Newly planted soybeans with 4.5 inches of rain on them

[andy r]

I planted 25 acres of soybeans Mother's Day afternoon. With an anticipated rain coming I quit planting that night. Sure enough, it rained two days later, Tuesday I believe. The problem is it rained 4.5 inches on those newly planted soybeans and 2 miles west it rained 6". The soil was dry when I planted them. The have all germinated, but they just can't push through. There is about an one inch crust. Beans were planted 1 1/2" deep, in 15 inch rows, no-till. I don't think a rotary hoe will help much. Don't know what else I could do or something that would work. I am sort of thinking about replanting them when I finish the rest of my beans. Any ideas?

 

[Greg1959]

Do you have a culti-packer?

 

[flying belgian]

It seams hard to believe that a rotary hoe would not breakup the crust. How about a spring tooth harrow set in its most aggressive angle?

 

[davpal]

Find an old lighter disk that you can set the gangs almost straight and pull that through the field. I'm sure it would loosen it up very well.

 

[Dick2]

Try adding weight to the rotary hoe sections - and maybe travel faster. There should be a combination that works. We filled bags of dirt a couple times to use our rotary hoe.

 

[John B.]

Rather than thinking it may not work I would know for sure and try the rotary hoe on the beans. What do you have to loose??

 

[caterpillar guy]

We have used an old disk for that. It has to be one of the old ones, that have the gang adjusted by the tongue, so they are just straight. Then go cross wise of the rows. It works pretty good. Did that on some corn about 30 years ago. A lighter tractor would be good also. If the crust had dried a packer might break the crust. It would need to be dry underneath also though I would think.

 

[David G]

I would try rotary hoe.

How deep did you plan them?

 

[Brown Swiss]

Is there more fain in the forecast soon?

 

[Brown Swiss]

rain^

 

[NY 986]

This is one of a couple reasons why we gave up on drilling beans. 4.5 inches of rain on my soil means being off the field for well over a week so no rescue via a rotary hoe would be possible. At some point I would like to narrow down a little from 30 inch rows to something like 20, 22, or 24 inch rows with a splitter planter. Given the circumstances in terms of renting ground to make a splitter pay it seems like a far off dream. Too many guys paying rent on ground like they were getting 65 bushel beans at 15 dollars per bushel instead of the more realistic 30-35 bushels most years yield.

 

[gene bender]

rain would be the only way they mite push up beans just dont push like corn. A hoe would sure kill them all replant just mite be the only way. Bet they are turned over trying to penetrate. Nothing new mite yeild better and disease and weed resistence but still cant penetrate hard ground.

 

[Leroy]

I think the problem with the hoe is the fact that he no tilled into probably a lot of trash that would be constantly pluging the hoe every few feet. Otherwise that should work. Just get a good agressive hoe and possibly load it and I have gone over the same path twice to get the job done.

 

[buickanddeere]

Problems everywhere . Anybody with corn or beans with more than one leaf out of the ground has to replant around here. Global Waeming Frost the past six nights.

 

[Tom OConnor]

I have been faced many times with this same situation in my lifetime. It is very simple and it is labeled D. O. It stands for do over. Get the planter out and just replant the field while you can. You have plenty of time to get a good crop planted and I would not even take a chance on a poor stand by hoping enough survive to make a crop. If your ground has any clay in it at all a rotary hoe will just tickle the surface after a hard rain. I don't know how big your planter is but you are only talking about several hours to replant 25 acres and you will then have the satisfaction of "I gave it my best effort."

 

[NY 986]

On our clay ground the beans have a chance in 30 inch rows if we got 4.5 inches of rain which we have come close to more than a few times in the spring. After the second time of getting that kind of rain on non-emerged beans which were drilled and had no hope of rotary hoeing the drill started getting left in the shed during spring planting. Further, a lot of this ground has tile but the heavy subsoil means it takes a lot of time for the water to perk down and in the mean time if the temp gets above 70 degrees the soil starts to crust. Get another 1.5 inch rain a few days after the big rain means no chance of rotary hoeing for two weeks plus you are that much further into the growing season for a replant.

 

[coonie minnie]

Run the rotary hoe. Much cheaper than replanting. I've hoed drilled beans before, it works well. If the crust is really hard, you may need to go over twice.

ANd if the stand isn't perfect, beans compensate. A 50% stand can yield really well... or as well as a later planted stand.

I used to be afraid of beans and the rotary hoe, but it is not something to fear.

You are in a frustrating situation... been there. make the most of it.

 

[1206SWMO]

I usually only planted beans 1" deep...Over the years I have rotary hoed 1000's of acres of beans and most of them made it up...I seldom had to replant...

 

[IowaJohn]

I'm in the same situation here. There are some up and some pushing thru. I'm hoping the rain forecast for Sunday nite pans out. If it does it'll be a stand saver. Mine are 15" no-til also, they have only crusted where there is bare ground, under the trash it's still damp. I'll probably live with what I get, I don't have a decent hoe. Some of my best yielding beans had a final stand of around 90,000.