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PROSPECT, TENNESSEE | To sum it up.... You have to find the right population. I used to plant 170,000 plus. I started cutting back as priced increased. I noticed no yield reduction. I have been in 7.5" rows all the way to 38" rows. I am now on 19" rows and I am not looking back. I seem to think the indeterminate soybeans need to be a tad thicker, than determinate. I plant group 4.0 to 6.9, so I look for a tall bushy plant type, drop around 115,000 seed hope for 90,000 bean producing plants. With the Kinze meter you can almost "picket fence" beans with a little care (I clean my brushes of splits very often). If you can get three or four beans per foot in the 19" row you wont have the lodging problems you would have at 6 beans per foot, the bean quickly bushes out to compensate for space. Usually a bean that is advertised as 40" tall will end up(on this farm at my population) 30" tall with more nodes than any 40" plant you can find. I am sure there is a fine line between enough and over population. Only you can answer the question. I would say 140,000 is the highest starting point you would want, it only takes a second to swap the chains around and stick a flag down. you can see a bunch of populations in a small field. Also every variety reacts different. I also bet the more north you go and the shorter the growing period is the more beans you will need to get the pods. Good Luck!!!!!!
PLANT AS EARLY AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS WILL ALSO EXTEND THE PHOTO PERIOD AND ADD NODES. | |
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Soybean Population ?
