Eagle Forage Beans

[brokenlittleman]

I am doing a combo of both this year, Eagle Seed and early maturing AG beans. My plan is to fence them until roughly the end of July to allow both to get enough growth for pod production. I have done both and the Eagle beans were incredible for the browse they handled but as stated pod production was not the greatest. Hoping by fencing I get good browse for the deer for a month before the season with beans left for late season. Early maturing beans should allow me to over seed brassicas for other green in plot and late season as well in the event beans are gone.

 

[Baker]

I'm going to experiment with a patch of forage beans for the first time this year. Looking at Tyrone but don't know much about them. I want to try the Dr. Woods idea of drilling directly to the growing beans in the fall. Pods are mostly meaningless for my experiment. Anyone from the south have any suggestions as to best bean. I want non GMO .

 

[yoderjac]

I'm going to experiment with a patch of forage beans for the first time this year. Looking at Tyrone but don't know much about them. I want to try the Dr. Woods idea of drilling directly to the growing beans in the fall. Pods are mostly meaningless for my experiment. Anyone from the south have any suggestions as to best bean. I want non GMO .

Baker,

There are a number of non-GMO forage beans. As I recall, different varieties were recommended for different areas. In my area, Tyrone is the recommended variety. If you get forage beans to canopy, you may have a hard time drilling into them. I ended bushhoging strips through my Eagle beans a few years back. The Designer Bean thread has details. I've already posted the link. Maybe with one of the larger no-till drills it might work, but certainly not with my little Kasco.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[breddick]

I've done Eagle Seed forage beans a few times. Total of 3-4 acres. Planted them in 22" rows with a two row JD planter that did a really nice job. Year one I watched a beautiful crop of 2" soybeans disappear in less than 48 hours. Year two and subsequent years I fenced 100% of my beans the day they were planted and didn't remove the fence until they were over knee high. They did amazing. 6-7' tall canopy / jungle. Made quite a few pods that were eaten in Jan / Feb. I just bought a No till drill and plan to use the buffalo method this year with zero fence and planting 15-20 acres total. Hopefully with 7.5" rows and much more acreage planted they'll be able to withstand the pressure.

All beans will make pods but forage beans will make fewer relative to their plant size. I don't think a deer will eat the pods until late winter. I've had mature green Eagle seed beans stripped of every leaf during mid to late stage growth and still full of pods.

 

[brokenlittleman]

I wish the deer didn't eat the pods by me until late. Didn't do beans last year but year before I watched them in the field one day during september amazed as they devoured them. All actual beans were gone by the 3rd week of Sept. Hoping they focus on the leaves and don't eat the beans once I pull the fence but only time will tell.

 

[SWIFFY]

I plant a few acres of beans each year and Ive tried a few different ways incorporating Eagle Forage beans. Ive tried them all by themselves and I find they get very tall and grow very well and by Oct 1st they are all dead with little to no pods. Ive done the Eagle beans mixed with ag beans like 75/25 (75% Ag) and that worked better than the mono Eagle beans. The 2 main things I noticed are the forage beans get huge with giant leaves. They seem to have a fine "hair" to them, and even when planted within my ag beans to help reduce the browse, they still take the ag beans first. I dont think the deer prefer forage beans over ag as they definitely dont like the leaf as much.

Second, I just dont have that bad of a problem with browse pressure in the summer. My deer densities are fairly low and there are a lot of ag beans around anyway. Im also battling waterhemp so im giving up on the RR varieties and have switched to Liberty. For me the straight up Liberty ag beans are working best here in MN for me.

From what I can tell, the main reason to use Eagle beans would be that (A) you are far enough south that your growing season will in fact produce pods, and (B) that you have a high enough deer density and high enough browse pressure that you simply cant get Ag beans to grow. The forage beans will hold up better to the pressure but if you mix with ag beans they will always take the ag beans first. I wont plant forage beans again. Simply no benefit for the added cost in my situation.

 

[brokenlittleman]

From what I can tell, the main reason to use Eagle beans would be that (A) you are far enough south that your growing season will in fact produce pods, and (B) that you have a high enough deer density and high enough browse pressure that you simply cant get Ag beans to grow.

These are the exact reasons I use forage beans. There is no ag by me and the deer will take whatever beans there are. I agree they prefer ag beans but my plan is to fence the mix of ag and forage until both are established. Planting them in two row alternation, 2 forage rows and 2 fast maturing ag beans so that the ag bean leaves drop early and I can overseed those rows with brassicas in late summer.

 

[yoderjac]

From what I can tell, the main reason to use Eagle beans would be that (A) you are far enough south that your growing season will in fact produce pods, and (B) that you have a high enough deer density and high enough browse pressure that you simply cant get Ag beans to grow.

These are the exact reasons I use forage beans. There is no ag by me and the deer will take whatever beans there are. I agree they prefer ag beans but my plan is to fence the mix of ag and forage until both are established. Planting them in two row alternation, 2 forage rows and 2 fast maturing ag beans so that the ag bean leaves drop early and I can overseed those rows with brassicas in late summer.

The primary reason to use Eagle beans is when the combination of weed competition and browse pressure won't allow ag beans to canopy. The other reason to use them would be in the south where summer is the primary stress period, not winter, and you need to maximize forage. If weed competition is not an issues in your area, there are non-GMO forage beans like Tyrone that can be used.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[brokenlittleman]

Weeds are also an issue. Browse and Weed competition are fierce. Not sure if I am far enough south that summer is the stress period.

 

[brokenlittleman]

They are coming in good.

 

[Baker]

I drilled a couple of fields with Laredo forage soybeans and am very happy with what I'm seeing. One of the fields I planted was a clover field with crimson , balansa, and La. S-1. The crimson and balansa was done when I drilled directly into the La-s1. Beans are doing great growing up thru the clover. In normal summers the clover will thin out or go completely dormant late summer. I'm experimenting to see if the forage beans will continue growing late summer.

I'm going to produce a video showing progress in a few days.

 

[Kdog]

They are coming in good.

At our place in GA, we would love to see that type of growth, but even with our limited population, those would be wiped out in 1-2 nights without protection.

 

[brokenlittleman]

There is no AG by me so if I didn't have them protected they would be in bad shape. I have done beans before and they don't last. Best I had was Eagle Seed beans. Deer pounded them and they kept on growing. I fenced this year to let them get established before I let them at it. I have about half in Eagle seed and the other half in GrandPa Rays Outdoors early maturing ag beans. The hope is the leaves on the ag beans will yellow and drop early enough that I can broadcast brassicas. Goal is green bean leaves August through October, green brassica leaves November through December and then beans and bulbs January through February.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

There is no AG by me so if I didn't have them protected they would be in bad shape. I have done beans before and they don't last. Best I had was Eagle Seed beans. Deer pounded them and they kept on growing. I fenced this year to let them get established before I let them at it. I have about half in Eagle seed and the other half in GrandPa Rays Outdoors early maturing ag beans. The hope is the leaves on the ag beans will yellow and drop early enough that I can broadcast brassicas. Goal is green bean leaves August through October, green brassica leaves November through December and then beans and bulbs January through February.

That seems like a winning strategy. I am wondering about pod production on your forage beans. We have planted Eagle Seed Forage Beans in the past (and again this year), and have great vegetative growth during the summer months, but end up with very little bean pods to feed the deer into the winter months. This is the first year we have protected them with an E-fence, so we will see how that goes. I do remember that the Eagle Seed beans tend to hold their leaves a little longer than the forage beans (also planted on our land). In your experience, is there enough time between when the Eagle seed beans are losing their leaves that you would be able to get some germination and tuber development in the brassicas? If not, would it be a good strategy to broadcast the brassicas now, let them sit under the bean canopy this summer and be ready to go when the beans lose their leaves in the fall?

 

[brokenlittleman]

That seems like a winning strategy. I am wondering about pod production on your forage beans. We have planted Eagle Seed Forage Beans in the past (and again this year), and have great vegetative growth during the summer months, but end up with very little bean pods to feed the deer into the winter months. This is the first year we have protected them with an E-fence, so we will see how that goes. I do remember that the Eagle Seed beans tend to hold their leaves a little longer than the forage beans (also planted on our land). In your experience, is there enough time between when the Eagle seed beans are losing their leaves that you would be able to get some germination and tuber development in the brassicas? If not, would it be a good strategy to broadcast the brassicas now, let them sit under the bean canopy this summer and be ready to go when the beans lose their leaves in the fall?

Definitely not enough time to get germination with the Eagle seed soybeans. Last time I planted them I had green leaves all the way into the end of October. That's why half of what I planted is an early maturing ag bean. They should be heavy on the bean production while dropping their leaves early enough to get good germination on broadcasting of the brassicas. This is a strategy I can't take credit for. I read about this on Grandpa Rays Outdoors and its why he offers the early maturing soybeans. Both types of beans are in the same plot. Two rows of alternating beans each, two forage and then two ag beans so when leaves drop on ag I should have a nice strip of brassicas.

 

[brokenlittleman]

Plan was for it to look something like this. Although very difficult to keep rows even with single row planter.

 

[yoderjac]

I tried mixing ag beans with eagle beans and found it a waste of time. I had the same hope that the early maturing ag beans would turn yellow and create enough of a void in the field that I could over seed it for fall. I think I mixed them 50/50 and I used a Gallagher-style e-fence to protect them. What happened was that the Eagle beans grew so much faster that they shaded out the ag beans and took over the field. You can see pics on that Designer Bean thread I posted earlier. In order to do a fall broadcast into this field, I ended up bushhogging lanes through the field. That is counter intuitive and it was emotionally hard to do. But it actually created more food access by removing the strips. Deer browse the beans along the edges much more than getting themselves into the middle of the thick field. By creating more edges, they consumed more of the beans than they had before I cut the lanes.

Keep in mind that in my area, zone 7A, pods don't matter most of the time. Unless we get a mast crop failure, deer ignore them. My eagle beans in this field produced lots of pods but as you say they are tiny. Turkey used the pods all fall and winter but deer ignored them. Deer were eating the WR, CC, and Brassica in the lanes. I only did this with 1 acre as an experiment. I planted 4 other acres nearby with straight eagle beans. Those fields were unprotected and the deer kept them naked all summer. they never got close to forming a canopy but deer could not kill them. Those fields were easy to overseed for fall. Even after the eagle beans yellowed late in the year, the deer liked the lanes in those fields better. I think it was because the beans were so tall that even after they dropped their leaves, they afforded some cover.

If I was ever going to use eagle beans and ag beans again, I'd change my strategy. I'd plant ag beans in the center of the field and Eagle on the outside. Deer browse outside in mostly. Since the Eagle beans are more browse tolerant, I think they would live until the Ag beans were established. This is a strategy that requires sufficient acreage and does not use an e-fence.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[brokenlittleman]

That would for sure be easier to complete. With a single row planter it was difficult to to know where each row was. If I could do all the eagle seeds at once and then all the ag beans it would be much easier. I have enough gaps between my rows hoping the ag leaves do what I hope and or the deer browse enough to get the canopy reduced enough to get brassica germination.

 

[yoderjac]

That would for sure be easier to complete. With a single row planter it was difficult to to know where each row was. If I could do all the eagle seeds at once and then all the ag beans it would be much easier. I have enough gaps between my rows hoping the ag leaves do what I hope and or the deer browse enough to get the canopy reduced enough to get brassica germination.

I've got a 4' Kasco no-till versadrill that I used when I was planting beans. I had previously built a "Po Boy" foamer for my sprayer. I decided to build another one for my drill. That lest me see exactly where I made the last pass. Here is a link: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.p...r-sprayers-transferred-from-qdma-forums.5838/

 

[brokenlittleman]

You guys gave me an idea. I am going to buy some longer hoses for my sprayer and connect the end the on the row planter. Then I will fill tank and use the dye marker to mark the just planted row. Going to test the dye marker on the soil this weekend to see if it will leave a visible enough mark on bare soil. Blue is pretty bright so I am thinking I will be okay but will verify first.