Farmers across the state have now made it halfway through planting soybean in SC. Dry conditions
continue in many places while some places have received rain to preserve soil moisture. Wheat harvest
has begun in which approximately 1/3 of our soybean acres will follow. Stand establishment
can be challenging following wheat stubble, residue, and straw; so, make sure that planters
are set up properly to move or slice through residue and are placing seeds to appropriate
depths to allow for germination and emergence (again we need at least 80k plants per acre
emerged, so adjust seed rates accordingly). Water use in soybean is around 0.16 inches per
week after planting (relatively low and hopefully rainfall will support) and around 0.9
inches per week once soybean has been planted for approximately 5 weeks. The bulk of our
acres fall within this window, so this hopefully gives you an idea of the water demand right
now, especially if irrigation is an option. Clemson University is in the process of
installing a network of weather stations around the state for public use, we will share the link to the
dashboard once it is available. In the meantime, here is the link for the station located at Edisto REC:
https://tempestwx.com/station/74476/
