Freezing temperatures, snow and frost are testing the theory that planting soybeans in March or even early April is a key to unlocking higher yields.
Farm Journal Associate Field Agronomist Missy Bauer, co-owner of B&M Crop Consulting, has spent the week checking ultra-early planted soybeans around southeastern Michigan.
These soybeans were planted on March 26.
“Our concern in this field was that they were just emerging as we got the freeze and frost on April 20 and 21,” says Bauer. “The cotyledons were pretty tight, and things had not started to open up too much.”
She’s looking closely at the plants trying to determine if the crop is lost now that it’s about a week since the freeze.
“Whatever is dead at this point is going to be dead,” says Bauer, holding a small soybean sprout that is turning black. “You can see that this bean plant did get killed below the growing points and is not going to survive.”
That said, overall, this field looks relatively good and Bauer notes that soybeans are fairly hardy.
“The main growing point is near where the unifoliates are, but tucked beside each of the cotyledons is also a growing point or an auxiliary bud,” explains Bauer. “In this case, the main growing point was frosted, and you can see that it’s dead. But this bean plant is still alive and still fairly healthy.”
Bauer says the growing points beside each of the cotyledons are still healthy.
“This bean plant will actually end up with two stems, one out of each side and it will continue on just fine,” says Bauer.
She says the plant will set good pods although it may look different than the other plants around it, many of which saw all three growing points survive.
“In this particular field, we’re estimating less than about 5% of the plants have been killed by the frost,” says Bauer. “Farmers should look at their final population goals and as long as the field is somewhat uniform, replant charts say you won’t need to start over unless the final is under 70,000 to 80,000 plants per acre.”
She recommends using a yardstick to help count or evaluate 30” rows and a hula-hoop to evaluate 15” and 7’5” stands.
Go to B&M Crop Consulting’s website for more tips and training videos throughout the season.
