Bean failure - curious your take

[Dukslayr]

I had high hopes for growing a nice crop of beans this year. I planted 4 acres of Eagle beans and 5 acres of Real World beans...expecting that both would perform well and I was going to get a good comparison. What I got sucked.

Here’s the background. We were late getting the beans in. We planted them June 6th. Due the weather we mowed ground that’s been in CRP for 17+ years short and no till drilled all the beans directly into the sod. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spray them for almost a month. They needed spraying by the time they were sprayed on July 4th. We got good germination and I kept expecting them to take off but we never got any explosive growth. I hadn’t been to the farm in 3 weeks so I was hoping I would see some real progress with the rain and better conditions we’ve had over the last month. No dice. Attached is a pic of the 5 acre real world plot. The Eagle plot looks worse. Couple things.

1. No soil test - I’m in North MO and generally have good soils so didn’t bother
2. No innoculant applied to beans
3. We had drought conditions for the first 6 weeks post planting
4. No exclusion cage placed (dumb, I know).

I’m assuming either the lack of innoculant or deer pressure got to them. Thoughts? I figured 9 acres would stay ahead of them since I’m surrounded by crops and other good forage.

 

[Mortenson]

Too much shade from that tower blind?!

The population looks low, was there ever more plants than that? It could very well be browse pressure, but it would be pretty obvious. I would also think the fertility is down if it hasn't had any applied in many years. I think you did the right thing by no-tilling it, but since you did it "green" there could've been an assortment of creatures living in there that ate your beans. Bugs? Slugs? I'd definitely get a soil test and see how it looks. Probably will look low in ph also. Beans don't like it being too low, in the 5's might be cutting it.

 

[Dukslayr]

Too much shade from that tower blind?!

The population looks low, was there ever more plants than that? It could very well be browse pressure, but it would be pretty obvious. I would also think the fertility is down if it hasn't had any applied in many years. I think you did the right thing by no-tilling it, but since you did it "green" there could've been an assortment of creatures living in there that ate your beans. Bugs? Slugs? I'd definitely get a soil test and see how it looks. Probably will look low in ph also. Beans don't like it being too low, in the 5's might be cutting it.

Could be any of those things you listed. Weird thing is we no tilled sunflowers into similar conditions and they are doing great. I thought the sunflowers would not make and the beans would. I was wrong. I have about 4.5 acres of good sunflowers and no beans. The beans were drilled at 50# per acre and had good germination. Where I’m standing is the very edge of the field so it looks much more thin than the heart of the fields. I don’t honestly don’t think it was a ph problem, but certainly no for sure answer without a test.

 

[SWIFFY]

It looks too even to be browse pressure. Im sure your ealy drought conditions didnt help. Ive seen worse? Looks prime for overseeding your Rye or grains in!

Sorry to hear it didnt go as planned.

 

[Dukslayr]

It looks too even to be browse pressure. Im sure your ealy drought conditions didnt help. Ive seen worse? Looks prime for overseeding your Rye or grains in!

Sorry to hear it didnt go as planned.

I’m not confident that’s browse pressure. And yes, I’ve git a cover crop mix going in over the next couple weeks!

 

[BuckSutherland]

Definitely should have inoculated and used treated seed. I would also think that slugs raised hell with you under all the thatch. You could try a shot of nitrogen to get them going since they likely didn’t make much of their own. Dig some plants up and take pictures of the roots for us.

 

[Smokegobbler]

I've been growing a small (1 1/2 acre) plot of Real World beans for a number of years with no exclusion fence. The initial early browse takes off the central leader of the plant, and it takes a while for the side growth to begin which results delayed and more bushy growth. I usually don't burn the weeds until early August as they tend to protect the soybeans from browse during that period. After which, browse tends to focus on leaves of plants which allows the plant to continue growth/flowering/pod formation. I'm guessing I end up with about 60 - 70 % of the pod production if exclusion were used. Enough that if makes for some great December hunting when deer return for the pods. From a growth standpoint my plot looks similar to yours, but with tighter plant spacing. Real World beans are a mix of groups 4 and 5 which means there is still plenty of time for further growth and flowering.

 

[Bill]

We planted them June 6th. Due the weather we mowed ground that’s been in CRP for 17+ years short and no till drilled all the beans directly into the sod. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spray them for almost a month. They needed spraying by the time they were sprayed on July 4th.

^^^i think that’s the biggest thing.

I would not comment if it were not for the fact that I have to believe your soils and conditions are very similar to mine.
I drilled ag beans into rolled rye about the same time and their 2 foot tall. Still short but there doing OK.

You mowed and then planted. Then came back and killed the existing grasses and weeds 4 weeks later. Those 4 weeks were critical for us this year as we only got moisture for the first two. I’m thinking the existing vegetation with existing root systems stole what little moisture we got.

 

[Mortenson]

Here's a poster of some bad soybean bugs I just saw elsewhere. Mentions how a number of them are worst in a sod or crp situation. I think Bill is definitely onto something with the moisture and competition as well.

https://www.soybeanresearchinfo.com/pests/insectpests.html

I've heard horror stories about thistle caterpillars this year from areas like NE and IA, probably MO too. Completely defoliating fields. Like you, I planted beans this year with high hopes of helping the deer. Was able to put in about 30 acres as a cover crop that I can leave stand. My experience is kinda like Smokegobbler's... the early browse taking off the tops of the plants resulting in flat bushy growth. Looked like pancake growth, but I finally got a shot of rain last week, so I'm hoping they speed up their growth rate. I didn't plant mine til July 8th. Sprayed them 2 days ago. This morning I'm going to spread some brassicas in them and see what happens. Rain in the forecast later today.

 

[FarmerDan]

Do you trust your planter, especially in the sod seed bed you describe?

 

[Dukslayr]

Definitely should have inoculated and used treated seed. I would also think that slugs raised hell with you under all the thatch. You could try a shot of nitrogen to get them going since they likely didn’t make much of their own. Dig some plants up and take pictures of the roots for us.

I will do that when I head back up next week.

 

[Dukslayr]

I've been growing a small (1 1/2 acre) plot of Real World beans for a number of years with no exclusion fence. The initial early browse takes off the central leader of the plant, and it takes a while for the side growth to begin which results delayed and more bushy growth. I usually don't burn the weeds until early August as they tend to protect the soybeans from browse during that period. After which, browse tends to focus on leaves of plants which allows the plant to continue growth/flowering/pod formation. I'm guessing I end up with about 60 - 70 % of the pod production if exclusion were used. Enough that if makes for some great December hunting when deer return for the pods. From a growth standpoint my plot looks similar to yours, but with tighter plant spacing. Real World beans are a mix of groups 4 and 5 which means there is still plenty of time for further growth and flowering.

We will see. We are going to knife in Rome manure and overseed a cover crop. I’m not optimistic at this point since they aren’t over 8” tall.

 

[Dukslayr]

^^^i think that’s the biggest thing.

I would not comment if it were not for the fact that I have to believe your soils and conditions are very similar to mine.
I drilled ag beans into rolled rye about the same time and their 2 foot tall. Still short but there doing OK.

You mowed and then planted. Then came back and killed the existing grasses and weeds 4 weeks later. Those 4 weeks were critical for us this year as we only got moisture for the first two. I’m thinking the existing vegetation with existing root systems stole what little moisture we got.

Very well could be. I’m willing to try again next year but will do it differently. And yes I would say our soils are close to identical. I know that June and July weather did not help us at all.

 

[Dukslayr]

Do you trust your planter, especially in the sod seed bed you describe?

Dan, we were late and behind 8 ball so nothing about the way we planted this year was perfect; next year it will be. Are you asking if I trust the farmer or the equipment? I definitely trust the farmer. The drill was a 10’ Great Plains no till from NRCS so I hope it would be working fine. What are you thinking?

 

[FarmerDan]

The rental drill. I don't think we can conclude much of anything from two pictures. And, anyhow, earlier you wrote about planting sunflowers successfully with the same drill. So, I'm lost. Six weeks of no rain is a near disaster. If your 'beans didn't get deep enough into a furrow and/or didn't get covered, it could account for some problems. But, in another place you said they germinated OK, if I remember right. I've just seen a lot of planting failures where the planter didn't do what it was supposed to do. A rental drill, drilling into old CRP cover, made me go, hmmmmm

 

[Dukslayr]

The rental drill. I don't think we can conclude much of anything from two pictures. And, anyhow, earlier you wrote about planting sunflowers successfully with the same drill. So, I'm lost. Six weeks of no rain is a near disaster. If your 'beans didn't get deep enough into a furrow and/or didn't get covered, it could account for some problems. But, in another place you said they germinated OK, if I remember right. I've just seen a lot of planting failures where the planter didn't do what it was supposed to do. A rental drill, drilling into old CRP cover, made me go, hmmmmm

I think we were okay. We drilled into the same type of sod with the sunflowers and they did okay. They were slow to take off too but they got drilled into wet sod and were sprayed immediately. I have a boat load of beans in the field but none of them are over maybe 6-8” tall. I was wondering how much inoculation in a fallow field mattered. The last time I planted beans was in a 5 acre creek bottom that was prone to flash flooding. 1/2 of the field was recently opened up by a dozer too. I no tilled right into the dirt with no amendments or innoculant and they did awesome. Just wondering what else I could be missing.

 

[FarmerDan]

What group soybeans did you plant? 3, 4, 5, 6, 7? Were they determinant or indeterminate? Old seed or new? Germination rate on the tag? Are the plants flowering?

 

[FarmerDan]

Lack of rhizobial bacteria in the field (inoculation) would cause the plant to possible be nitrogen starved. Pull a plant gently from the soil and look for nodules on the root. If they are there and abundant, then no problem. If you see none, you might consider an application of N.

 

[Dukslayr]

What group soybeans did you plant? 3, 4, 5, 6, 7? Were they determinant or indeterminate? Old seed or new? Germination rate on the tag?

Dan, the beans were Real World Wildlife Gen2 beans. They were shipped straight from real world to my dealer...I picked them up off the pallet so I’m assuming they were fresh. The beans have 4 different varieties with maturity dates that range from 4.0-5.4.

 

[Dukslayr]

Lack of rhizobial bacteria in the field (inoculation) would cause the plant to possible be nitrogen starved. Pull a plant gently from the soil and look for nodules on the root. If they are there and abundant, then no problem. If you see none, you might consider an application of N.

I’m going to pull a couple plants and snap pictures next time I’m up there. The whole field is getting ready to have manure knifed into in a couple weeks and then again in early December to help prep for next year.