Soybean · Mannheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
When to plant soybeans in Mannheim
Main outdoor window
2-23 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
18 April
In Mannheim, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
26 Jul - 30 Aug
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Mannheim
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Sow direct
2-23 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
26 Jul - 30 Aug
Soybeans through the year
Against the frost risk in Mannheim
Why these dates
Sow two weeks after the last frost into warm soil. Varieties are grouped by maturity for a given latitude, and a variety from the wrong group will either flower far too early or fail to finish at all - this matters more with soybeans than with almost any other crop.
No frost tolerance. Killed at 0C at both ends of the season.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Soybeans are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Mannheim.
The median frost-free season here is 202 days, against 85 to 120 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Mannheim
Other grains to time
Growing soybeans in Mannheim
When should I plant soybeans in Mannheim?
Aim for 2-23 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 11 May - 1 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will soybeans be ready to harvest in Mannheim?
Expect to start picking around 26 Jul - 30 Aug, based on 85 to 120 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will soybeans tolerate?
No frost tolerance. Killed at 0C at both ends of the season.