Winter Beans

Cork1234 said:
I have tundra winter beans just about emerging here getting an awful doing from the crows. Sown around November 8th in average conditions. Slugs were all over them too.
Wondering what kind of plant population I can get away with in the spring to have a crop worth harvesting?

Crows have snapped the top off a few plants just up. Wondering if they'll regrow or are they gone?

Also would appreciate any advice on crow control !
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Would love to hear how your crop of winter beans did in the end ?
Will you go again this year?
 
Cork1234 said:
Would love to hear how your crop of winter beans did in the end ?
Will you go again this year?
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CORK said:
Just a final video on the Tundra winter beans.

They yielded 2.7tn/ac (20% moisture). Initially I was disappointed but to be fair they had been through two storms, had extra tramlines and had a pathway cut out for an open day.

I set out to see if they could match a spring bean yield but avoid the risk of a late spring sowing date whilst having a similar cost base.
Planning to repeat the trial this winter weather permitting.

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I’m not sure if you were asking me but I gave a summary earlier in the thread.

I do plan to try the same thing again (sowing late November and deep). It’ll just be a few acres as a trial.

If it works out ok for the second year, I’ll aim to grow a few fields for harvest 22.
 
Purely out of curiosity but do bean weavil be a problem in Ireland? If so what time of year or growth stage ?
 
Masseyrk662 said:
Purely out of curiosity but do bean weavil be a problem in Ireland? If so what time of year or growth stage ?
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Yes, Bean Weevil are a common pest. They usually eat the leaves when the crop is young (2 - 4 pairs of leaves), then the larvae eat the roots.

They effect both spring and winter beans.

Usually more numerous on spring beans as the weather is more suitable.
They are frequently sprayed.
 
Oakley said:
Anyone here sowing winter Beans?
Heard a lot of guys are switching from spring to winter beans this year. Will stick with Spring beans here as they've worked well over the years but like to keep an open mind and am interested to see how lads get on with the winter crop
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Winters are better for soil structure. More advanced root nodulation, in the ground longer. Drought here couple years ago. Winters did 1.6t/acre, springs struggled to get 1t.
 
We are seeing a lot of interest in sowing winter beans this year.

Weather permitting, we are heading into the ideal time of the year to sow the crop.

Here's a brief Guide that I put together for the crop.
 

Attachments

  • Winter Beans Growers Guide.pdf
    2.9 MB · Views: 114
Anybody planning on putting beans in next week if the weather drys up? Had planned to do some myself but ended up doing a bit of drainage work in the field I was considering. Hopefully go with Spring Beans instead. Spent the last few nights reading back on previous posts about beans and the one question that I have is, if crows attack the beans when their peeping through the ground and pull the plant, what difference does it make what depth their planted at? Or does the bean regrow after the plant has been pulled as long as the bean seed is still underground? Apologies if this is a silly question!!
 
Rebelman said:
Anybody planning on putting beans in next week if the weather drys up? Had planned to do some myself but ended up doing a bit of drainage work in the field I was considering. Hopefully go with Spring Beans instead. Spent the last few nights reading back on previous posts about beans and the one question that I have is, if crows attack the beans when their peeping through the ground and pull the plant, what difference does it make what depth their planted at? Or does the bean regrow after the plant has been pulled as long as the bean seed is still underground? Apologies if this is a silly question!!
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Not a silly question.

They often regrow.

That said, I planted them 3-4” deep last year and for some reason the crows didn’t pull a single shoot when they emerged in early January.

I plan to plant a small trial area again as soon as conditions allow.
 
Rebelman said:
Anybody planning on putting beans in next week if the weather drys up? Had planned to do some myself but ended up doing a bit of drainage work in the field I was considering. Hopefully go with Spring Beans instead. Spent the last few nights reading back on previous posts about beans and the one question that I have is, if crows attack the beans when their peeping through the ground and pull the plant, what difference does it make what depth their planted at? Or does the bean regrow after the plant has been pulled as long as the bean seed is still underground? Apologies if this is a silly question!!
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If conditions are good enough we're going to sow a few acres.
 
We put in a few acres of winter beans this afternoon as the second year of trial.

Tacky enough on top but much better at depth. Sown at 4 inches deep. Aiming for 25-28 plants/m2.

There was a light cover crop growing there. I’ll throw 3 litres/Ha of glyphosate in with the Nirvana in a few weeks time.

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CORK said:
We put in a few acres of winter beans this afternoon as the second year of trial.

Tacky enough on top but much better at depth. Sown at 4 inches deep. Aiming for 25-28 plants/m2.

There was a light cover crop growing there. I’ll throw 3 litres/Ha of glyphosate in with the Nirvana in a few weeks time.

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Was the cover after spring crops? Any non cover cropped area to compare to? Just interested how it affected conditions at sowing.
 
WestCorkBoy said:
Was the cover after spring crops? Any non cover cropped area to compare to? Just interested how it affected conditions at sowing.
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It was sown after spring barley so the cover was nothing to write home about. I usually try to follow winter barley with WOSR so cover crop opportunities are slim after that.

It would probably be drier on top if there hadn’t been a cover crop there - not because of the cover crop but because the top part of the soil was loosened when sowing the cover crop.
The cover crop itself should aid tilth I think but the looser soil because of the sowing is the problem in this case.
 
CORK said:
Not a hope, too tacky on top. I wouldn’t be too bothered anyway.
They are so deep, the rolling would only be to tidy up the surface but I’d expect the rain will do that anyway if you know what I mean.
A lot of these lovely TAMS rollers are getting no use lately!!
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What about slugs or does the Sumo close the slot fully in those type of conditions?
 
nashmach said:
What about slugs or does the Sumo close the slot fully in those type of conditions?
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If it was sown after WOSR I’d be more concerned.
In fairness it closes pretty well. Especially when the seed is 4” deep.
The soil was quite friable under the first two inches.
 
Was that cover crop for GLAS ? I know you can graze GLAS cover crops after the first of December but when can you drill them or spray them off? I’m too lazy to dig out my GLAS instruction book !!! I’m half thinking of trying some if seed and Alec is available.
 
Soissons said:
Was that cover crop for GLAS ? I know you can graze GLAS cover crops after the first of December but when can you drill them or spray them off? I’m too lazy to dig out my GLAS instruction book !!! I’m half thinking of trying some if seed and Alec is available.
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This bit wasn’t for GLAS but you have a valid question.
I have attached an excerpt that I found online from the GLAS specifications, I assume it is still valid.
It reads to me that the Cover Crop must remain in situ until Dec 1st.

Tundra Seed should be available, soil conditions are probably the main limitation presently.

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