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Driftless SW Wisconsin | Cliff - your early planting may be right for SE Iowa.
I like to see beans planted in a cleared strip at constant shallow depth but into moisture with good seed to soil contact. If we can pull it off, those beans will be emerging in just a few days. Even in N ILL the date of last killing frost is somewhere around May 10th if I recall. If we plant beans in March, we might as well double the seed order because we are probably going to need it.
The frost safe date for planting corn in DeKalb county is about April 21st. Some guys will gamble with early April - but it is a gamble. Beans planted as I mentioned will be even more of a gamble if planted at corn planting time, again in N ILL.
As you go further north frost will probably nail March beans most years.
I think we have also seen evidence that beans and probably corn stands planted very early and then under cold wet soil stress just never seem to recover and often seed planted at the proper time just gets out of the warmer ground and may catch up with much earlier planted crops in most years.
Now every year is different and each location is different. But in general while March planted beans may work for you, most folks north of you need to watch that frost date with quick-emerging beans especially. jmho.
Jim at Dawn
Edited by Jim 7/23/2006 23:41
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