Hunting Forum

im going to try to plant some soybeans in a food plot this year i bought them from my local seed store but they didnt give any info on when to plant (owner was not there) how long does it take for them to mature and would it be better to plant them a little later to have them still around for bow season (starts in mid sept) this will be my first time ever planting a food plot of any kind i have the spots picked out to plant 4 between my friends and myself so we all will have different things planted such as clover turnips oats soy beans and other things i cant remember. thanks for the info in advance jwynn4

I have never planted soybeans, but I have read they can be a high matinance plant. I hear in smaller food plots they are very susceptible to over grazing, so you need to protect them during the early growing stages in some way. Deffinatly plant them in the spring as they are more of a summer and early fall food source and most varietys are not very cold tolerant.

I planted soybeans last year right after my wheat and rye died and turned brown, around the end of May here in TN. the deer keep them grazed down so there was almost nothing left by the start of bow season. You had better spray the ground really well with weed killer before planting because they don't compete well and will die out. Till, spray, till, spray I usually try to give about a week before each.

Don't know  where your at so that's tough to tell ...here in NY I plant them in June...soil is warm and that's important...Now I did EVERY thing EVERY body said couldn't /shouldn't be done and had excellent results... I'm talking high density deer area...pics below

I planted small plots...the pic shows size as they just started sprouting....used conventional....not RR...and I spread not drilled and then disced them in...yes the deer browsed them BUT they re sprout and actually get thicker because of branching...What I did was use Milorganite...it is a heat treated fertilizer that is human waste...it keeps the deer off the area long enough....if there isn't a ton of rain ...to let the beans grow to a survivable height...to my surprise I even got a good amount of bean pods as well ...I'd asked a local farmer about growing them in our cold windy hills...he flat out said they don't grow here.....mine did...and the next year....he'd put 50acres into soybeans...I also just go in and over seed them with turnips....the deer keep them thin enough that the turnips grow...I suppose a grain might work as well if done before a heavy rain...if deer are not use to turnips...the beans help bring them in nibbling and getting them use to them

im going to plant on a logging road that was logged last year nothing is growing on yet after reading i think i need to double my seeds to 10 lbs for a small plot 10x75 for the beans and a few turnips and clover.

im going to plant on a logging road that was logged last year nothing is growing on yet after reading i think i need to double my seeds to 10 lbs for a small plot 10x75 for the beans and a few turnips and clover. might make it bigger

sorry for the double post

Down here, I'll be planting soybeans shortly after Easter, and they will be gone long before the season opens in August. I will then go back and plant clay peas to get the plots going through October, when I'll plant turnips and winter rye. Whenever soybeans are planted, it's a good idea to mix sunflowers, sorghum, oats, and clovers into the seed mix, which will provide alternative browse to supplement the soybeans until time to overplant the peas.

I have planted them on a regular basis
from about two 3 weeks after last expected frost
to as late at late june


all depend on teh variet's of the beans, but they are normallya hardy plant
they do get hammered by deer when just growing if they make it to about a foot, odds are they will make beans, if not, ???

up eher I can plant a food oplot of about 2 acres and never have a bean due to over browsing

but on a 100 acre field, they grow great planting eary, better than later!!

The new varieties of forage soy beans, put all of their energy into growing palatable leaves and stems rather than in producing bean pods. Since deer will normally nip all of the buds off of the plants, it's very seldom they produce any beans, so the forage beans actually are a better choice when planting. The leafier the plant, the longer it will provide forage.

these might be forage soy beans the store owner ordered them for some of his hunting buddies and they only took half of a 100lb bag and he has the rest to sell so i hope its the forage type..

Good luck with them. Sooy beans need a high ph. Might not grow at all. know this from the hard way. I would plant something else on one side. Wait till August and plant some brassica. If it takes it will be growing during hunting season. The deer will only eat it when it taste good ,not just because itis growing.

Joe Termite

do a quick soil test if not already done.you may need to add lime on it before you start.put down a good fert with a higher phos and potash rate.pending on your location you should be able to plant fron mid-april to mid-june.this also depends on the germination rate of the beans.radishes and turnips mixed in will help improve the soil for planting next year.
one thing about beans are,since this is an old logging road,they will not take a lot of traffic from various vehicles(quads) on them.limit the quad traffic.

I've planted beans a few times and in my part of Illinois I can plant up until mid to late June.  My assumption is I am not growing to harvest the bean but feed the deer.  They do a good job of mowing it down.

Seed can also be purchased from the NWTF, if you are a member. There again, I would talk with my local seed and feed store, local Ag extension office, or other land owners to find out what to plant and when to plant it for my particular area if this was my first foray into food plots!

I will be planting my biggest food plots in the morning, since that is the date the almanac claims is the best planting date. The weather forcast is calling for rain tomorrow afternoon and continuing into Sunday AM. I planted a few of the small ones Tuesday since we got rain that night and through yesterday.

Tomorrow I will be planting sun flowers, soy beans, grain sorghum, oats, and a mixture of triticale, oats, wheat, clay peas, soybeans, clover, and sun flowers. I will plant some food plots with different crops, and others will have rows of different plants in an alternating pattern. With 10 different plots in all, I am having a hard time deciding exactly where to hang my five trail cameras. I'm also going to hold some of the soy beans back for reseeding later in the summer, due to what I know will be heavy deer depredation on the first crop.

Everything was planted this morning. Now if the weather man hasn't lied, the rain we're supposed to get this afternoon, night, and into tomorrow, will be great!!!!!!!

I checked my plots this past Saturday, and everything is coming up, especially the sunflowers. Now, I need to get all of my cameras checked and loaded with new batteries so I can hang them and see what I'm going to be feeding!!!!!