Correct production decisions using plant growth staging and timing are important for successful soybean production. Minimizing environmental stress will optimize seed yield. Farmers who understand how a soybean plant grows and develops can establish their field practices to maximize the genetic potential of the varieties grown. Soybeans are classified as indeterminate, semi-determinate or determinate in growth in the United States. Many southern varieties are determinate in growth and cease vegetative growth when the main stem terminates in a cluster of mature pods.
Most northern varieties are indeterminate in growth habit.
Indeterminate varieties develop leaves and flowers simultaneously throughout a portion of their reproductive period, with one to three pods at the terminal apex. With soybean development being driven by photoperiod, northern varieties have vegetative growth limited by the season length. Soybean maturity groups are based on adaptation within certain latitudes. These maturity belts run east to west in the United States with only about 100 to 150 miles from the north to the south of each belt. Maturity groups range from 000 in the extreme northern U.S. to VIII in the southern Gulf Coast states and most of Florida.