Before the recent scattered showers, many fields were looking as pictured above. Very tough conditions for plants to emerge through and high soil tension causing cracking as it dries out!
The strength these soybeans have used to come through (and lift) the more compacted ground is absolutely amazing!
Soybeans are surprisingly capable at dealing with compacted and crusted soils but they don’t exert a specific or consistent pounds per square inch (PSI) when pushing through the soil. The force they exert is related to the energy required to lift the soil crust as they drag their cotyledons to the soil surface. This energy comes from the cotyledons (seed leaves) which serve as the emerging plant’s initial food source and is finite.
The energy the seedling has to expend during emergence is affected by the seeding depth, soil type and the soil conditions.
This year in particular, we are noticing that soybeans seeded deeper than recommended into wet soils with higher clay content and prone to compaction and crusting are demonstrating significantly increased seedling mortality. Upon inspection of such fields we are finding that the energy available to many of the emerging seedling was expended before they could break the soil surface in these challenging conditions.