Battle for the Belt: Season 3, Episode 6: What is Battle for the Belt 2.0?

Season 3, Episode 6 of Battle for the Belt is now available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9lhEypIBHw

We are in the final year of Battle of the Belt – Which Crop to Plant First? However, the story does not end there. In 2025, we are launching Battle for the Belt 2.0! From 2023 until the present day, we have covered field scouting updates throughout the growing season and have presented preliminary results on corn and soybean planting date priority, as well as soybean seeding rate and corn relative maturity recommendations based on planting date. Planting date continues to be an important factor to evaluate because of the current weather dynamics, like the trend for earlier last freeze dates in the spring (Figure 1). In addition to weather, other factors like crop stress due to abiotic and biotic factors can influence the effect of planting date (Figure 2). Weather stress, pests, and disease can affect stand establishment, plant population, and crop yield.

Figure 1. Earlier last freeze dates in the spring. In most US Midwest States, a trend in earlier last freeze dates is observed, allowing earlier plantings (Midwestern Regional Climate Center, 2023)

Figure 2. Corn and soybean plant population density can be reduced by several abiotic and biotic factors. Pictures from Ohio’s staple agronomic crops struggling to establish adequate plant populations.

When low plant populations exist, a common question is whether to replant fields or not. To address that question, in 2025, we are starting a new project on replant decisions for corn and soybean. The project is funded by USDA NIFA AFRI under the Critical Agriculture Research and Extension (CARE) program. The project involves five seeding rates and five planting dates for each crop (Table 1).

Table 1. Distribution of the treatments through the different planting dates and seeding rates for the replanting trial, 2025, and 2026 crop seasons. Typical corn and soybean seeding rates are shown in bold. The list includes low seeding rates to purposely achieve low plant populations.

Like Battle for the Belt, the replanting trial will be conducted at the Western Research Station (Clark County), the Northwest Research Station (Wood County), and in Northeast Ohio (Wooster Campus, Wayne County) (Figure 3). The objectives of this project are:

1. Identify soybean and corn replant thresholds based on plant populations and planting dates.
2. Develop a decision support tool to compare the profitability of replant scenarios.
3. Implement extension programming with frequent updates during the crop season.

Figure 3. Study locations for the replanting study, 2025 and 2026 crop seasons: Western, Northwest, and Northeast Ohio.

Crop Progress Updates from the Field

The warm weather of the previous two weeks finally got our crops out of the ground!

The Western location has one planting date completed (April 18), and we are waiting for the soil to dry to be able to plant the second date. The first planting date is at emergence in soybean and V1 in corn (Table 2). Corn showed symptoms of cold temperatures with yellow banding (Figure 4). This occurs when the crop experiences temperatures between 38℉ and 47℉; the damage is only cosmetic and should not affect yield. To see the symptoms in the field, access this short video.

Figure 4. Yellow banding on corn leaf from cold temperatures. Photo credit: Laura Lindsey.

The Wooster location has planting date one (March 27) at V1(first leaf) for corn and VE for planting date two (April 18), with soybean, planting dates one and two have been lingering at VE (emergence) (Table 2). Even though planting date one was in the ground for a month before emerging, there are no visual signs of disease.

At the Northwest location, planting dates one (March 27) and two (April 16-17) are out of the ground for both crops. Corn is currently at growth stage V1 while soybeans are still emerging (Figure 5).

Table 2.  Precipitation, soil temperature, average air temperature, cumulative GDDs, and stage at the Western Agricultural Research Station, the Northwest Agricultural Research Station, and Wooster Campus. Weather data retrieved from: https://weather.cfaes.osu.edu/.

If you would like to learn more, check out our research updates through C.O.R.N. article updates and YouTube Videos this growing season! You can find the full video playlist of Battle for the Belt on the Ohio State Agronomy YouTube channel.