[Listen] Agronomist Jay Zielske Too Dry for Beans to Germinate?

I am trying to look at the positive side of this really dry spring. Remember April was the fourth driest at the Southern research and Outreach Center at Waseca in over 100 years of records. We have not received any rain in May so far either! But it sure was easy to get the crop planted when you could get in the field day after day with no rain delays! However, the planting season was not without challenges.

The question this spring especially planting beans was how deep should you plant beans attempting to get them in moisture so they germinate? If you plant beans too deep they will not bean able to emerge. I planted mine at the normal depth of 1.5 inches hoping for the best. While I was checking some of my fields I found most of the beans had germinated and had a sprout. I found some that the bean had swelled up and was soft but there was no sprout yet. Will they make it?

JAY FARM NEWS THURSDAY AM 5-13

When I asked Jay Zielske agronomist with Pioneer he said it was too early to know for sure. The concern is the beans had some moisture to begin the germination process and then may not have enough to finish before the root can grow a little deeper in the soil where their is moisture. Click on the ling and listen to Jay  talk about the dry weather and bean germination.