Soybean School: Managing late-planted soybeans

It's late June and growers are still planting soybeans in Ontario. It's been that kind of year, says Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness soybean specialist Horst Bohner as growers in rain-soaked areas of the province make a final dash to plant soybean acres.

On this episode of the RealAgriculture Soybean School, Bohner looks at the yield potential of late-planted soybeans and offers management tips for optimizing yield at harvest. "The good news is we still have a lot of potential left. That's the incredible thing about soybeans. Our work would show that up to 90 per cent of total yield is still there." Growers can still expect to harvest 45 to 55 bu/ac for soybeans planted in the back half of June if they get favourable conditions and a good August to make grain.

In the video, Bohner takes a close look at some soybeans planted in May to demonstrate the extra yield potential of an early-planted crop. In this case, the plants already have five nodes per plant. He notes that soybeans planted on June 20 cannot make up for those lost nodes and their ability to produce pods and seeds. Typically, a plant will produce 25 nodes but a late-planted crop will have closer to 20.

But there are management practices growers can use to get more nodes in the field and compensate for loss. Those include narrowing row widths and increasing seeding rates and plant populations. Bohner is not a proponent of switching varieties and shortening maturities before the crop insurance deadline for the growing area. His research shows it's better to stick with adapted varieties up until the deadline.

When it comes to row width, planting in 7.5 inch rows will help maximize the number of nodes per acre. "Because the plants are physically shorter when they're planted later, an acre can take more plants," says Bohner. He typically recommends a 10 per cent population increase when planting in early June and another 10 per cent increase when planting in late June.

Bohner also shares considerations for feeding a late-planted crop and whether additional N, P and K can help deliver a yield boost.

Website: https://www.realagriculture.com/

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