Battle for the Belt: Episode 8

Episode 8 of Battle for the Belt is now available: https://youtu.be/7e12wChuUrg

In Episode 8, we talk with Dr. Shawn Conley, the soybean specialist at the University of Wisconsin- Madison and receive a planting date update from all three of our Battle for the Belt trial locations in Ohio.

The second planting date of Battle for the Belt occurred last week (April 26-27) at all three of our trial locations. Table 1 indicates the air and soil temperatures on the date of planting. At both Western and Wooster, the soil temperatures were at or above 50°F. However, at the Northwest location, soil temperatures were at 48°F the day of planting.

Figure 1. Corn and soybean were planted at the Northwest Agricultural Research Station (Wood County), Western Agricultural Research Station (Clark County), and Wooster Campus (Wayne County) April 26-27, 2023.

Each planting date thus far has had close to the minimum soil temperature needed for planting. When observing average soil temperatures over the last three weeks, the average is steady between 50°F and 55°F. With these consistent lower temperatures, the crops have been able to germinate below the soil surface but have not yet emerged. Emergence takes roughly 115 GGDs to complete. According to the GDD calculations in Table 2, Western and Wooster would likely emerge first. The first planting date does not yet seem to have an advantage over the second planting date due to slow emergence and growth.

 Table 1. The second planting date in the trial at all three locations with day of planting, soil, and air temperature averages (Information from CFAES Weather System, https://weather.cfaes.osu.edu/)

Table 2. The first planting date in the trial at all three locations with updated average soil and air temperatures and Growing Degree Day (GDD) calculations.

As a recap, this research project includes five planting date windows, 1) Ultra early = late March to early April; 2) Early = mid to late April (reported here); 3) Normal = early to mid-May; 4) Late = late May-first week of June; and 5) Very late = mid to late June. Weather permitting, the third planting date (normal) would occur toward the end of next week.

Keep following the ‘Battle for the Belt’ this growing season to learn more and get further updates! You can find the full video playlist of Bat