A short series on soybean planting best practices
By Jeff Shaner, AgVenture Soybean Product Manager
Owner’s Manual section about planting season.
Article 1 –
Thank you for choosing to purchase AgVenture brand soybean seed. Sincerely: thank you.
Article 2 – “All Together Now”
The date you plant…what equipment you use to plant…why you plant: they all owe a debt of gratitude to how you plant. You know this to be true with corn, but soybeans too? Very much so. Bonus bushels come to those who achieve a stand that emerges all at once. Inconsistencies in stand emergence render those late bloomers as not much more than parasites holding back the productivity of their bigger siblings. Don’t believe it? Find those late emerging plants and mark them. Watch them throughout the growing season. Take pictures at maturity. You will become a believer in the yield power of uniform emergence.
Don’t want any runts to photograph? Here’s what to do:
Plant for seed placement uniformity of:
- Spacing
- Depth
- Soil Moisture
- Soil Temperature
- Seed-To-Soil Contact
Bonus tip: Some very well-meaning folks will tell you that soybeans can be successfully planted as shallow as ¾ or even ½ inch. This is not for you. You will not achieve all five points above at that depth. I have witnessed stands planted at 2.5 inches emerge sooner and better than those at 1 inch. If you plant that shallow then get your camera ready…you will have runts to photograph this summer.
Another article from our unofficial Owner’s Manual on spring soybean planting will be coming tomorrow.