Tom4CWB Faba Questions.

[freewheat]

Mr Jackson. How long should faba bloom? Does height matter? How many pods per plant is normal?

Thanks.

[TOM4CWB]

Weather is the biggest factor... rain is very important to faba beans... more so than peas... lentils are even more tolerant than peas to drought.

There are faba beans in the Edm east that are 4-5' tall... 10-15 good pods per plant... 3-4 beans per pod.... which would be a 'norm' . Normally the fabas would stop blooming 7-14 of August... and be ready to desicate by Sept 1.

On drought years the fabas can be done blooming now... and be ready to combine by Sept 1.

Hope this helps... PS try not to have the green fabas nipped by frost.... they turn black which is not desirable for Human Consumption.

[freewheat]

Thanks Tom. I grew snowdrops this year, and they are not terribly tall, like 3-4 feet, and they are still blooming, Tapering off a bit, lots of triple pods per node, most doubles, probably 20 plus pods per plant on average forming. Some plants have many more than 20 pods. Generally 3 or 4 and the odd 5 seed per pod. I think it is a short variety, they have never been short of moisture all year, yet seem restrained in growing all that mass that I have seen in pictures.

I guess my main concern was that they are quite short, despite being well watered all year. That is what I meant when I aksed if height matters. It does seem in the areas where they are taller or shorter, pod counts are not really different, they are just spaced more, and are much higher off the ground, like 18 inches and more, vs. the shorter areas.

It is a pretty cool looking crop: And the odor while blooming is to die for. Wow!

[TOM4CWB]

Freewheat;

Could well be a 70-80bu crop...!!!

Be careful when you desiccate, last fall we left the snowdrop a little longer through some rain... and did have some shatter... perhaps 10bu/ac. when they get down to 16 moisture... take them off... to avoid this.

[TOM4CWB]

BTW.. we used Roundup... Reglone or Heat would be faster... if not much lagus bites check marketers if Heat is OK for their Human consumption markets.

[Partners]

Which company buys the beans, and what is approx. value/bushel.

Some real nice fields south of Tisdale...

[TOM4CWB]

Partners
W.A.Grain solutions and AGT Food Saskcan are the two local to us here in Alberta.

[freewheat]

Hog barns want them too. Trouble is they pay LESS than peas, even though the protein is much higher. Walker, Terra max, there is a pretty long list of buyers if you look at the sask pulse page.

Current hog barn prices are from 5.70 to 6.40. They are gunna have to bid higher to get product IMO.

Other buyers seem to be in a holding pattern, unsure of the crop that is out there. Faba like moisture, and I think the past few years the acreage boom was due to exceptional conditions. There are not a lot of areas that would have a good crop.

Fun to try different crops.

[freewheat]

Just did a more accurate count in the faba field. Pulled two average plants:

Plant one pod count: 23 pods formed and filling, with several blooms left that I did not count.

Plant two pod count: 30 formed and filling pods, several uncountable blooms left to make more potential pods.

Lets call it 25 pods a plant average. I coud have had a thicker plant stand, but the plants really bushed out and there are no open spaces.

Have been trying to find a yield calculator with no luck. But Tom, you figured 10 to 15 pods were pretty good? Do I have a real doozy on the way, in spite of it not being very tall?

I tentatively budgeted for 45.

So what do I have growing out there?

[TOM4CWB]

Freewheat,

When fabas finish nicely... we have had 115 on the yield monitor at times and 75 field averages.

Hope the heat finishes them nice and you beat the frost. We try to end the crop saga by Sept 1 with a good shot of Reglone... August 25 for Roundup.

PLEASE DON'T SWATH.Have been horrible recks here with mouldy fabas that are worthless when wet and sink down to ground. Bad news.

[Ronski]

how many plants/ft? seeds/pod/plant are just the start.

[freewheat]

About 3.5 plants per square foot.

[farming101]

Hey Freewheat, the seed size you decide to use is really going to influence yield calculations for faba.
Snowdrop seed weight is 335g/1000 according to one source. Perhaps your harvest sample may only be 80 percent of that because of immature seeds.

Anyway, seeds/Sq Ft divided by 1000 X whatever seed size you decide to use X 96.033 will give you pounds per acre.

No harvest loss, dockage, or damage factored in.

[freewheat]

25 pods per x3.5 plants per square foot x 3 seeds per pod/1000 x335 x96.033 =8444.9

8444.9/60= 140 bushels per acre.

That is my problem. All the formulas I try are ridiculous. So I came on here to ask!

Even if I drop the plant stand to 2 per square foot, I still get 80 bushels. In my dreams.

What is the deal??? lol

[farming101]

Be conservative on seed size, factor in a harvest loss.

Maybe you have a winner!

You might really be laughing if you make one pass up and down the field and the grain tank is full!