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United States | The carbon metabolism of soybeans will cause them to light saturate under full sunlight. Because of this, different orientation of plants allows sunlight to get into the lower canopy at times creating a bump in yields. I've seen row spacing tests where 15" outperform 7.5" drilled - we often thought it was a different in planting performance between the planter & drill. 15" tend to work better with equipment in my opinion as well - it's just hard to beat a 15" soybean system when everything is considered.
As many are writing, earlier planting dates often help more. I agree with this - if you can get to full canopy by flowering, you're ahead of the game. This can be accomplished in 30", 15", 7.5" etc. If there is a delay in planting, I'd suggest bumping your seeding rate (to compensate for lost nodes) and go to a narrower row (to try reaching full canopy sooner).
I've always wondered about the thoughts/testimonials that you can stress a soybean (ie, spray with Cobra, cutting beans back) & delay it reaching full canopy before flowering and end up with more yield. I think it ends up being more talk than a high % success. Managing to reach full canopy before flowering is what soybean producers should strive for in my opinion.
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Dumb question about soybeans and sunlight
