Bean Plot Doing Well!

Deer starting to make their way out to the beans in the evening.

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You got a whole season's worth of deer sightings in that picture, if you were in central Minnesota.
 
Nicest ground blind I've ever seen too.
 
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250,000 beans per acre? What does a farmer plant? The pics below are beans I bought from you $42 a bag I had to drive and pick up with no beer in sight (bitter). Planted 1 bag per acre. Light for broadcast but it worked. Ton of browse on this piece and was a deer ghost town for a while but they are in the beans now.

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John do you have to put down more mineral with that high of seed count? If you were to harvest the beans would you see much of an increase in yield or after all the browsing it evens out?

I have thought about going with a higher seed count to help shade the soil on my dry soil. I don't have the deer numbers to worry about the browse pressure.
 
250,000 beans per acre? What does a farmer plant? The pics below are beans I bought from you $42 a bag I had to drive and pick up with no beer in sight (bitter). Planted 1 bag per acre. Light for broadcast but it worked. Ton of browse on this piece and was a deer ghost town for a while but they are in the beans now.

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Most farmers plant from 140,000 (1 bag) _170,000 seeds per acre. I have done that in Missouri in high deer population areas. But you need some luck that all the farm ground in the area has been planted to help relieve the pressure. This year we have less than half the fields planted in my area. Which means normal planting rate on small plots would spell disaster early for sure.
More plants can handle browse pressure early. Less plants can not.
 
John do you have to put down more mineral with that high of seed count? If you were to harvest the beans would you see much of an increase in yield or after all the browsing it evens out?

I have thought about going with a higher seed count to help shade the soil on my dry soil. I don't have the deer numbers to worry about the browse pressure.


These plots in missouri are on very good ground, heavy silt loam. They have been limed 2 years ago, and have about 300lbs per acre of 17-17-17 applied each year. And no, yield very rarely will increase much from raising plant population over 150,000. I do it because I feel I will lose 100,000 plants due to deer browsing, putting me right where I need to be for normal harvest population, if I were to harvest.

Yes, more plants in light ground can help shade the ground, to help conserve moisture, but can also result in very short plants if it gets too dry for to long. Short plants are not good for bean production. Problem that can not controlled when farming sand without irrigation sometimes.
 
These plots in missouri are on very good ground, heavy silt loam. They have been limed 2 years ago, and have about 300lbs per acre of 17-17-17 applied each year. And no, yield very rarely will increase much from raising plant population over 150,000. I do it because I feel I will lose 100,000 plants due to deer browsing, putting me right where I need to be for normal harvest population, if I were to harvest.

Yes, more plants in light ground can help shade the ground, to help conserve moisture, but can also result in very short plants if it gets too dry for to long. Short plants are not good for bean production. Problem that can not controlled when farming sand without irrigation sometimes.

John,

Why use 17-17-17 on beans? Are you trying to get them a quick start because of browse pressure? On my dry soils that might be a good idea to get them to take advantage of spring rains and to quickly canopy. The last couple of years my plots have doen well but during those dry years they dry up and look tuff. I have been overseeding allot of rye which I do think helps the soil.
 
No amount of fertilizer can replace moisture. You can have the best ground in the world, but that only buys you 2 extra weeks when the faucet shuts off.

I broadcast what bag fertilizer we have left over from customers. Since farmers keep switching from dry to liquid, we end up with more bag starter fertilizer left each year. I mainly just spread Potash in Missouri. But don't like keeping fertilzer over from one year to the next as it can get lumpy in the bag sometimes. Not good for business.
 
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