Soybean innoculation versus pea innoculation.

[farmaholic]

We seeded pea pot holes this spring without innoculating the peas. After harvesting the rest of the pea crop on those fields I noticed the stand or pod set was no worse in the pot holes than the rest of the field.... if not better because of more available moisture. Peas were only ever seeded on that field twice before, 05 and 2012.

So why all the hype about double or triple innoculating soybeans, I can understand why you might want to double innoculate the first time if they've never been grown on a specific field. But is double innoculating really necessary once they've been grown on the field in the past. Guys around here are going back to back beans...."take advantage of the innoculum" is the excuse. Or are they swallowing the bait of the companies selling the soybean seed and innoculant?

[burnt]

I've wondered the same. Only way to tell is by leaving a meaningful test strip at the beginning of the field before there was any treated seed in the planter.

I have finished up a field with untreated seed at times when I ran short on the treated seed and seen no difference, but there might have been enough stuff left on the equipment to do the trick, who knows.

Might be using those pricey innoculants as an expensive insurance.

[jamesb]

with peas if you have seeded peas before, I expect for sure you will be able to get inoculation from carry over bacteria in the soil. Also the peas will make great use of the nitrogen in the low spots. From what I understand Soybeans have a poor ability to inoculate compared to peas or lentils. Dry beans like navy and Pinto are another poor inoculator , way worse than soybeans, so most pinto bean growers just use nitrogen. The idea is that after double inoculating beans, the liquid inoculant for the main stem and the granular inoculant for the roots. The back to back bean guys can utilize the inoculum in the soil then. In my travels this summer I have seen some poor bean stands that I believe are probably poor nodulation.

[jcv]

How much yield would you need to get a ROI, or how much risk are you willing to take?
Liquid inoculant is $1.50 per unit, and while granular is more expensive, it is more effective.
In a sense like putting on nitrogen on other crops. Soybeans use an incredible amount of N, and use whatever they can get,
In regards to your peas, it is possible there was considerable residual N in the pot holes?
In my mind comes down to ROI, and inoculant is not what I would skimp on.

[Jay-mo]

Last week I looked at a friends soybean field. He had applied nitrogen to a couple strips of the field last fall. So he decided to plant the soybeans without any inoculant in that strip. Interestingly the beans with no inoculant still had a decent number of nodules. No beans on that field ever before.

[furrowtickler]

We have done innoculant test on soybeans 3 years in a row . The difference is huge . Don't cheap out on soybean innoculant. 2-3 x rate should be a given until you have had soybean on that same field for 4 plus years .
You can double your yield or more with proper innoculant rates and good nodules
This year we had a bad batch of innoculant from Monsanto's cell tech on 80 ac . Had zero nodules. The difference was huge .
I have had to top dress that 80 ac a couple times already to try to match the "good" 80 ac . In fact I should be doing it a third time later this week .
Used a foliar the first time , then went with 28-0-0 a few weeks ago .
I used streamer nozzles for the 28 and burnt the leaves and set it back .
Going with a safe high rate foliar for the last shot .
It's a pain in the ass if your nodules are poor or non existent.
Do it right the first time !
The liquid innoculant from Excite Bio was excellent 👍

[furrowtickler]

[MBgrower]

I always double Inoculate beans. Cheap insurance to make sure beans will have the ability to fix all the nitrogen that they will need, and they need lots. About beans having nodules in a field that has never had bean Incoculant applied, yes you will see nodules, but these are often wild type bacteria, they may fix some or zero nitrogen. You need to have the right bacteria to do the job.

[Wheatking]

First time soybean grower, and my beans have poor nodulation. Started out in July with 1/3 having nodules and now it's maybe up to 75%. They where double innoculated with tag team and whatever came on the seed. For the most part the beans look healthy, except for areas with compaction or salinity. They are halfway between my knees and waist in height.

I did stream on 45lbs of actual N on a few test strips, and did it ever burn the leaves. Set it back by at least a week.

The first pics are of the leaf burn, then some root pics and their lack of nodules

[farmaholic]

Good pics Wheatking and nice job of cleaning those roots off. At the very least I could have dug some pea plants up and looked for nodules as well.

Is that high grade coal on the truck end gate? ;-)

I'm not advocating for cutting back on innoculating fellows, just an observation in the field. But wondered if double innoculating soy was necessary if they've been planted on the field recently. Thanks for the input everyone.

If I grow them I would prefer to use granular along with whatever the seed is treated(inoculated) with. And maybe a large dose of phos down the midrows.(??????) Can they tolerate much, if any, seed row placed fertilizer?

[seabass]

Don't put any fert with seed. Will kill innoculant. Midrows or preapply before seeding

[Wheatking]

I put no fertiliser down in the seed row. I banded 60lbs of straight phosphate 3" deep before I seeded, then another 25lbs of s15 in the fertiliser knife of a seed hawk. Plants look relatively healthy so I'm not sure if they are short of N. Should of taken a tissue test I guess.

Since this thread was started comparing pea innoculation to soys, here are a couple pics of pea nodules taken a month ago. I have never seen Nodulation like this before, the nodules are massive and cover every root hair.

[MBgrower]

Good pics Wheatking and nice job of cleaning those roots off. At the very least I could have dug some pea plants up and looked for nodules as well.

Is that high grade coal on the truck end gate? ;-)

I'm not advocating for cutting back on innoculating fellows, just an observation in the field. But wondered if double innoculating soy was necessary if they've been planted on the field recently. Thanks for the input everyone.

If I grow them I would prefer to use granular along with whatever the seed is treated(inoculated) with. And maybe a large dose of phos down the midrows.(??????) Can they tolerate much, if any, seed row placed fertilizer?

They don't respond well to spring applied phos.

[Jay-mo]

Wheatking, just curious why you dribbled 28 onto your beans??

[Wheatking]

Wheatking, just curious why you dribbled 28 onto your beans??

Just a test to see if the extra N would help since I felt/thought the beans weren't nodulating properly. I only did 25 acres of a 250 acre field.