Bean inoculation

[mickey]

I read the post from 2009 but it didn't talk about the best way to use the inoculant. Soak the beans in it or apply to the soil at the time of planting? What's your thoughts on this?
PS, two of the links in that post don't work.
davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2429/#b

[raymondo]

The only time I've used it, I coated the seeds with it before sowing. First I dampened the seeds slightly, then mixed in the inoculant.

[steev]

That's the general practice.

[12540dumont]

The thing with beans, is if you have planted them before....they are in your soil. However, if you haven't it's best to do it.

[zeedman]

Generally, I sprinkle the inoculant into the hole before planting (if starting in pots) or sprinkle it over the seeds after planting (if direct seeded). If sprinkling directly into the soil, the seed should be covered quickly, since sunlight can destroy the bacteria. Large spice bottles (the square bulk size) make great shakers for inoculant. A small ice chest works well to keep the inoculant cool between uses... and keeps the seed cool as well.

Personally, I prefer not to coat the seed, since I don't pre-measure my seed & I might be planting 10 or more legumes on a given day. Furthermore, since the seed must be moistened to make the powder adhere to the seed, treated seed could not be safely returned to storage. I would rather waste powder than waste seed.

I have very mixed feelings about the use of inoculants. On virgin soil, or where a particular legume has never been grown before, it might be helpful the first year or two. In an experiment I did one year (in an established garden) inoculated cowpeas & yardlongs were noticeably healthier & bore more heavily than an equal non-inoculated row, so I recommend their use on those crops, at least for the North. There was little difference, though, for beans, peas, garbanzos, and soybeans. My conclusion was that there was little advantage to annual application for those crops.

But that's not the whole story. Due to a combination of bad circumstances, I failed to get my preservation garden planted in 2011, and it lay fallow that year. In 2012, I got the whole garden in, and used inoculant only on the cowpeas & yardlongs. They did great. Soybeans did extremely well too, and digging up a few plants, I found the roots to be heavily nodulated... so that particular bacteria can apparently persist for a long time, even in my cold winters.

My beans, however, languished. They germinated fine, then did basically nothing but look sickly for most of June. All eventually recovered to some degree; some varieties completely, some still moderately stunted. When the dry seed was harvested, some of the seed was shrunken or under-developed, compared to crops in previous years.

Searching for silver linings in a bad situation, I had hoped that the fallow year in 2011 would reduce some disease problems that had cropped up in recent years. For the most part, the 2012 garden lived up to that expectation... very little disease. But I have to wonder: if pathogens can be destroyed by a year without host plants to sustain them, could I have inadvertently wiped out the symbiotic bacteria for beans as well? Perhaps all symbiotic bacteria are not equally hardy in all soils, or all climates. I will be using inoculant for everything but soybeans this year.

[12540dumont]

As far as I know only OZ has strict standards for bean inoculant. Those standards require that the inoculant can't be sold if it's over 12 months old and one of the requirements is that it must persist in the soil even if no beans are planted.

Some of the garden centers around here, sell who knows what and call it inoculant. Best before 12/10/10 (and still on the shelf)!

[mickey]

Mar 15, 2013 19:32:29 GMT -5 12540dumont said:

As far as I know only OZ has strict standards for bean inoculant. Those standards require that the inoculant can't be sold if it's over 12 months old and one of the requirements is that it must persist in the soil even if no beans are planted.

Some of the garden centers around here, sell who knows what and call it inoculant. Best before 12/10/10 (and still on the shelf)!

That was my concern as after I used a bean inoculant at the time of planting the beans I found out it was over a year old and had expired by six months or so. So I don't know if any of it took hold in the soil or not. the pack only covered part of the garden as it was. I didn't think to check the roots when I cleaned up the garden last fall.

[12540dumont]

Mickey, leave the roots in the garden. Only remove the tops, then if you have rhizobia, it stays

[mickey]

Mar 15, 2013 21:35:16 GMT -5 12540dumont said:

Mickey, leave the roots in the garden. Only remove the tops, then if you have rhizobia, it stays

I removed the tops and tilled the roots under, so if it took I'm good. But to make sure I'm going to reply some fresh if I can get it.