Looking for some info from all the Ag experts. How late can you plant corn and soybeans and still have them make?

I've planted beans two years in a row around the first week of July and they did fine. May not be ideal, but had enough beans to feed them a little and hunt over the first couple weeks of gun season.

I'm curious to hear what others say, especially about corn.



Shot over bean pods.

Here in north Alabama it is probably to late to get max yields on any corn. April-May 10 is my preferred corn plant dates. Beans planted now until the end of June will still have good yield potential. When you start getting into July you will start getting reduced yields on your beans. But keep in mind all this is dependent on weather.

If planting late, would it make more sense to go with an Ag bean that's bred to mature quicker than a forage bean?

Thanks for the info. You think the corn would be okay with still a decent yield if planted this weekend in central/south part of state. Camden/Portland area. It's all deer food anyway but didnt want to waste the seed or time on the corn if it was too late.

It's still plenty early for beans or corn. You're not making a living off of it, It's just for hunting.

I’ve got a neighbor that used to plant a lot of corn before the hogs moved in. They never planted until June and it always did well. Their thinking with planting at that time was so that it would mature later in the summer and come ready closer to bow season. Around here, once it dries out it doesn’t last too long so they didn’t want to have the hot feeding days to come and go before the season opened. When the hogs really started getting bad, none of that really mattered anymore. Hogs would start hitting it at an earlier stage than the deer….15-20+ hogs would move through and demolish huge patches of corn in the matter of a week or two long before summer was over. They don’t even plant corn anymore…..Just something to consider if you have hogs in the area.

The earlier the better if it's for deer. They need the protein while the bones are growing

Yeah, I know. We are a month later than intended due to weather and other obligations. I've always planted corn mid April and beans end of April. This'll be the latest I've ever gotten it in the ground so i was a little concerned. Gonna put 5 acres of corn and 4 acres of beans in the ground tomorrow and Saturday and see what happens. Thanks for all the input.

It's still just May. There are still actual farmers planting. I'm also guessing folks will plant beans behind wheat that hasn't been harvested yet.

Will deer destroy beans like radishes? We planted radishes and they maybe got 2-3" tall and they ate them to complete dirt. I have a 2.5-3 acre pasture with great soil, no bean or corn field within a 4-5 miles radius. My question is plant soybean next weekend or wait until fall and plant fall plot with imperial mix or black forage oats?

Stoneman, I'd plant both. Plant the soybeans now if you can. Come fall, mow and disc strips in the soybeans and plant those strips in fall food plot mix, while leaving some of the beans standing. I like the idea of giving deer a reason to use that plot 12 months a year. I've never understood why some folks grow summer plots and then till them all under to plant fall mix. They're forcing the deer to look elsewhere for a month or more while the new food plots sprout.

When the beans finally die, you can top sow small seeds like clover where the beans were left standing.

I just planted my corn last week. It's doing fine. Already up. I like to plant late like this because it'll carry later in the season. If I plant it to early, the coons be will eat it up before season. I have about 5 acres planted. If I do my part with coon control, it'll last into late January. Which is exactly what I want. This let's me bushhog a few rows every week of the season if I need to. If you catch the rains, it'll do fine. I can't plant enough soybeans to get them to make. Deer always wipe out field by time they get 3 leaves.

I'm not real familiar with forage soybeans. In the row crop world we normally plant a late group five bean in June behind wheat. A late group five bean will still have some green leaves in bow season. If planting beans for deer always leave them all winter the deer will utilize them more than green fields in my experience.

[quote=abolt300]Thanks for the info. You think the corn would be okay with still a decent yield if planted this weekend in central/south part of state. Camden/Portland area. It's all deer food anyway but didnt want to waste the seed or time on the corn if it was too late. [/quote
If planted this weekend it will still make a fair crop if you keep the weeds out of it, put out fertilize and nitrogen on it and get some rain.

I just planted my corn for deer/doves/turkeys last week. No need to get in a hurry too early after all you want it to stand all winter.

Most corn is going to be around 120 day or so maturity so it all depends on rain and remember October is normally a very dry month. I wouldn't depend on October to finish my corn so it needs to finish in late September to be safe. I myself self would plant a forage variety soybean until late June or first of July. After that just plant cheap old stonewall's and hope for the best. You have plenty of time for beans but you probably need to get corn in the ground pretty soon.

Sow your beans when finished row plant corn over the top. Works well.

It's not to late. I'm still planting corn. There is so much moisture in the ground it's only going to take a couple of rains to finish it.

We usually get around to planting stuff around the fourth of July.