joeelmo54

Does anyone have any experience using RR soybeans. Have some plots that I suspect will have excessive grasses and weeds this spring. I am wanting to experiment with RR soybeans as a spring/summer planting with the thought of having a relatively clean plot to plant clover in September, I am located in SW Arkansas. Any comments or suggestions appreciated.

RonM

I have a little experience we plant about 4000 acres of them each year, both first and second crop beans

StrmChzr

same idear!

this season will be my first try w/ rr crops. it sure does make sense for weed control for fall clover plantings. ideally, should the ground be worked mechanically (ie roto-tilled) a week before spraying, or is this counter-productive b/c of weed seed germination?

farm hunter

They are tough to beat.

Last year was my first real go at RR soybeans - and they will always have a place in my Spring planting.

What kind of questions do you have?

farm hunter

StrmChzr

It is counter productive to spray before planting. Just remember that you want to spray BEFORE the weeds are 4" tall.

Last year - I sprayed mine 4 weeks after planting (6/19) - this is what it looked like:



I sprayed again 5 weeks later - Around July25th - this is what it looked like then:



I did not spray again - and by the end of the growing season they looked like this on 9-19:




The year after the first RR Soybean plot - the soil is still quite bare - and perfect for spring planting clover and rolling it in - or to just disk and plant them again.

FH

answerguy

I planted RR soys for the first time last year in one of my food plots. I was very happy with their growth, ease of weed control and the deer activity all summer. They stayed nice and lush until the first frost (This was early October here in Michigan). Then I broadcast a mix of rye , winter wheat and oats into the still standing bean pods. The mix came up very nice and was a double draw of fresh greens and plump bean pods.

I'll be doing the same thing this year.

StrmChzr

cool idea answerguy!

hey farmhunter,
my posts can be tricky reading, but you know what i mean (not what i'm saying!) LOL..

what other rr crops (excluding beans and corn) are you guys planting in your food plots?

answerguy

I think you just went through the entire list of RR crops that are currently available.

Although I've heard that they aren't too far away from introducing RR sugar beets.

Kyler

RR Soybeans was a godsend for us. We had a lot of problems with weed control in our early days of foodplots (and we still do a little bit) but it kept us alive in the food plot game with it's ease.

Answer Guy a question for you...

When do you plant the supplemental winter wheat and oats? We generally hit our RR beans two or three times for weed control, obviously you plant a few weeks after your last application of RR, right? Do you broadcast the seed over the beans and allow the rain to make the seed bed for the winter wheat and oats? Please explain what you do...you have peaked my interest.
Thanks

answerguy

Our first frost was on opening day of archery season, October first. I couldn't have forced myself to run my tractor through the soys while they were so green and lush, especially with the deer in them so much. But as soon as the frost hit the leaves faded leaving just pods on brown shriveled stems. That's when i broadcast the rye, oats and wheat mix.
I did run my cultivator over the field, but I think if I had broadcast just before a rain it would have been ok. The cultivator kicked up just enough dirt without knocking down too many of the soys.