How many of you have planted soybeans in the same spot year after year? Theres only one area big enough on my new farm to get beans in and I plan to do beans there as many years in a row as possible. What are some draw backs and concerns with this plan. They will be broadcasted not drilled if that helps.
Beans on Beans
- Thread starter Dylbilly
- Start date
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
FIL has put in the same 80 acres of beans consecutively for a couple of decades.
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I've planted soybeans in the same plots for 4 or 5 years straight and then one year of corn but don't plan on corn again in one of the plots as it is gone by Dec whereas my beans are still full in Jan and Feb but gone by May. That plot is 3.5 acres and the other plots are .5 to 1.5 acres of beans that are still going strong into late spring as well. I broadcast winter rye into my beans when they start yellowing and this is a major draw from when they come up until terminated in spring. A major bonus of soybean plantings.
I am planting corn in a 1.5 acre bean plots that has been beans since '15. Just an experiment to see if it lasts longer than the other plot but also so I can spray 24d on the gly resistant broadleaves for a good knock out punch. I've about got them eradicated to the point that it only takes a couple hours to walk the field for them after I've finished herbicide sprayings.
I plant my plots via a row planter but I used to broadcast them. A light disking, broadcast, drag, and rain. That raised some very high yielding plots. It took 1.5 times as much seed as row planting but get my seed for free via expired coop and dealer seed. Don't have a problem with germination.
Make sure you stay on top of weeds as they can overtake a plot quickly if they are not managed each year.
I am planting corn in a 1.5 acre bean plots that has been beans since '15. Just an experiment to see if it lasts longer than the other plot but also so I can spray 24d on the gly resistant broadleaves for a good knock out punch. I've about got them eradicated to the point that it only takes a couple hours to walk the field for them after I've finished herbicide sprayings.
I plant my plots via a row planter but I used to broadcast them. A light disking, broadcast, drag, and rain. That raised some very high yielding plots. It took 1.5 times as much seed as row planting but get my seed for free via expired coop and dealer seed. Don't have a problem with germination.
Make sure you stay on top of weeds as they can overtake a plot quickly if they are not managed each year.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I planted RR forage soybeans with a light mix of corn for a number of years. The beans were for summer stress period here, not for pods. I finally stopped. The reason was a weed infestation, marestail. When we had a pine thinning and controlled burn adjacent to our fields. That released marestail in the pines and it quickly got into our fields. It is naturally resistant to glyphosate, so planting RR bans and using gly for weed control was favoring the marestail.
Planting any monoculture year on year does have a downside. You are extracting the same nutrients from the soil year after year. It is no like you can't do it. You will just have higher fertilization requirements and need to keep an eye on things to make sure sulfur is sufficient. When you plant a legume into the soil year after year, it fixes more N into the soil. The N makes the field more attractive to N seeking plants like grasses. So, weed control can become more of a problem over time requiring more herbicides.
To my way of thinking, this is an expensive way to go for deer. I think either rotating or mixing N-seeking deer crops with your beans would be a better solution in general.
A lot will depend on "why" you are planting soybeans as that will determine what alternative solutions you might consider.
Thanks,
Jack
Bill
Administrator
I've done year over year beans for over 10 years. If you're switching from RR beans to RR corn it will have no different impact on the weeds unless you use pre emergent or some additional chemicals.
There are risks, pests, weeds, fungus etc. I have switched to liberty because of Round up resistant weeds but so have my neighbors who rotate every year.
There are risks, pests, weeds, fungus etc. I have switched to liberty because of Round up resistant weeds but so have my neighbors who rotate every year.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
I was going to bring up Liberty if weeds were a concern, but Bill beat me to it.
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As Bill states round up ready corns to beans is a non issue. However if one has roundup resistant broadleaves and doesn't use liberty link then one will have to figure out a plan to keep those weeds at bay. I use preemergent, metribuzin, and gly for burndown. Then a couple applications of gly and some other broadleaf killer that is safe for beans and it keeps fields basically weed free. I walk all plots a couple times a season to kill weeds that survived those previous apps.
Someday I'll go to liberty or enlist beans but right now the free products I get don't allow for that.
Someday I'll go to liberty or enlist beans but right now the free products I get don't allow for that.
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
Beans are a much better source of nutrition than corn is. Plus, they are much easier to plant and grow.
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
I think peas are right up there with beans for nutrition and deer preference.
rocksnstumps
5 year old buck +
True until you get a couple feet of snow. Not a situation that happens all places or every yr but have friends that plant and leave about 15 acres of beans most yrs. One yr completely buried and had a few layers of an icy crust in those feet of snow too. Their additional small 3-4 acres of corn was only game in town besides browse for about 2 months. Most years just beans are ok but ya never know the further north you are. They move the small portion of corn around within the acres of beans and brassica they plant. They have much deeper pockets then I would care to spend on all this but whatever. Retired folks gotta blow their money somewhere.
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
In that situation you are correct. Most years they will walk right past corn to get to beans though. It could all depend on where your plots are as well. If it is put in the open the wind will keep a good portion of the snow out of the beans. Corn would catch it all like a snow fence. There is always the down wind side though so...
Bassattackr
5 year old buck +
If you broadcast a fall cover crop (rye, radishes, etc) over them and allow some spring growth before termination, you are not going to have the pest, disease (and potentially weed) issues that come up with the same crop planted annually. Technically you're still "rotating" when you follow up a cool season crop after a warm season one.
Agree on your input comments Jack.. Beans need sulfur, anything producing protein for that matter. Insufficient Calcium and Potash (K) are often limiters for bean production as well.
One of the most respected no-til farmers (Ed Winkle) used to say 100# AMS + 100# Potash (0-0-60) was a great annual bean recipe. K put down in the fall, AMS when beans planted in spring.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Yes, it is a form of rotation/mixing. That is what I did when I was planting beans for summer stress. I'd plant beans in the spring and then broadcast my PTT/CC/WR cover crop into it in the fall. The only shortcoming I found that the approach did not address was the weed problem. Here, forage beans are needed to withstand the browse pressure unless I'm planting a lot of acreage in beans. Otherwise they don't canopy and weeds prevail. I don't know of any liberty-link forage beans leaving gly as the primary weed control herbicide which contributed to my marestail problem.
Again, north has different issues, but here, I found that a mix of buckwheat and sunn hemp followed by the cover crop provides the summer nutrition we need and is more cost effective. They are fast enough growing with warm soil to favorably compete with summer weeds without post planting herbicides. They are somewhat less attractive but still provide the nutrition. The growing speed combined with somewhat less attraction allows them to establish more consistently than beans for me.
Here, pods are ignored by deer except in years with a failed mast crop. In those years, deer will hammer anything I plant. My turkeys do use them regularly, but turkeys can always find food here. That is why I said the "objective" is the real driver for beans. A farmer may have a very different objective from a deer manager; a deer manager in the north may have a very different objective from a deer manager in the south.
Thanks,
Jack
Bassattackr
5 year old buck +
Wow, that's crazy.
Deer seem to be driven to beans when it gets cold "here" further north. But perhaps to your point, it may not ever get cold enough in the south for them to want to switch to (or prefer) grains over greens.. Interesting.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Yes, exactly my point. What deer are drawn to really depends on their needs and the alternatives they have to choose from. It is also quite interesting how deer use different plants changes seasonally as well as from year to year depending on what is available. Hunting pressure is probably the largest driver in the fall and early winter here. When deer have sufficient quality food in cover where they don't have to expose themselves, they will ignore higher quality foods that they perceive as a higher risk. "Sufficient" changes with time and place. When we have a cold harsh winter for this area, deer seem to be bigger risk takers for access to quality food. In more mild winters, they seem to be more pressure sensitive.
But, I'm getting away from beans here and more into how objectives may drive when and how to use beans.
Thanks,
Jack
