Has anyone tried using an early planting of 4010 field peas to try to build up soil?
I planted a 3/4 acre plot in a mix of 4010 field peas and oats this April and I'm really happy with the results. This plot is sandy loam with an organic matter around 1%, so I decided to try to get something in really early to add as much organic matter before a late summer planting of something else. I planted 4010 field peas in the past and the deer didn't seem to like it much when they had other options but I thought it would work well to build the soil even if the deer didn't eat it. I'm seeing more browing pressure on the peas this year, but they're still getting extremely tall. They seemed to climb with the oats and the plot was waist high everywhere and some areas were pushing 5' tall. They must have gotten a little top heavy at that point and the wind flattened down some sections, but the growth is very impressive.
I'm thinking that in the future it might be a good idea to add something a little more sturdy than oats in the mix. I'm not sure how something like sunflowers or milo or sorghum would do planted that early though, so I thought I would see if anyone tried anything like that.
I planted a 3/4 acre plot in a mix of 4010 field peas and oats this April and I'm really happy with the results. This plot is sandy loam with an organic matter around 1%, so I decided to try to get something in really early to add as much organic matter before a late summer planting of something else. I planted 4010 field peas in the past and the deer didn't seem to like it much when they had other options but I thought it would work well to build the soil even if the deer didn't eat it. I'm seeing more browing pressure on the peas this year, but they're still getting extremely tall. They seemed to climb with the oats and the plot was waist high everywhere and some areas were pushing 5' tall. They must have gotten a little top heavy at that point and the wind flattened down some sections, but the growth is very impressive.
I'm thinking that in the future it might be a good idea to add something a little more sturdy than oats in the mix. I'm not sure how something like sunflowers or milo or sorghum would do planted that early though, so I thought I would see if anyone tried anything like that.