Soybeans wastedI Guess

[Garrett2006]

So 2 weeks ago I broadcasted Eagle Brand Soybeans At the same time the fertilizer & urea was broadcasted. Then dragged with a homemade chain link fence drag. Then row planted round up ready corn. 2 weeks prior the field had be limed. Field has been tilled twice. It was dry and knew it could be days before rain showed but had to get in the ground when I could and had help. After two weeks now, I went and checked on them. The corn is around 3” y’all and for the most part all has came up, but I can count one both hand how many beans have sprouted. Have had plenty of rain this past week. I did add the inoculate to the beans. I guess I wasted 100lbs of beans & 200 bucks. Still love doing it, but had high hopes for the eagle beans as it was my first time trying them & I hear a lot of guys talking about how good they are.

 

[swat1018]

Did you dig up some seed? How large a plot?

 

[mikmaze]

how did you do the inoculation? when I did mine, I did about a third of a bag of seed n a 5 gal pail, about 3 oz water, and the innoc powder, mixed till coated, and spread. every seed had inoculate showing on the outside. and I have , in 2 weeks, what i think is incredible germination, looks to be near 95%, I had disced, and broadcast by hand the seed, and left for the rains to cover the seed. beans are at almost 3rd leaf, roots about 3 inches long and well branched already. RR standard beans, not forage.

 

[Garrett2006]

Added 1 bag of beans to the spreader then the bag of inoculate mixed them added another bag with 2nd bag of inoculate and mixed. Both times mixed by hand.

 

[swat1018]

Inoculation has nothing to do with germination. It just causes the beans to fix nitrogen. It's something other than the inoculant.

 

[Garrett2006]

Did you dig up some seed? How large a plot?

2 acres. I have not digged for any seed as I took the chain link fence drag after broadcasting, so there not that deep at all. Though I haven’t searched for them due to being frustrated after seeing nothing of them in the field. I did walk it some though checking corn rows. Only ones that would have been deeper than getting covered by drag would be some that got pushed down with the 2 row planter and tractor tires.

 

[Garrett2006]

Inoculation has nothing to do with germination. It just causes the beans to fix nitrogen. It's something other than the inoculant.

What I was thinking, just wanted to make sure I noted in the post I did that. Was hoping making someone might have some insight into what possibly it could be. It’s planter on river clay land. Didn’t get rain until 8 days after planting.

 

[Garrett2006]

Note I’m not down playing Eagle Brand Beans, I’m just trying figure out what’s happened in my situation as the corn has came up fine, but no beans (well maybe 10 plants out of 100lbs broadcasted)

 

[SwampCat]

How many deer tracks in the field? I have had deer eat 99% of young beans on five acres in three nights.

 

[SwampCat]

This is what my beans looked like 8 days after planting this year. A week later, hardly a one was left

 

[swat1018]

Even eagles won't survive in a 2 acre plot in high densities. Been there done that. They either came up and got ate, or didn't come up and should be in the ground. I'd go dig around, if it's real dry they may be lying there ready to pop.

 

[yoderjac]

If the corn is 3" tall, I doubt moisture is your issue with the beans. There are a couple possibilities. Given that it was viable seed, there are a couple reasons corn would germinate and beans would not. One is planting depth. Corn seems to have a lot of energy stored in the seed. Corn can be planted deeper and still germinate. My clay soil had low OM when I was planting beans. I found that it would form a crust. Corn could break through the crust but many beans could not.

The most likely explanation is that your beans germinated well and were simply eaten by deer. All beans, including Eagle forage beans, need to make it to a certain stage of growth before they can handle browsing. When I first started planting Eagle beans, my partners though I was doing something wrong because of the results. I finally convinced them that it wasn't me by putting up a Gallagher style fence on 1 acre. We had beans chest high behind the fence. When I was planting 3-4 acres of unprotected beans, I had naked beans all summer. That was enough to get enough of them to establish. Those that made it that far could not be killed by browsing but as soon as they would grow leaves, deer would eat them. They never canopied. It was not until I exceeded 5 acres that I got ahead of the deer. Once the beans got ahead of the deer, they canopied and grew very well. I had to use a bushhog to cut paths through them: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.p...d-corn-field-transfered-from-qdma-forum.5543/.

One other thing found interesting is how important planting time was in my area. If I planted too early, the soil temperature was too low. Beans suffer greatly from cool damp soil. If I planted too late, the deer were not established when does dropped fawns. Once the fawns were on the ground, does and fawns hammered the beans. If I hit just the right planting time, the soil was warm enough and the beans had time to establish when the pregnant does were still in heavy cover not coming into the open fields.

My best guess is a browsing issue as others have indicated. The amount of acreage required to establish soybeans can vary greatly depending on your location and deer density. Folks in farming country can plant quite small plots if the deer have hundreds of acres of ag beans next door. Others, like me, when we had high deer densities, needed 5 acres.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Bill]

I say report back in a week. Corn was planted deeper into moisture. Beans were shallow and you just got rain this past week. Could be anything offered by everyone above. Or it could be their going to pop in the next few days..

 

[mikmaze]

gallagher fence on mine now, burned too many times with only 2 to 3 acres of beans or cowpeas, I swear he deer hear em pop and eat em to nothing. cost is up there for a fence, but the components last a long time, with the cost of some of the specialized seed, forage beans included, it only made sense to me to go with fence.

 

[WeedyJ]

Same for me. I planted 1 acre soybeans last year and got destroyed. Made a mix of sunn hemp, cowpeas, buckwheat, sunflowers, little corn, chicory, and daikon radish. Peas and sunflowers getting hit but other stuff coming in well. First year I've tried my own blend and so far so good.

 

[Garrett2006]

Even eagles won't survive in a 2 acre plot in high densities. Been there done that. They either came up and got ate, or didn't come up and should be in the ground. I'd go dig around, if it's real dry they may be lying there ready to pop.

Going back today to put up a fence & will starch around.

 

[Garrett2006]

How many deer tracks in the field? I have had deer eat 99% of young beans on five acres in three nights.

There are a few tracks and can tell where the have nipped a few corn, but not near enough tracks to eat all the beans. Also the few tracks are centralized to only 2 areas so far.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I planted about an acre of sunflower this year, and the deer came in and nailed the see after I planted, then the few plants that had come up, the deer took care of them. But I too have a lot of doe and fawns around.

 

[Garrett2006]

This was one week after planting and right after the 1st rain/shower it had received. I will get more pictures today.

 

[mikmaze]

dang that looks dry, maybe the corn can deal with the dry better and the beans are waiting on more rain.