early season conditions to watch for
Unless you have risk management protocols in place, you should avoid planting soybeans if you are experiencing the following conditions:
- Temperatures below 50 F
- Saturated soils after tillage that can create soil crusting and compaction
Practices to manage early soybean planting threats to crops
With modern risk-management strategies to mitigate and control early-season threats, you no longer need to avoid early planting (in turn, sacrificing your maximum soybean yield potential).
- Increase seeding rates: You can offset mortality and combat the risk of inclement conditions by increasing seeding.
- Use vertical tillage for early soybean planting: Tillage practices can help improve seedbed conditions for early planting. Vertical tillage tools with straight tracking blades that break the soil open at 2" to 3" depth help create soil conditions that can dry and warm faster.²
- Check the details of your crop insurance coverage: Crops planted prior to your policy’s specified earliest planting date will not be eligible for replanting payments, so it is important to confirm the earliest soybean planting dates with crop insurance agents and proceed accordingly, planting at or after the Risk Management Agency (RMA) replant crop insurance dates start.
- Implement seed treatment protocols: Especially when there is a history of root rot in your field, using a fungicide treatment such as Obvius® Plus can help guard against seedling disease and promote early-season stress tolerance. Additionally, ILEVO® Seed Treatment helps protect seeds from SDS and soybean cyst nematode (SCN) infections.
- Reduce plant stressors: Early-season insect pressures can cause additional stand loss and early injury to seedling soybeans. Broad-spectrum seed treatment insecticide like Poncho® Votivo® Precise reduces the risk of insect damage above and below ground.
- Safeguard root systems: Vault® IP Plus provides added early disease protection with a rhizobia strain that increases overall nodulation while maximizing nitrogen fixation potential.
Experts are available to help you make your decisions. Reach out to your seed retailer, a nearby extension office agent, or a seed company professional like your regional BASF representative.
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Endnotes
- Conley, Shawn, et al. “The Best Soybean Planting Date.” Soybean Research and Information Network - SRIN, soybeanresearchinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/2700-003-23_Planting-Date-V1.pdf. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024
- Rossman, Dan. “Vertical Tillage: Does It Fit Your Operation?” MSU Extension, 3 Mar. 2011, www.canr.msu.edu/news/vertical_tillage_does_it_fit_your_operation. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024
