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Do you want 4-bean pods or bigger beans?

Soybean Watch: Are more beans per pod better than pods with fewer but bigger beans? Agronomist Steve Gauck explores this conundrum.

Tom J. Bechman, Midwest Crops Editor

October 25, 2024

4 Min Read
seven soybeans and a penny in the palm of a hand
3 VS. 4: Four-bean pods appeared to make up 5% to 10% of all pods in the Soybean Watch ’24 field. Agronomist Steve Gauck compared the beans inside a three-bean pod to those in a four-bean pod. Photos by Tom J. Bechman

How many times have you heard this comment at a field day? “My soybeans look pretty good, but I can hardly find a four-bean pod. I am after top yields, and I want to see more pods with four beans.”

If you have made that comment yourself, are you sure about it? Do you really want more beans per pod if it comes at the expense of smaller beans?

“It’s a catch-22,” says Steve Gauck, a regional agronomy manager for Beck’s, sponsor of Soybean Watch ’24. Gauck is based near Greensburg, Ind. “We always think we want to find as many pods with four beans per pod as we can. It just seems like common sense. In reality, it’s probably a point worth discussing to get a handle on what is really happening here.”

Bean number vs. bean size

Gauck pulled a few three-bean and four-bean pods and made comparisons during his final visit to the Soybean Watch ’24 field this fall, shortly before harvest. One of his comparisons is featured in the accompanying pictures. He wasn’t trying to be scientific or come up with a definitive answer. Instead, he was simply making comparisons to spark discussion.

“We know that one component of high yield is number of beans per acre,” he says. “That is why we want as many nodes per plant and pods per node as possible. Management practices such as planting as early as possible when conditions are right tends to deliver more nodes and pods. The dry spell in June that many experienced this year slowed vegetative growth, but it also tended to produce a shorter distance between nodes, which could lead to more nodes per plant.”

Related:Proof that soybean insect management matters

More beans per pod is the next logical goal for top yields, Gauck acknowledges. Good growing conditions throughout the season provide the opportunity for more pods to add an extra bean. In the Soybean Watch field this year, irrigation during dry weather later in the season appeared to promote good pod development near the top of plants, including several four-bean pods.

seven soybeans in the palm of a hand

Here is the flip side of the discussion: “We know that individual soybean seed size also plays a big role in final yield,” Gauck says. “When it turned dry in late August and September in fields without irrigation, seed size suffered in many cases. That’s why yields in very dry areas were disappointing.”

So, in the final analysis, do you want four-bean pods or three-bean pods with bigger beans? “What you really want are four-bean pods with bigger beans,” Gauck quips. “The question is whether there are enough inputs, including water, coming into the plant to make that happen. By experience, we know we can have very good yields even if most pods have three beans. That’s only possible, though, if they are big beans.”

From the field:
‘Variability’ still the name of the game

This week’s soybean season summary comes from Chad Kalaher, a Beck’s field agronomist who has reported on the growing season in eastern Illinois throughout 2024. Like most reports from other states summarizing the season, this one also emphasizes variability in planting, growth and yields, most likely linked to variable weather patterns throughout the region.

In Illinois. “The 2024 soybean growing season across east-central and northeast Illinois can be characterized as highly variable, with most yields better than expected. Most of the soybean crop was planted between mid-April and mid-May, which is typical for the area.

“Many fields experienced heavy rainfall during May. These conditions promoted infection with sudden death syndrome, also known as SDS. Symptoms from SDS started showing up in August.

“June was dry, which allowed for timely postemergence herbicide applications. However, dry conditions limited vegetative growth. Rainfall in early July was welcomed, but this rainfall promoted some white mold infection. This disease became noticeable during harvest in infected fields.

“Many operations completed timely fungicide applications in July. More farmers adopted the practice of adjusting spray water pH for longer fungicide droplet survival and efficacy. In addition, foliar-applied potassium acetate and boron applied with the R3 fungicide and insecticide application seemed to be more popular this year.

“August was hot and very dry, with a little moisture coming near the end of the month. These conditions promoted some development of charcoal rot and brown stem rot. Lack of adequate rainfall during August and September promoted higher yields with early-planted and early-maturity varieties, (compared to later-planter and later-maturing varieties).

“Yields reported so far range from 66 to 103 bushels per acre. Soybean yields in the 75-to-85-bushel-per-acre range are most common this year.”

About the Author

Tom J. Bechman

Midwest Crops Editor, Farm Progress

Tom J. Bechman became the Midwest Crops editor at Farm Progress in 2024 after serving as editor of Indiana Prairie Farmer for 23 years. He joined Farm Progress in 1981 as a field editor, first writing stories to help farmers adjust to a difficult harvest after a tough weather year. His goal today is the same — writing stories that help farmers adjust to a changing environment in a profitable manner.

Bechman knows about Indiana agriculture because he grew up on a small dairy farm and worked with young farmers as a vocational agriculture teacher and FFA advisor before joining Farm Progress. He works closely with Purdue University specialists, Indiana Farm Bureau and commodity groups to cover cutting-edge issues affecting farmers. He specializes in writing crop stories with a focus on obtaining the highest and most economical yields possible.

Tom and his wife, Carla, have four children: Allison, Ashley, Daniel and Kayla, plus eight grandchildren. They raise produce for the food pantry and house 4-H animals for the grandkids on their small acreage near Franklin, Ind.

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