I have tried several different throw n mow plots, but not impressed so far. I have an area on some slope I have been planting five acres of beans for the past ten years using conventional tillage- but would like to keep from turning the soil. It is planted in wheat right now. Anyone use throw n mow on eagle seed beans? $100 per bag per acre is a little high for a failed crop for me. Wheat should be knee high by bean planting time. Spray it, then spread beans and fertilizer and mow it?
TNM Eagle Seed Beans?
- Thread starter SwampCat
- Start date
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
I've had good luck getting beans to germinate, but they weren't soybeans and conditions for TnM were perfect those years. To answer your question; yes... spray it, spread them, mow it.
If you hadn't had good success with TnM I would be wary of doing this with expensive beans also. Is a no-till drill an option?
If you hadn't had good success with TnM I would be wary of doing this with expensive beans also. Is a no-till drill an option?
I don’t know a soul with a no-till drill
I would go with a cheaper RR bean to lower costs until you know TnM works for you. Some are $25 per bag. Make sure you use inoculate. You are gonna need waist high to get you thatch, IMO.
You could also have huff deer density, even with 5 acres of beans.
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You could also have huff deer density, even with 5 acres of beans.
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yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Beans really aren't a good fit for throw and mow. You might have some success if you have the right soil and us a cultipacker to push the beans into the soil, but they just don't germinate well on top. I bought a used Kasco 4' no-till Versadrill a while back for $3K. It is not in the same class with the big-boy drills like Tye or Great Plains. It does not have the weight or depth limiting wheels for precision depth adjustment. The way you are supposed to adjust depth is by lengthening or shortening the top link, but that did not work well for me. I eventually got a hydraulic toplink and use a short length of chain to connect to the drill. I shorten it when I lift the drill and lengthen it until the chain goes slack to plant. The drill now floats. I generally don't have to add weight when I spring plant beans or corn (I actually mix them in the hopper). It works pretty well. There are a few other issues like debris building up between the openers and mud scrapers and clogging the tubes. I need to check the tubes after each pass and remove any debris. I think I have solution to this that I plan to try next spring, but I'll start another thread for that.
I use a combination of that Kasco and throw and mow to minimize my tillage with all of my planting. For me, the 3K was worth it for planting large seeded warm season annuals that don't surface germinate well. I like the seed metering system and it will plant a huge range of seed.
Another option for planting beans is a cut down JD planter. There are companies that cut old JD Drills down and sell 2 row planters. It takes a while planting a row or two at a time, but they work for corn and beans. They don't plant the wide variety of seeds like the Kasco, but they are another option for beans. You can get them with no-till coulters.
Thanks,
Jack
I use a combination of that Kasco and throw and mow to minimize my tillage with all of my planting. For me, the 3K was worth it for planting large seeded warm season annuals that don't surface germinate well. I like the seed metering system and it will plant a huge range of seed.
Another option for planting beans is a cut down JD planter. There are companies that cut old JD Drills down and sell 2 row planters. It takes a while planting a row or two at a time, but they work for corn and beans. They don't plant the wide variety of seeds like the Kasco, but they are another option for beans. You can get them with no-till coulters.
Thanks,
Jack
swat1018
5 year old buck +
Not sure about where you are, but where my farm is, and where I live, the local FSA/NRCS offices rent no-till drills. I wouldn't try to broadcast expensive soy beans.
DISCLAIMER: I am an Eagle seed dealer. I would absolutely NOT recommend TNM as an option for planting Eagle forage beans. I have great success by lightly disking first and then using a cultipacker to get the beans into the soil. Eagle forage beans can also be no till planted. Yes, Eagle forage beans are expensive. However, when planted correctly and if you get timely rains they produce great results. I will not sell a bag of Eagle forage beans unless the customer buys a $5 bag of inoculant to go with them. Inoculant is absolutely necessary when planting Eagle RR forage beans. No sense skimping of the relatively cheap cost of a bag of inoculant when you are spending $100 for a bag of Eagle forage beans .
As for renting a no till drill, try a local chapter of Pheasants Forever or like mentioned above contact your local NRCS office and ask them who rents no till drills. There could be several sources in your area. My NRCS office does not directly rent no till drills but does provide information on where they are rented in the area.
As for renting a no till drill, try a local chapter of Pheasants Forever or like mentioned above contact your local NRCS office and ask them who rents no till drills. There could be several sources in your area. My NRCS office does not directly rent no till drills but does provide information on where they are rented in the area.
I have planted eagle seed beans for nearly ten years now. They used to make a good bean on my place. Now, they don’t fill out the pod most of the time. The reason I was thinking they might do ok tnm is I used to plant them with a spreader. I would always get some beans out in the broomsedge/little bluestem prairie grass alongside the tilled dirt and would get a good stand of beans out in the pasture while doing nothing.
The hogs love the seed too. I can’t plant them in one area anymore because the hogs eat all the seed in the first few nights.
The hogs love the seed too. I can’t plant them in one area anymore because the hogs eat all the seed in the first few nights.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I understand the sentiment of pushing inoculant, especially to new food plotters, but let's take a minute to discuss them. Inoculant does not improve germination as many new folks think. It is a rhizobia bacteria that forms a symbiotic relationship with a legume improving its ability to fix nitrogen from the air. In years when the field does not have soybeans or another legume that is compatible, rhizobia bacteria may have a hard time reproducing or feeding so if the field has not had beans for 4 years you will see a much better response from using inoculant. Other conditions that can cause the bacteria in the field to struggle is poor pH or even dry conditions with low OM or poorly drained conditions where water can stand a bit.
In general, inoculant should increase bean yield by only 2% or 3%. If you have any of the above more extreme cases, it can have a greater impact. Inoculant is a pretty cost effective addition for farmers who make money on increased yield since inoculant is a pretty low cost investment. Food plotters are not farmers. We have different objectives but can benefit from many, but not all, of the techniques that farmers use. I don't find yield to be a big factor for most food plotters. Folks just planting some small fields for attraction are not going to have a health impact on deer and a few percent in increase yield is not enough to deal with browse pressure. Folks planting enough acreage for QDM are planting significant acreage. For a farmer, what counts is what ends up in the harvester. For QDM folks, the only thing that counts is what ends up in the belly of a deer. So again, yield is not a major driver for the food plotter.
I won't use inoculant on Eagle (or any soybeans) in a field that had beans in the last couple years and are properly amended but I will use it in fields that were in other crops for a while. If you do use inoculant, remember it is alive. Don't mix it using chlorinated water or let it freeze to get too hot as you can kill it.
Typically inoculating beans only add around $5/ac to your cost, so it is not an expensive proposition. I'd simply prefer to help new plotters learn about how inoculant work and let them take it from there. I'm a "teach a man to fish" guy rather than "give him a fish".
Thanks,
Jack
Good points about adding chlorinated water to inoculant. Or letting it get too hot or cold. As for me, I use inoculant in fields that I had soy beans in last year. You have your way or doing things and I have my way.
I try to instruct all the persons to whom I sell Eagle beans to the best of my knowledge and experience. I sell the inoculant at cost. Any time you put seed in the ground it is a crap shoot. I am trying to nudge the odds in favor of the food plotter just a little by recommending inoculant.
Believe me, persons would like to blame anybody but themselves when a food plot fails.
I try to instruct all the persons to whom I sell Eagle beans to the best of my knowledge and experience. I sell the inoculant at cost. Any time you put seed in the ground it is a crap shoot. I am trying to nudge the odds in favor of the food plotter just a little by recommending inoculant.
Believe me, persons would like to blame anybody but themselves when a food plot fails.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
I always assume legumes need inoculates to help nitrogen fixation... and I only care because I want nitrogen credits. With that said I always assume that a worked field (disc'd or plowed) kills any beneficial microbes I put into the ground and they will need replaced the following year. If I do TnM and the soil doesn't get turned (or doesn't lay barren) then there is a chance the microbes are still living and will help nitrogen credits that next year also.
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
At $100 a bean bag I'd probably toss in some inoculant too, regardless of when the last time the field had a legume on it. Cheap insurance. Can't hurt, can only help. Guys looking for yield might double or triple inoculate if it's been a number of years out of rotation.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Another good point. Smart cycling of crops with the sufficient N fixed from legumes and good no-till practices, fertilizer can be reduced or even eliminated, especially added N.
Thanks,
jack
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
I grew an amazing stand of beans two years ago with a PH of 7.6. Not that it cant be done on oven high ph but like yoderjac always emphasizes, this is food plotting.
NOTE: I'll never spend that kind of money on a bag of beans but like others have said, you better believe id spend a few extra bucks to give them every possible advantage i could.
Speaking of seed additives, has anyone used any of the Delt Ag products? Back when I watched outdoor tv youd hear advertisements for them.
How about plot boost, antler grow, or some of the other plot additives?
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
No magic beans with Delta Ag products. If your soil needs them, they are worthwhile but if not, just like vitamin pills if you have a balanced diet, your pissing your money away. After abusing my soils with a 2-bottom plow in my earlier less enlightened days, my soils were low on Sulfur for beans. My soil test show I was insufficient. I used a Delta Ag product in the hopper with my beans and provided Sulfur. It had a positive impact. I've since amended the soil using AMS to start the process of getting me back on track. Now that I have not done significant tillage for years, my soil tests never show they are insufficient in Sulfur for beans, so I don't use it any more.
Many of the soil additives may have advantages for rebuilding the microbiome in abused soils. Of course, a much better track, especially for food plotters, is to use techniques that don't destroy what they have and let it build naturally over time.
Thanks,
Jack
The eagle seed beans are the difference between growing a bean plot with plants and leaves - or having nothing with regular ag beans. And the eagle seed are not a sure thing. I have had plenty of failure with them too. But it is the best chance for something out there during summer. Just like corn - I know if I plant it, the hogs will get it - so I don’t plant corn. If I plant ag beans, they won’t make it past the first two months.
