Do I have to plow before planting soybeans?
Filed under: Food Plots
I have been watching a lot of your videos lately on youtube, and I have a plan on making a hidey hole food plot on our land. I really want to try to plant some soybeans, and my dad thinks we will have to disc or plow the area for them to grow. In a few of your videos I thought you were broadcasting soybeans in the rain without churning the dirt up. How should we plant our soybeans?
Ethan,
Thank you for watching GrowingDeer!
Soybean seed germinates best when it has good contact with the soil. I never plow or disk to achieve this. I use a no-till drill in larger plots and use a leaf blower and hand rake in hidey plots to expose the soil. When using this technique I always wait till just before or during a rain to broadcast soybean seeds. Rain causes the seeds to germinate faster and helps cover the seed by splashing dirt over the seed. This works best in lighter soil. It doesn’t work as good in hard, clay soil.
If the seed is broadcast and it doesn’t rain birds and rodents often consume a substantial portion of the seed.
This technique works even better with smaller-sized seed such as brassicas or clovers. I hope you give this a try!
Enjoy creation!
grant
