Soybean · Norfolk, Virginia, United States
When to plant soybeans in Norfolk
Main outdoor window
24 Mar - 14 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 March
In Norfolk, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
17 Jun - 22 Jul
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 Norfolk
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
24 Mar - 14 Apr
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
17 Jun - 22 Jul
Soybeans through the year
Against the frost risk in Norfolk
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 Norfolk.
The median frost-free season here is 272 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 Norfolk
Other grains to time
Growing soybeans in Norfolk
When should I plant soybeans in Norfolk?
Aim for 24 Mar - 14 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 11 Apr - 2 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will soybeans be ready to harvest in Norfolk?
Expect to start picking around 17 Jun - 22 Jul, 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.