-Soil test (ideal PH is between 5.8 and 6.8) so you know what you’re working with nutritionally.
-Fertilize pre plant. Broadcast, in furrow (careful as soybean seed cant tolerate much in furrow) or 2x2 on the planter with dry fertilizer. Each method works well. Have an agronomist look at your soil samples and make a fertility recommendation based upon yield goals. Make sure the agronomist address your need for the micros as well. Go heavy on K (potassium) as soybeans need a tremendous amount at R2 (flowering heading into pod set).
-If you can access some manure (cow, chicken, turkey whatever) and have it spread, do it! This not only helps with your in season N,P,K Nutrional needs, but will help (over time) to build the organic matter in your soils. The healthier your soils are, the more nutrient and water holding capacity you’ll have. This is especially important mid July through August for many parts of the country when the beans are trying to maximize pod fill!
Plant as early in the growing season as you can (May 1-May10 in MN for example).
If you have a corn/bean planter, you’re ready to plant 1-3 days later assuming your soils are “fit”…..ie….not wet and above 50 F degrees. A soybean planting population of 140K seeds/A is a good place to start. In most soils, you want the seed planted at 1-1.25”. Test your planter before planting an entire field. Get out of the tractor, take a big spoon and start digging. Identify how deep you’re planting. Make adjustments as needed.
If you don’t have a planter, soybeans can be broadcast and packed with good success. After you’re done working in your fertilizer, simply broadcast your soybean seed on the top of the soil. An Earthway 2750 over the shoulder bag spreader works well. Go heavy on the seeding rate as you wont get as good of seed germination as compared to planting with a planter. You might go 160K-200K seeds per acre as a seeding rate.
Pack the daylights out of the newly seeded field. Ideally, you want to use a very HEAVY cultipacker and hit every square inch of the plot. Your seeds will end up at various soil depths…thus go with the heavier seeding rate when broadcasting.
Timing of pulling the E fence down is a bit of a debateable subject but taking it down about 9/1 here in MN works good.
See T-Roy’s previous posts about E fencing as his methods plain and simple work!
Having multiple modes of action (roundup, liberty and enlist among others) in your spray arsenal is key. Enlist trait soybeans are tolerant to the above chemistries and give you this flexibility. Again, develop a relationship with an agronomist at your local Co op for their recommendations and expertise. This will increase your success, decrease your frustrations and ultimately increase your satisfaction in your foods plotting journey!
In terms of spraying for weeds, two thoughts come to mind: One: spray when the weeds are small. Two: go full rate on the chemical you spray at 20 GPA of water/adjuvants. You don’t want injured weeds, you want dead weeds.
Spray timing: Assuming you planted about May 1, you’ll most likely want to do your first post spraying the end of May. Your second post spraying (almost always a good idea even if you’re not seeing a ton of weed pressure) would usually be done June 18-22.
Never thought I’d say this (let alone write it), is that I get at least as much enjoyment out of the food plotting as I do the actual deer and turkey hunting!
Have fun and enjoy the process!
Mark
It is each individual land steward’s decision if they use herbicides or not.
Mark
Bake, that weed bank might be really good for your quail. A time tested method for helping quail is to lightly disc strips to promote early succession growth from the seed bank. I hate invasives such as pigweed (Palmer A), but native forbs can be good.
Then literally you can plant the next day. If you’re broadcasting your seed, you’d ideally use a drag (a harrow) to drag some dirt onto the bean seed right after you’ve broadcast them. Then pack the snot out of them!
Mark
I agree. I get as much enjoyment out of food ploting as I do hunting.
However, there are two traits (at least) that all of us want:
1: Shatter resistant: Meaning the pod holds the bean (in the pod) for as long as possible into the winter. Deer prefer this. Turkeys it doesn’t matter if the beans are on the ground IMO.
2: Standability: We want the soybean plant to stay standing for as long as possible into the winter.
I’ve had excellent results with the Real World Soybeans (northern variety for MN). These are a late maturing mix of beans (about 2.4-3.5 maturity). As I have a small JD 7200 four row planter, I plant two rows of the RW (late maturing) and then a Ag bean of .9 maturity (standard maturity for my area) and then another row of Ag bean of about 1.9 maturity.
This diversity has worked well in the past and am planning on continuing again this season.
As we all know deer like variety…..so give em variety:)!
Hope this helps,
Mark
