Hail-damaged soybeans? Ross recommends a wait-and-see approach

By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture

June 5, 2024

Fast facts:

Storms on May 22, 24 brought hail to NE and SE Arkansas
Damaged plants more likely to fare better than replant
Replant decision requires case-by-case assessment

(571 words)

(Newsrooms: with art)

LITTLE ROCK — Rounds of hail that accompanied storms in the last two weeks chewed up some soybeans, but Jeremy Ross says growers need to take a wait-and-see approach before replanting.

BATTERED — Recent hail left soybean plants broken and battered in this trial plot at Arkansas State University. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Matt Conatser)

On May 22, storms brought high winds and damaging hail to northeastern Arkansas around Jonesboro. A video by Matt Conatser featured roaring winds, an intense hail bombardment and flying debris. Conatser is a program technician for the Division of Agriculture. That day, 19 head of cattle were killed in Mississippi County while standing under a tree and power poles were pushed down between Osceola and Blytheville.

Two days later, areas of east Arkansas south of U.S. 70 experienced intense hail- and tornado-producing storms. Softball-sized hail was reported at Slovak in Prairie County. A gust of 61 mph was reported in Lonoke County and a 63-mph gust was recorded at the Stuttgart Airport.

Ross, extension soybean agronomist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said growers have been sending him photos of hail damage and asking advice on what to do.

“I tell everybody you’ve got to give it seven to 10 days to see if you're getting new growth,” he said Wednesday, May 29. “If you’ve got new growth then you're probably going to be OK.”

“The situation where we need to look at replanting is where you get ‘toothpicks’,” Ross said, referring to soybean plants that have been completely stripped of leaves and the stem areas where growth occurs are destroyed. “You can’t get anything to grow out of it.

“It’s really a case-by-case assessment and a lot of times I lean on trying to keep the plants,” he said. “The yield potential is still better with hail-damaged soybeans if they can put on new growth, rather than starting over by replanting on the first of June.”

As for the number of acres, Ross said it was hard to tell and county extension agents were still totaling those numbers.

Ross said he walked some hail-damaged fields on May 29.

“One field had a dent in the soil bigger than my fist and several dents were as big as baseballs,” he said. “And this was after rainfall filled them in some.”

Ross said he also walked several fields on May 31, but only one needed replanting.

A soybean trial plot at Arkansas State University took a beating in the May 22 storm. Meteorologist Ryan Vaughan posted a map of the hail fall that day.

“We lost 30-80 percent of the plants depending on the area of the field,” Conatser said. Some of the plants were “toothpicks,” but some were able to fight back. “The plants that are remaining have started to grow new leaves.”

From the March “Prospective Plantings” report, Arkansas soybean acreage was expected to grow slightly, rising 4 percent over 2023 to 3.1 million acres. This puts the state’s growers slightly ahead of the national soybean acreage outlook, which rose 3 percent to about 86.5 million acres.

According to the National Weather Service, hail forms when updrafts in thunderstorms carry raindrops upward into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere. Supercell thunderstorms with sustained updrafts can produce extremely large hail. The weather service said it takes an updraft of about 24 miles per hour to produce pea-sized hail. Updrafts of 49 miles an hour can create quarter-sized hail. Hail the size of softballs, as reported at Slovak, needs updrafts of 103 miles per hour. See the full table.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on TX at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Action/Equal Opportunity Employers.

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

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