What if You’re Going to Switch?
Replant Options Following Pre-emergence Corn Herbicides

Published: May 30, 2013

As a result of the continued heavy rains and slow pace of corn planting in certain regions of Missouri, some producers now wish to plant soybeans into fields where pre-emergence corn herbicides have already been applied. Questions have arisen about the replant restrictions of these herbicides and what can be done in these situations. Table 1 provides a list of some of our most common pre-emergence corn herbicides and the replant restrictions of these herbicides for corn, grain sorghum, and soybeans. As you can see from this table, soybeans SHOULD NOT be planted into fields where applications of atrazine or an atrazine premix have already been made this season. The label clearly states that soybeans should not be planted until the following year due to the likelihood of soybean injury from residues of atrazine that may still be present in the soil. The average field half-life of atrazine will vary dramatically depending on the soil and environmental conditions experienced, but the Herbicide Handbook published by the Weed Science Society of America lists the average field half-life of atrazine as 60 days. High soil pH’s (>7.5) will also slow the degradation of atrazine, along with cool soil conditions. Fortunately, replanting corn or planting grain sorghum into these damaged areas will still be an option where atrazine or most of these atrazine premixes have been applied.