Updated: May 8, 2026
By Dr. Nicole Fiorellino

What will be the fate of these frost damaged soybeans?

By Nicole Fiorellino, Extension Agronomist

If you receive the UD Weekly Crop Updates, you may have read the April 24th article by Dr. Jarrod Miller summarizing the results of our joint soybean plant date study. After a few years of that study, we concluded that planting soybeans early may not be as risky as we once thought, with our results summarized in this article. I have begun a new soybean study as part of the national Science for Success team, aiming to develop a replant decision support tool. This tool will be developed by training an AI model with many pictures of soybeans across multiple states, planted across a range of dates and populations, with and without being replanted. As we embark on the first year of this study at the Western Maryland Research and Education Center, located in Keedysville, MD, the first plots planted experienced temperatures below freezing from about 2:00am until noon on April 21st. These soybeans were planted on April 14th and had begun to emerge on April 20th (Figure 1). In images taken on April 28th, white tips of the soybean leaves can be observed, as well as a bit of necrosis (Figure 2). Updated images from May 5th show continued growth after frost damage, with some darkened leaf edges visible in center of the image (Figure 3). Stay tuned for more updates on the progress and ultimate yield of these impacted soybeans throughout the growing season! This project is supported by funding from Maryland Soybean Board and the Multi-Region Soybean Checkoff Program, led by Dr. Laura Lindsey at Ohio State University. For more information about the national soybean collaborative, Science for Success, please visit: https://soybeanscienceforsuccess.org/.

Frost-damaged soybean seedling emerging through residue, with brown plant debris surrounding the plant and early leaves showing stress and potential injury from freezing temperatures.
Figure 1. Soybeans emerging on April 20th after planting on April 14th at Western Maryland Research and Education Center in Keedysville, MD. Photo credit: Douglas Price.
Young soybean seedling in crop residue showing early frost damage, with pale green cotyledons, slight discoloration along leaf edges, and emerging growth continuing despite cold stress.
Figure 2. Frost damage on soybeans. Picture taken on April 28th after soybean seedlings experienced eight hours of freezing temperatures on April 21st. Photo credit: Nicole Fiorellino.
Young soybean plants emerging through a field of crop residue, with multiple seedlings showing green leaves and minor frost damage, including slight leaf darkening and edge discoloration, while continuing to grow in dry soil conditions.
Figure 3. Soybeans photographed on May 5th growing out of frost damage. Darkened leaf edges visible in the center of the image. Photo credit: Douglas Price.

This article appears in May 2026, Volume 17, Issue 2 of the Agronomy News.

Agronomy News is a statewide newsletter for farmers, consultants, researchers, and educators interested in grain and row crop forage production systems. This newsletter is published once a month during the growing season and will include topics pertinent to agronomic crop production. Subscribers will receive an email with the latest edition.

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