This soybean planting date study is being conducted by Pioneer at the Chatham,Ontario demonstration farm.Row width is 20 inches.The bottom shot depicts a May 12 vs a May 19th planting date.The middle shot depicts a May 26 vs a June 4th planting date and the top photo shows a June 4th vs a June 13th planting date ( photos were taken on June 17 )

Historical planting date studies have shown that early May planted soybeans can be expected to outyield late May planted soybeans by roughly 8% while mid June planted soybeans can only be expected to yield roughly 80% of Early May planted soybeans. To achieve maximum yield opportunity a soybean plant needs to have produced 6 fully expanded trifoliates before flowering.First flowers will be initiated during the last week of June to the first week of July depending on a soybean varieties maturity.

To optimize the yield performance of mid June to later planted soybeans seeding rates should be increased by 20% and row widths narrowed to 7 .5 inches.

Later planted soybeans grow shorter,flower closer to the ground and produce fewer flowers per plant.Going to solid seeded beans at higher populations will increase overall plant and podding height for better harvestability AND improve yield potential by increasing the number of pods produced per acre.