Sowing beans

David G · Oct 9, 2011

I am going to try some soil building that my dad always did. He would plow up a piece, sow soybeans out of the bin on it, then plow them under in July and plant a second crop. He wanted the Nitrogen and plant material to rot.

Any ideas on the rate of application?

Bob Huntress · Oct 9, 2011

Chicken manure applied in the fall should give you a lot of nitrogen.

David G · Oct 9, 2011

Only problem is I have no chickens, but have a bin full of beans.

fixerupper · Oct 9, 2011

Where do you live? Here in Iowa there are very few crops that can be planted in July and be mature by frost in the fall. We can buy chicken manure and have it spread just like any other fertilizer in the area where I live. It's potent stuff. Jim

Bob Huntress · Oct 9, 2011

Okay, there is a net gain of nitrogen, yet, from what I understand, it isn't that much. It's not like you will have a high nitrogen soil because you grew a crop of soy. Chicken manure or even horse, will put far more nitrogen into your soil than simply growing a crop of soy.

paul · Oct 9, 2011

If you could work in a grass crop - like corn - in your rotation I'd understand.

But - beans make their own N, so the first crop plowed down will not really help the 2nd crop of beans.

I think you are just lowering your bean yields for no reason....

Now, if you planted oats or wheat with a cover crop - alfalfa/clover/peas, and then follow the next year with an early plowing and corn.....

Or if you harvested corn silage a little early, and planted rye & clover in fall, harvested that for silage again in spring and planted more corn dfor silage, or soybeans - you would get 3 crops in 2 years, and the legumes would help build the soil, as well as the manure from the livestock - if you are harvesting all that silage obviously you have livestock....

Those are ways to build soil.

I'm not sure you get much with 2 shots of beans in the same year, it doesn't seem like it will gain you anything.

--->Paul

IaGary · Oct 10, 2011

David read below where you have a bin full of beans. SELL THEM and buy some fertilizer. Plant the crops early in the spring when they are meant to be planted and leave them mature till fall.

Iowa is not a double crop state.

As Paul said any gain in Nitrogen will be lost in planting and seed costs.

What were you going to follow the beans with in July?

You would be better off sowing some rye right now and plow it under in early not late spring for green manure.

Gary

Geo-TH,In · Oct 10, 2011

A farmer in central Indiana plants corn and then winter wheat. While the combine is harvesting the winter wheat in the spring, you can find a bailer bailing the straw and then the're planting soybeans behind the bailer. Straw is a cash corp around here. This guy is a get-er-done farmer.

David G · Oct 10, 2011

I am not planning on selling those crops, just using them to add humus to the soil. I want to plow under before maturity so they can rot.

Sowing beans

David G

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Bob Huntress

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David G

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fixerupper

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Bob Huntress

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paul

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IaGary

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Geo-TH,In

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David G

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