Ferrie: Which Crop to Plant First? Corn or Soybeans?
The first week of April 2021 was warm enough many farmers in central Illinois fired up their tractors, put seed in their planters and went to the field.
That’s not the case this spring, says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist and owner of Crop-Tech Consulting, near Heyworth, Ill.
He believes it’s too wet to get into most fields, and he expects conditions could stay that way for another week or so. Ferrie is concerned the opportunity to plant soybeans early is slipping away. Some of his customers are, too.
When The Ground Is Fit
The question local growers are asking him is, “When do we (switch) from full-season soybeans to shorter season soybeans?”
His response is to consider what crop needs to be planted when. Weather conditions may tell you to plant corn.
“The first thing to remember is we plant corn when the ground is fit and not by the calendar,” he says. “While we don’t mud corn in, when this weather pattern turns and soil warms up to allow for good corn planting conditions, we plant corn.”
If you have the ability to plant corn and soybeans at the same time, that’s great. But, if you can’t plant corn and soybeans at the same time, “don’t waste good corn planting conditions” trying to get beans planted.
Night Length Plays An Important Role
“With soybeans we do plant by the calendar,” Ferrie says. “They have an internal clock that keeps flowering on track for the natural environment they are planted into.”
The “clock” monitors night length to know what calendar day it is. Based on night length, or photoperiod, the clock triggers flowering.
Learn more about soybean maturities and flowering in this brief 2-minute video by Matt Duesterhaus, Crop-Tech Consulting agronomist:
Ferrie says a soybean plant will kick the reproductive process into high gear if it feels it’s necessary to get the plant through all its reproductive stages before the growing season ends.
“Because night length varies from north to south, each maturity group, from Group 0 in the north to Group 7 in the south, has a different clock setting,” he says.
To mitigate potential negative impacts from weather, Ferrie recommends that farmers plant 30% early soybean varieties, 50% mid-season and 20% late-season.
“It also gets harvest started sooner and prevents all your soybeans from ripening at the same time,” he says.
In the following Boots In The Field podcast, Ferrie along with Matt Duesterhaus, Crop-Tech agronomist, provide more details on planting corn and soybeans. Ferrie also provides his outlook for early season pest problems:
