companion cropping winter beans

juke · Jan 23, 2019

would anyone know if companion cropping winter beans with oats would work ok, we were just thinking about this one today wondering if there would be any aleopathic effect on the beans from the oats.

the main reason for doing it are for a bit more ground cover through the winter and hoping that the oats might have some effect on grass weeds..

Fuzzy · Jan 23, 2019

When are you planning on drilling the oats? Are the beans in the ground?
I drilled Oats +peas and Sp Barley + Sp Beans last year .... I found Oats very competitive and they smothered the peas.

AF Salers · Jan 23, 2019

Gareth Culligan, a Base Ireland member, tweeted about doing so this morning. He spun on 125kg/ha oats before drilling the winter beans. I guess 80-100 kg/ha would be nearer the mark if drilled.

juke · Jan 23, 2019

Fuzzy said:
When are you planning on drilling the oats? Are the beans in the ground?
I drilled Oats +peas and Sp Barley + Sp Beans last year .... I found Oats very competitive and they smothered the peas.

It's something we are looking at doing next autumn, probably drill the oats first let them get going and then drill the beans at a later date with a view to terminate the oats in the spring.

farmerm · Jan 23, 2019

Is the idea you would you kill off the oats at some point in the spring once there have done the job of giving ground cover? I sometimes have a very good companion crop of oats in my spring beans, the wild variety that is

clbarclay · Jan 23, 2019

juke said:
would anyone know if companion cropping winter beans with oats would work ok, we were just thinking about this one today wondering if there would be any aleopathic effect on the beans from the oats.

the main reason for doing it are for a bit more ground cover through the winter and hoping that the oats might have some effect on grass weeds..

I have had some success recently drilling winter beans into thick oats and barley volunters, spraying off the volunters just after drilling. Compared to the winter beans planted into cleaner stubbles, the yields and herbicides used are about the same, but fewer weeds, so hopefully fewer weeds in subsequent crops. Time will tell.

juke · Jan 23, 2019

farmerm said:
Is the idea you would you kill off the oats at some point in the spring once there have done the job of giving ground cover? I sometimes have a very good companion crop of oats in my spring beans, the wild variety that is

Yes that's the idea, we were thinking about it after seeing 50 acre of beans that had a cracking companion of volunteer wheat in it , that has been sprayed out now , we were thinking of leaving some oats in till march time then taking them out ,

Andrew K · Feb 1, 2019

Surely you will be killing off Oats early if you need to spray beans with Kerb to target blackgrass.
Anything that compromises BG control needs to be questioned IMO.I cant see Oats doing a job on bad BG myself, not like Propyzamide anyway?

juke · Feb 1, 2019

Andrew K said:
Surely you will be killing off Oats early if you need to spray beans with Kerb to target blackgrass.
Anything that compromises BG control needs to be questioned IMO.I cant see Oats doing a job on bad BG myself, not like Propyzamide anyway?

We haven't got black grass yet, n trying our best to keep it that way.
Also we don't use kerb as a pre em up till now

Andrew K · Feb 1, 2019

juke said:
We haven't got black grass yet, n trying our best to keep it that way.
Also we don't use kerb as a pre em up till now

Fair enough, no point in using chems till necessary, and it will probably get banned soon anyway, like lots of still useful chemicals...

Badshot · Feb 1, 2019

I expect they're different but oats can host nematodes, as can beans.
Might just be worth looking into before jumping headfirst.

juke · Feb 1, 2019

Badshot said:
I expect they're different but oats can host nematodes, as can beans.
Might just be worth looking into before jumping headfirst.

Would those plants both host the bad sorts of nematodes, I am aware of the ones that go with bean crops

Badshot · Feb 1, 2019

juke said:
Would those plants both host the bad sorts of nematodes, I am aware of the ones that go with bean crops

I'm not sure.
I guess with it being the same crop year there won't be much chance to build up anyway. But i suppose the fact the oats are planted first could mean the beans go into a potential infected field?
I don't know.
I doubt if there is any work done on it either.
Just got to be prepared for it not to go quite as planned I think.
Probably be absolutely fine.

Banana Bar · Feb 1, 2019

I love all the crazy ideas around companion cropping. How about spring oats dd into winter beans? Combine together and clean, would the kerb still be active enough to kill the oats ?

Fuzzy · Feb 1, 2019

Banana Bar said:
I love all the crazy ideas around companion cropping. How about spring oats dd into winter beans? Combine together and clean, would the kerb still be active enough to kill the oats ?

I was going to try some spring barley into my winter beans, but november applied kerb is a concern ...my agronomist was quite evasive when i mentioned it to him !! I will probably just try a small patch.
In Canada i believe some farmers apply kerb (or similar) on stubbles in the autumn ahead of spring sown cereals.
I grew Spring beans and barley together last year (no kerb obviously) but blackgrass did return on that particular field.

farmerm · Feb 2, 2019

Banana Bar said:
I love all the crazy ideas around companion cropping. How about spring oats dd into winter beans? Combine together and clean, would the kerb still be active enough to kill the oats ?

Not sure I would take the oats to harvest. Would the oats not have dropped out by the time the beans are fit to combine? They would also inhibit pollination on lower pods, even using a short oat variety.

I’m still relatively BG free but I commit several warm evenings walking tramlines hunting down the last few plants that sneak past the sprayer.

Ideally I would like a companion crop for spring beans that gives rapid ground cover for weed suppression but is short, is tolerant to a wild oat spray and is really really cheap to broadcast and harrow in behind the drill..

farmerm · Feb 2, 2019

Fuzzy said:
I was going to try some spring barley into my winter beans, but november applied kerb is a concern ...my agronomist was quite evasive when i mentioned it to him !! I will probably just try a small patch.
In Canada i believe some farmers apply kerb (or similar) on stubbles in the autumn ahead of spring sown cereals.
I grew Spring beans and barley together last year (no kerb obviously) but blackgrass did return on that particular field.

If you in effect grow continuous cereals by using a cereal as a companion, does it not loose the point in having a break crop in the rotation?

companion cropping winter beans

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