Soybean · Zoucheng, Shandong, China
When to plant soybeans in Zoucheng
Main outdoor window
13 Apr - 4 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
30 March
In Zoucheng, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
7 Jul - 11 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 Zoucheng
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
13 Apr - 4 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
7 Jul - 11 Aug
Soybeans through the year
Against the frost risk in Zoucheng
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 Zoucheng.
The median frost-free season here is 227 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 Zoucheng
Other grains to time
Growing soybeans in Zoucheng
When should I plant soybeans in Zoucheng?
Aim for 13 Apr - 4 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 22 Apr - 13 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will soybeans be ready to harvest in Zoucheng?
Expect to start picking around 7 Jul - 11 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.