JAKE MCNEAL
JACKSON, TENNESSEE
Soybean replanting decisions are almost always a tough call and a subjective decision. Unseasonably warm and dry conditions throughout the late winter and up to the present have sent planting progress well above any “average” number I can come up with. As we wrap up the month of April, let’s take a look at some objective factors that can help inform replant decisions on beans.
Items to Consider
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Planting Date
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Stand Counts
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Evaluation Methods and Growth Stage
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Do I Plant into my Existing Stand or Terminate and then Replant?
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Do I plant a Different Maturity Group?
Leave it as is and walk away? Plant into an existing stand? Terminate and start all over? These are the usual categories or questions surrounding soybean replant decisions each year. The best answer to “what should I do?” often depends on several factors. Throughout the soybean growing regions of the U.S., a substantial amount of work has been done to assess how to achieve and maintain maximum ROI in a replant scenario. So here’s my perspective on maintaining maximum ROI with soybean replant decisions in Tennessee.
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Planting Date
Replanted soybean is late(er) planted soybean. This is a good mantra to keep in mind since the replant date is always later than the initial planting date. Our data shows soybean to be extremely sensitive to planting date, with a yield penalty of approximately 0.4 bushels per day from April 1 – May 1, and 0.8 bushels per day after May 1. If replanted soybean is later planted soybean, then we need to be ready to make a decision as soon as possible, while still waiting long enough for germination to complete so we can get an accurate final count.
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Stand Counts
This may be the most visible and obvious way of assessing replant decisions. In our region, consider replanting into a stand when counts fall below 50,000 – 60,000 plants per acre. While this may seem like a drastic reduction in population, this is taking into account the total cost to replant. Furthermore, in many cases I have seen no yield penalty from soybean at 60,000 plants per acre as opposed to 140,000 plants per acre. These plants are very “plastic”, i.e. they compensate.
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Evaluation Methods and Growth Stage
There are multiple ways of assessing final stand counts (plants per acre). Usually, the quickest way is to measure 1/1000th of a row, count the total number of plants, and multiply by 1000. But when should you take these stand counts? I recommend waiting until soybean is at the VC growth stage. This is when both unifoliate leaves are completely unrolled. Soybean Growth Stages
Jumping the gun and evaluating a soybean stand as the cotyledons are coming out of the furrow will often lead to an underestimation of final plant stand, thereby potentially triggering a decision to replant that is unnecessary.
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Do I Plant into my Existing Stand or Terminate and then Replant?
Replanting into an existing stand, especially when stand counts yield > 50,000 plants per acre, is nearly always the right decision. Consider terminating the existing stand only in extreme circumstances.
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Do I plant a different/earlier Maturity Group?
In short, the answer is “no”. While some may reason that a different maturity group (an earlier one) is necessary for the replanted soybean to “catch up”, this isn’t the case. Staying with the same MG will result in a more uniform stand (with respect to growth/reproductive stage) later on in the season. However, replanting (if warranted) as soon as possible should be the goal.
Final Thoughts
Wait until VC to make your stand count determinations.
Consider replanting into the existing stand when stand counts yield a final plant population of 50,000 – 60,000 plants per acre. Even if maximum yield suffers (many times it wont), ROI will not.
Replant the same or similar maturity group as the initial planting. If replanting in June into a determinate variety, replant a determinate variety as well. ∆
JAKE MCNEAL
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
Link to Original Article https://news.utcrops.com/2026/04/soybean-replant-decisions-2026/
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