Soy is a plant that is part of the fabaceace family or also known as legumes, which are grown by seeds, which have a medium oil content and a high protein content. The grain that produces the soybeans as well as the by-products and flour, they are used mostly for human consumption as well as to feed livestock.
This plant originates from China but it comes from Japan. It is marketed in all the countries of the world thanks to the large number of uses that this food has.
When to plant soybeans?
In the southern area, the date indicated for sowing soybeans is between the months of September and January. This is a date that is linked to the climate of the environment where the cultivation is made, as well as the time in which the rains occur.
When soybeans are sown for the month of December in what is the southern hemisphere, we know it by the name of second date soybean planting.
The reason why this type of planting is done is due to the opportunity to get two crops on the same area in a single year. It is also of great help to have a greater distribution in the planting work and that if all that area is decided only to the first soybean planting, these jobs will accumulate for the months of October as well as November.
How to grow soybeans?
Sow soy it's much easier than it seems initially. You just have to follow the steps well, so take good note of the following.
Choose the land
The first thing we have to do to sowing soybeans is to choose the soil correctly, since this offers a lot of advantages, such as reducing weeds, reducing erosion as well as maintaining a good balance between the amount of nutrients and the pH, which makes plants much healthier and we can harvest them much better.
Take into account the date indicated
As we mentioned earlier, there are two seasons in which we can plant soybeans, but you have to remember to be attentive to the temperature of the earth, this step being quite important and which you have to pay attention to.
We prepare the seedbed
Soy is a plant that needs a soil with the appropriate amount of nutrients to have a good development.
If there is an excess of nutrients or on the contrary it is too poor, soybean plants will not grow properly. On the other hand, if the soil has not received nutrients in recent years it is important that we add a little fertilizer.
Inoculate the seeds
Soybeans require a certain nitrogen content which for them is of great importance.
The best way to receive it is inoculate the seeds with a bacterium called Bradyrhizobium japonicum, which has the ability to fix nitrogen. For that we have to place the seeds in a container and spray them with the bacteria.
We can help ourselves with a trowel or also with a shovel that is small to mix until all are well covered. It is important that these seeds are away from sunlight and keep in mind that we must sow them after 24 hours. This bacterium can be found in catalogs, through the internet or in certain special stores for gardening and farming.
Plant the seeds
For this we have to place them on the ground about 4 centimeters deep, with a separation of about 7 centimeters from each other.
We have to place these seeds in a row remembering to leave an approximate space of about 80 centimeters. When we have the seeds sown, we have to water the earth only so that it remains moist, since if we add too much water the seeds can crack.