When is the best time to sow soybeans? Introduction to the best sowing time

Soybean is one of China's important food crops, commonly known as the yellow bean (soybean). It is an annual herbaceous plant of the genus Glycine in the legume family, native to China, developed from wild soybean through long-term directional selection, improvement and domestication. It has a cultivation history of five thousand years and is grown throughout China, most famously in Northeast China, and is also widely cultivated around the world. Let's take a look below at when soybeans are sown!

Soybean planting time

The planting time of soybeans changes according to the weather, and the planting time is generally divided mainly into spring sowing and summer sowing. Spring sowing is done around Qingming (early April), with the harvest period in September (the 8th lunar month). Summer sowing is done after the wheat harvest, with harvesting from late September to mid-October. In addition, there is a soybean sowing period in Northeast China that is slightly later, but the harvest period is about the same. In northern China, spring soybeans are sown in April to May; the Huang-Huai-Hai summer soybean type is sown in June after the wheat harvest; southern summer soybeans are generally sown from May to early June, and autumn soybeans from late July to early August.

Pre-sowing treatment of soybeans

1. Pre-sowing land preparation: Pre-sowing land preparation for soybeans includes soil tillage and harrowing, leveling, and compacting. Different land preparation techniques also differ in their pre-sowing preparation, such as flat plowing, ridge cultivation, harrowing stubble, and deep loosening.

2. Pre-sowing irrigation: For plots with poor soil moisture before sowing soybeans, where irrigation conditions allow, water once 1 to 2 days before sowing, just enough to soak the soil, to help the seeds germinate after sowing.

3. Closed weeding: If large-scale soybean cultivation is not managed in time, weeds can cause serious damage, so before sowing, herbicides are often applied mechanically for closed weeding of the field.

4. Seed selection: Good soybean seeds have a high germination rate and germination vigor, and the seedlings are neat and strong, so before sowing, diseased seeds, insect-damaged seeds, small seeds, shriveled seeds and broken seeds should be picked out.

5. Seed treatment: Soybean seeds are commonly treated with 0.1 to 0.15% phoxim, or 0.7% lindane powder, or 0.3 to 0.4% carbendazim plus thiram, or 0.3 to 0.5% carbendazim plus captan for seed dressing.

Soybean sowing methods

1. Narrow-row dense sowing method: Reducing ridge width and increasing rows, and narrow-row dense planting, are cultivation methods actively adopted at home and abroad. Changing from 60 to 70 cm to 40 to 50 cm narrow-row dense planting can generally increase yield by 10 to 20%.

2. Equidistant hill sowing method: Equidistant hill sowing improves sowing efficiency and quality. After emergence, the plant spacing is suitable, the plants are reasonably distributed, and individual growth is balanced, generally increasing yield by about 10% compared with drilling.

3. Double-row sowing method: The double-row sowing method uses mechanical flat sowing on the basis of deep plowing and fine land preparation or harrowing and fine land preparation, and ridging is done in combination with intertillage after sowing.

4. Precision hill-drop sowing method: On the basis of autumn plowing and harrowing or autumn plowing and ridging, the stubble is completely removed, and a precision hill-drop seeder or improved harrow is used on the original ridges for single-seed or double-seed flat sowing or hill sowing on the ridges.

5. Original ridge sowing method: To prevent soil moisture loss, sowing is done on the original ridge stubble, which plays an important role in drought resistance, moisture conservation and seedling protection, and also has benefits such as raising soil temperature and eliminating weeds.