When weather lets you plant your soybeans early, you might be left wondering how your weed control and crop yield fares as a result. Michigan State researchers examined these very factors, as well as row spacing, to provide some steadfast tips in helping your early-planted soybeans thrive against weeds.
Upper-Midwestern farmers can rest assured that soybean planting date doesn’t negatively affect yield when they’ve got their weeds under control, and the key to that control is using a preemergent and postemergent herbicide program. And while narrow rows can almost halve weeds in the field, a thorough herbicide program will completely knock weeds out of the park, according to Michigan State’s Dr. Christy Sprague.
“We’re recommending a two-pass program [for early-planted soybeans], so not any different than what we recommend for our typical planting time,” Sprague says.
Controlling Weeds When Planting Early
Harsh spring freezes are becoming uncommon in the Upper Midwest. The changing weather opens a window for soybean farmers to plant as much as two weeks earlier than normal, even if that means their soybeans will take a bit more time to grow because of the cooler temperatures.
“If you feel that the weather is conducive to it, get those beans in the ground because they can sit there for a while and not be negatively impacted,” Sprague advises.
But there’s one problem: Earlier soybean planting could result in more weeds compared to planting soybeans in the usual window, because farmers can’t use a preplant burndown or tillage to target early spring weeds emerging in the soybeans. In Michigan, those weeds include annual grasses such as giant foxtail and barnyardgrass, common lambsquarters, common ragweed, and pigweeds such as Powell amaranth.
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