Eagle Forage Beans

[Victor Van Meter]

I planted a couple acres of forage beans last year and the deer loved them. The big problem was weed control and they did not produce any pods, just leaves. I have been looking at Eagle beans and was curious if anyone has planted them and if they produced actual pods and beans that would be a late season food source? Thanks for the info.

VV

 

[Catscratch]

We plant Liberty. Get lots of pods. Never heard of Liberty forage beans but if you play around with maturity groups you can make them whatever you want.

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[Victor Van Meter]

We plant Liberty. Get lots of pods. Never heard of Liberty forage beans but if you play around with maturity groups you can make them whatever you want.

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Well, that's because I meant Eagle beans, not Liberty! Good grief I wish my head worked sometimes!

Sorry for the mixup. Guess I can look into Liberty though if you get a lot of pods. I can only do about 4 acres max, so not sure if regular beans would withstand the pressure and have anything left by season?

VV

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

You wont know until you try. Plenty of options you can rescue the plot with come late summer/early fall.

 

[Mortenson]

Not sure how different our worlds are, but I would not attempt a 4 acre bean field if your goal is to have pods in the fall/winter. If you are ok with feeding the deer during the summer with bean plants, and adding different seeds later on for hunting purposes, then it is something to consider. Being in SE Ohio, I assume you have pretty decent deer numbers.

 

[Victor Van Meter]

Not sure how different our worlds are, but I would not attempt a 4 acre bean field if your goal is to have pods in the fall/winter. If you are ok with feeding the deer during the summer with bean plants, and adding different seeds later on for hunting purposes, then it is something to consider. Being in SE Ohio, I assume you have pretty decent deer numbers.

Could it be possible that the deer ate the pods in their early stages from my forage beans last year and this is why there weren't any come late season? Sorry if that is a stupid question, my experience is limited.

VV

 

[Mortenson]

Could be? I don't think they discriminate while eating bean plants. Chomp chomp swallow. I don't know much about forage or eagle beans, but I thought guys said they put on a very few amount of pods. Seems they should've flowered later on again that you would've noticed. If a bean gets injured at the right times, they can pod heavily. Probably not how it works for forage tho. Just curious, do you have any pics of what they looked like at various times of the year? Like late summer and again in Nov? Are there still dead plants out there, just void of pods?

 

[Victor Van Meter]

Could be? I don't think they discriminate while eating bean plants. Chomp chomp swallow. I don't know much about forage or eagle beans, but I thought guys said they put on a very few amount of pods. Seems they should've flowered later on again that you would've noticed. If a bean gets injured at the right times, they can pod heavily. Probably not how it works for forage tho. Just curious, do you have any pics of what they looked like at various times of the year? Like late summer and again in Nov? Are there still dead plants out there, just void of pods?

I do not have any pics, but mid summer they were thick and green, but they were all dead by the second week of October. They were getting choked out by foxtail and other weeds, plus no rain for most of September. I tried broadcasting brassicas into them with little to show for it, once again, because of the lack of rain.

I do not remember seeing any flowering going on.

VV

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I would assume that the beans being “dead” by mid October is normal. I’ve never planted forage beans though. I’m guessing weed competition kept the pods from filling


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[Victor Van Meter]

I would assume that the beans being “dead” by mid October is normal. I’ve never planted forage beans though. I’m guessing weed competition kept the pods from filling


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If it is common for forage soybeans to not produce pods, I will plant some for just summer forage and stick with the ones I planted last year since they were $37.50 for a 50lb bag. I was just hoping to get the benefits of forage with the benefits of pods as well. Guess it may be a "you can't have your cake and eat it too" scenario.
Thanks for all the information.

VV

 

[Smokegobbler]

I've been planting a small (11/2 -2 acre) ag bean plot for several years with decent success on bean production. Due to brow pressure the plants become much more bush like and the pods are closer to the ground. I'd guess I'm probably ending up with 50 -60 percent of the pods the would develop on a protected plot. It's enough to provide some great mid November to early December hunting. I avoid burning out the weeds at late as possible as they seem to protect the young beans from early brow pressure. I'll be trying some of the Rural King (group 4) beans this year ($40/ per 50lb bag shipped) mixed with Real World beans left from last year.

 

[Catscratch]

My opinion; if you want pods plant ag beans and take care of them. Find the right maturity group for your location, efence if needed, and spray herbicide if needed. We planted Liberty last year. Plants in the middle of the fields averaged 75 pods per plant, plants on the edge of the fields averaged 150 pods per plant, plants in the plots averaged 35 pods per plant. I didn't spray herbicide in my plots so there was more competition and less pods. My research says that "forage" beans are usually just ag beans planted in the wrong zone. Even if protected from browsing they would still make few and immature pods.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

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[S.T.Fanatic]

Mix them 75/25 with the larger portion being ag bean. I am planting .8 this year. One they were free and 2 I want them to mature as soon as possible so I can over seed a brassica component into them at yellowing and winter barley early September


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[cspot]

I planted Tyron Forage Beans a few years ago. I did 1 acre and they did great. Almost got 6' tall. They got a good many pods on them. I kept an electric fence around them until the beginning of July. THis let them get up pretty good. This is a pic later in the year of my daughter who was 11 at the time I believe and probably around 5' tall.

8B72B497-6BA1-4FD8-89E4-00A9C5763887_zpshqqnthn9 by cspot12, on Flickr

 

[yoderjac]

I planted a couple acres of forage beans last year and the deer loved them. The big problem was weed control and they did not produce any pods, just leaves. I have been looking at Eagle beans and was curious if anyone has planted them and if they produced actual pods and beans that would be a late season food source? Thanks for the info.

VV

When beans are stressed by weed competition and heavy brows pressure they don't produce pods, regardless of type. Eagle beans are forage beans that put most of their energy into producing leaves rather than pods. That does mean they don't produce pods. The pods, and the seeds, are just smaller than in Ag beans. While Eagle makes claims about their specific beans, the benefits their varieties offer over others are small compared to two characteristics, they are RR and they are forage beans. They forage beans tolerate browse pressure much better than ag beans and the fact they are RR allows for easy post emergent weed control.

With more weeds becoming resistant to roundup, the RR feature has lost value over time in many areas. It just depends if you have weeds that laugh at glyphosate. Liberty is a new bean/herbicide combination that weeds have not yet become resistant. I don't know of any Liberty forage beans but perhaps others may weigh in.

My experience with eagle beans is documented on this thread with pics: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.p...d-corn-field-transfered-from-qdma-forum.5543/. It shows how heavy the pod production can be when there is a good balance between browse pressure and weed control.

I will say that I planted Eagle beans to cover the summer stress period as I'm in zone 7a where summers matter for QDM. These indeterminate beans stayed green and attractive several weeks into our archery season which starts in early Oct. Deer ignore the pods in my area unless we have a mast crop failure. In that case, they eat everything we plant. Turkey, on the other hand, were on those little pods all fall and winter.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Victor Van Meter]

When beans are stressed by weed competition and heavy brows pressure they don't produce pods, regardless of type. Eagle beans are forage beans that put most of their energy into producing leaves rather than pods. That does mean they don't produce pods. The pods, and the seeds, are just smaller than in Ag beans. While Eagle makes claims about their specific beans, the benefits their varieties offer over others are small compared to two characteristics, they are RR and they are forage beans. They forage beans tolerate browse pressure much better than ag beans and the fact they are RR allows for easy post emergent weed control.

With more weeds becoming resistant to roundup, the RR feature has lost value over time in many areas. It just depends if you have weeds that laugh at glyphosate. Liberty is a new bean/herbicide combination that weeds have not yet become resistant. I don't know of any Liberty forage beans but perhaps others may weigh in.

My experience with eagle beans is documented on this thread with pics: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.p...d-corn-field-transfered-from-qdma-forum.5543/. It shows how heavy the pod production can be when there is a good balance between browse pressure and weed control.

I will say that I planted Eagle beans to cover the summer stress period as I'm in zone 7a where summers matter for QDM. These indeterminate beans stayed green and attractive several weeks into our archery season which starts in early Oct. Deer ignore the pods in my area unless we have a mast crop failure. In that case, they eat everything we plant. Turkey, on the other hand, were on those little pods all fall and winter.

Thanks,

Jack

Thanks for the info.

VV

 

[Victor Van Meter]

Found a farmer on CL that is selling 2019 Beck's RR Superior Soybeans for $20 a bag. He said they have been kept dry. Just looking for any advice on buying older seeds or anybody's experience with that brand. I figure at that price if they grow and the deer eat them all before season I am really not out that much.

Thanks.

VV

 

[Smokegobbler]

Most of what I've planted over the years in older seed (in one case 3 years old) and I always get good germination. Helps if it's keep cool (as well as dry). You could start with a bag and do a germination test before purchasing the rest. No experience with Beck's.

 

[Nova]

All the beans I plant are 1-3 years old before they see dirt. Never had a problem with germination as long as they are stored properly. Never tried that brand so I have no opinion on them, other than that's a decent price for bean seed.

 

[Kdog]

We planted eagle beans one year over roughly 7 acres in smaller plots. They came up great and looked good for about two weeks. They were gone by the end of the 3rd week due to browsing pressure. Might make it if we had one 10 acre plot.