Soybean Report – May 30, 2012

Soybean planting finished this week.  Stands are generally exceptional if seed was placed into moisture.  In some cases no-till drills were not able to penetrate properly especially on top of corn rows.  If the seed remains dry  it can remain in the soil for up to six weeks and still emerge once moisture arrives.  However, if the seed starts to swell and then runs out of moisture before it can complete the germination process it has a limited time to receive additional moisture before it will die.  The exact length of time depends on temperature and how far along the germination process the seed developed. They can survive 5 – 7 days before receiving additional moisture.  After that time they will start to rot even with rain.  There were crusting issues with early planted beans although many of these fields did eventually emerge. Soybean are highly adaptive and can yield very well with low populations if fields are kept weed free.  Do not consider replanting unless stands are below 100 000 ppa on light-textured soils and 120 000 ppa on clay soils.  A few mm of rainfall are not sufficient to activate pre-emergent herbicides.

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