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Field Crops, Grains & Oilseeds
Corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and other field crops: timing, seeding and what the usual dates look like.
50 guides
- Corn Planting Calendar: Grain vs. Silage
Grain corn and silage corn start the same way in the spring but end up on different clocks in the fall. Planting date, hybrid maturity and harvest... - Soybean Planting Calendar by Maturity Group
A soybean maturity group is a rating that tells you how a variety responds to day length, and it sets how well the variety fits your latitude and... - Wheat Planting Calendar: Winter vs. Spring
Winter wheat is sown in the fall and harvested the next summer. Spring wheat is sown after the ground thaws and harvested in late summer. Which one... - Barley Planting Calendar
Barley is among the earliest crops to go in the ground. It likes a cool start and tends to finish before the worst summer heat. - Oats Planting Calendar
Oats are a cool-season grain that handle early spring planting well, and they also fit fall plantings in the South. - Rye Planting Calendar: Grain and Cover Crop
Cereal rye is one of the hardiest small grains. Growers plant it for grain, forage, straw and, increasingly, as a winter cover crop that protects... - Sorghum Planting Calendar
Sorghum is a heat-loving, drought-tolerant crop. It does best when it goes into warm soil and gets a long stretch of warm weather. - Rice Planting Calendar by Region
Rice is grown in a handful of states, and each region follows its own rhythm. Warmth, water supply and the ability to flood fields set the schedule. - Cotton Planting Calendar
Cotton is a long-season, heat-loving crop, and a cold, wet start can set it back for the whole year. - Peanut Planting Calendar
Peanuts grow above ground but set their pods below it, so soil warmth, soil type and moisture all shape the plan. - Canola Planting Calendar
Canola has two main forms in North America: a winter type sown in fall in milder regions and a spring type sown early in the northern states. Both... - Sunflower Planting Calendar
Sunflowers are planted later than corn in most regions, and they do well in the northern and central Plains where summers are warm and the season is... - Flax Planting Calendar
Flax is a small-seeded crop that is grown mostly in the northern Plains. It goes in after small grains and before the warmest weather arrives. - Safflower Planting Calendar
Safflower is a drought-tolerant oilseed with a deep taproot. It is grown on a small acreage, mostly in dry regions of the West and northern Plains. - Millet Planting Calendar
Millet covers several crops, including proso millet for grain and fast-growing forage types. All of them like warm soil and can finish quickly. - Buckwheat Planting Calendar
Buckwheat is not a grass or a true cereal, and it behaves differently from the small grains it is often grouped with. It grows quickly, hates frost... - Dry Bean Planting Calendar
Dry edible beans include several market classes, such as pinto, navy and black beans. They all share a dislike of cold soil and frost. - Field Pea Planting Calendar
Field peas, also called dry peas, are a cool-season legume. They want to be planted early so they can finish before summer heat arrives. - Lentil Planting Calendar
Lentils are a small-seeded pulse crop that grows best in cool weather and moderate moisture. Most U.S. production is in the northern Great Plains and... - Chickpea Planting Calendar
Chickpeas, also called garbanzo beans, are grown in the northern Plains and the Pacific Northwest. They are drought tolerant but sensitive to wet... - Alfalfa Planting Calendar: Establishment and Cutting
Alfalfa is a perennial that can last for years, so the way you establish it shapes the stand for a long time. Seeding date, seedbed and the first... - Hay Planting Calendar by Region
Hay is a broad category. A cool-season grass hay field in the North and a warm-season field in the South follow very different calendars. - Clover Planting Calendar
Clovers are legumes used in pastures, hay fields and cover crops. The species you choose, such as red clover or white clover, changes the plan. - Timothy Planting Calendar
Timothy is a cool-season perennial grass that is a common hay species in the northern states and Canada, popular for horse hay. - Bermudagrass Planting Calendar
Bermudagrass is a warm-season perennial grass used for hay and pasture across the South. It likes heat, grows fast in summer and goes dormant after... - Fescue Planting Calendar
Tall fescue rewards good timing more than almost any other pasture grass, and the best timing comes from your local frost dates and soil conditions... - Ryegrass Planting Calendar
Ryegrass is fast and forgiving, but the right planting time depends on which kind you grow and what you want from it. - Sorghum-Sudan Planting Calendar
Sorghum-sudangrass is a heat-loving summer annual, so the planting calendar is set by warm soil rather than the first nice day in spring. - Forage Brassica Planting Calendar
Forage brassicas grow quickly in cool weather, so the calendar is built around when you want to graze and how many growing weeks you can count on. - Cover Crop Planting Calendar by Zone
A good cover crop calendar starts with your cash crop harvest and your first fall frost, not with a hardiness zone number. - Corn Growth Stages and Calendar Timing
Corn does not read a calendar. It develops by heat accumulation, so the most useful schedule ties your field work to growth stages and to the weather... - Soybean Growth Stages and Calendar Timing
Soybeans respond to day length as well as temperature, so growth stage tells you more than the date does about what the crop needs next. - Wheat Growth Stages and Calendar Timing
Wheat decisions are tied to growth stage, and the calendar differs a great deal between winter and spring wheat. - Grain Harvest Calendar by Region
Harvest timing varies by region, crop and year, so the dependable approach is to track maturity and moisture and compare against official progress... - Silage Harvest Timing Calendar
The right day to chop silage is set by whole-plant moisture and kernel stage, so the calendar is a planning tool, not a trigger. - Field Crop Rotation Calendar
A rotation plan is a calendar that runs across years, so it works best as a simple table of fields, crops, planting windows and harvest dates that... - Double-Cropping Calendar: Wheat and Soybeans
Double-crop soybeans live or die by how quickly they get in the ground after wheat comes off, so the calendar starts with wheat harvest and ends with... - Relay Cropping Calendar
Relay cropping overlaps two crops in the same field, which makes timing tighter and equipment planning more important than in a standard rotation. - No-Till Planting Calendar Considerations
No-till changes how soil warms, dries and handles seed, so the planting calendar usually needs small adjustments, not a different crop plan. - Field Crop Planting Calendar for the Corn Belt
In the Corn Belt the planting calendar starts with soil conditions and frost risk, and the dates come from your county, not from a regional rule of... - Field Crop Planting Calendar for the Northern Plains
On the Northern Plains the growing season is short and spring is unpredictable, so planting plans lean on soil conditions, frost risk and the last... - Field Crop Planting Calendar for the Southern U.S.
In the South the season is long, so the challenge is less about squeezing a crop in and more about matching each crop to soil warmth, rainfall and... - Field Crop Planting Calendar for the Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest covers wet coastal valleys, dry inland plateaus and irrigated basins, so a single calendar does not fit and your own rainfall... - Field Crop Planting Calendar for California
California farming runs on irrigation water and regional climate, so planting plans start with water supply and local conditions rather than a... - Grain Storage Timing After Harvest
Stored grain stays in good shape when you control moisture and temperature, and the timing of each step follows the weather and the grain, not the... - Field Crop Pest Scouting Calendar
Good scouting follows the crop, not the calendar. The schedule you build should tie each field visit to a growth stage and to the weather that tends... - Field Crop Fertilizer Timing Calendar
Fertilizer timing is about putting nutrients where and when the crop can use them, and the calendar should follow soil tests, crop stage and weather... - Field Crop Irrigation Scheduling Calendar
An irrigation calendar works best when it is built on soil moisture and crop stage, not on the same number of days between watering every year. - Field Crop Harvest and Drying Calendar
Harvest and drying work best as one plan: the moisture you harvest at sets your drying cost, your drying capacity sets your pace and the weather sets... - Building a Whole-Farm Field Crop Calendar
A whole-farm calendar puts every field, crop and job on one page so that you can see conflicts before they happen.