Companion cropping wheat beans seed rate and pre em

[dannewhouse]

What would a suggested seed rate be, normally 100kg wheat per acre
So 10/15kgbeans? And drop wheat or not?

Plan is to spray beans out in spring and combine wheat.
Pre em suggestions?
Normal wheat pre em is my suggestion as if I plough beans down pre em be weaker by time they are through?

 

[SilliamWhale]

I wouldn't bother at all with companion crop

 

[Hindsight]

I wouldn't bother at all with companion crop

Think its about the £55 hectare SFI payment? So not a Welsh thing! But I could be wrong.n Await with interest more info.

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

Think its about the £55 hectare SFI payment? So not a Welsh thing! But I could be wrong.n Await with interest more info.

Would qualify as multispecies winter cover at a higher £/ha if well established by December.

 

[Hindsight]

Would qualify as multispecies winter cover at a higher £/ha if well established by December.

Yeah, I am still trying to get my head around these SFI 'scams!' How the hell do we fill in the application form. Awaiting a bright farm consultant from Savills to explain all in the FW - hell I have even just resumed a subscription to the weekly Yellow Peril so as I don't miss out.

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

Winter or Spring beans?

 

[woodylane]

What would a suggested seed rate be, normally 100kg wheat per acre
So 10/15kgbeans? And drop wheat or not?

Plan is to spray beans out in spring and combine wheat.
Pre em suggestions?
Normal wheat pre em is my suggestion as if I plough beans down pre em be weaker by time they are through?

45 - 50kg/ha of beans and keep the dff under 60g, beans won’t be bothered by pdm, Aclonifen or ffct

 

[Nitrams]

If you establish before your sfi start date is it still eligible regards companion or multi species cc?

 

[woodylane]

If you establish before your sfi start date is it still eligible regards companion or multi species cc?

Yes

 

[willyorkshire]

45 - 50kg/ha of beans and keep the dff under 60g, beans won’t be bothered by pdm, Aclonifen or ffct

If you used spring beans, frost would take em out? Save some chem? 100kg wheat seed sounds low?

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

If you used spring beans, frost would take em out? Save some chem? 100kg wheat seed sounds low?

They would have to be present Dec/Jan/Feb so would they make it to the end of Feb OK?

 

[hollister]

If you used spring beans, frost would take em out? Save some chem? 100kg wheat seed sounds low?

per acre

 

[woodylane]

If you used spring beans, frost would take em out? Save some chem? 100kg wheat seed sounds low?

We’re spreading before sumo trio, frost doesn’t seem to bother vol spring beans in wheat

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

We’re spreading before sumo trio, frost doesn’t seem to bother vol spring beans in wheat

Plenty seem to survive in wheat around here, Springs would grow a bit faster to give more ground covr by 1st December?

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

Would qualify as multispecies winter cover at a higher £/ha if well established by December.

why the @Humble Village Farmer?

 

[Spud]

I tried this last year

Two fields back to back, always the same crop normally, but one was winter beans in 2021, the other springbeans.

We Mzuri drilled both with the same variety of wheat the same day. Light pre em (no grass weeds)
Frost took out the spring volunteers.
The winters survived the frost, and all the way to harvest. You could say the beans were variable rate - when in reality, one end of the field is heavier than the other - the beans were smaller at the heavy end and more went over the back of the combine.

Anyway, no difference in wheat yield, and 220kg beans from 3ha. The field is 3.6ha but I succumbed to cleaver pressure and sprayed 6m around the perimeter with Starane to knock them out!

The work involved separating the beans was not worth any perceived gains, be they environmental or financial.

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

I tried this last year

Two fields back to back, always the same crop normally, but one was winter beans in 2021, the other springbeans.

We Mzuri drilled both with the same variety of wheat the same day. Light pre em (no grass weeds)
Frost took out the spring volunteers.
The winters survived the frost, and all the way to harvest. You could say the beans were variable rate - when in reality, one end of the field is heavier than the other - the beans were smaller at the heavy end and more went over the back of the combine.

Anyway, no difference in wheat yield, and 220kg beans from 3ha. The field is 3.6ha but I succumbed to cleaver pressure and sprayed 6m around the perimeter with Starane to knock them out!

The work involved separating the beans was not worth any perceived gains, be they environmental or financial.

Be worth a go at multispecies winter cover payment rate though. Did you have much frost that winter?

 

[Spud]

Be worth a go at multispecies winter cover payment rate though. Did you have much frost that winter?

Yes, we had harder frosts in December than we'd normally expect.

One (of the many) gaps in my knowledge is at what point does a bean plant start multiplying nematodes?

I struggle to see a net benefit. I have 200ac+ of winter multispecies cover crops so can use them for sfi when they eventually stop moving the goalposts!

The payment is less than the cost of the hassle imo for bicropping

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

Yes, we had harder frosts in December than we'd normally expect.

One (of the many) gaps in my knowledge is at what point does a bean plant start multiplying nematodes?

I struggle to see a net benefit. I have 200ac+ of winter multispecies cover crops so can use them for sfi when they eventually stop moving the goalposts!

The payment is less than the cost of the hassle imo for bicropping

Good point about nematodes, research into potential disease issues with companion cropping, as well as the most suitable species to use, resistance to pre-ems etc needs to be done (or maybe it has been?) I agree that the IPM3 companion crop payment is not really worth the effort, but if you could get the multispecies winter cover crop payment on any earlier drilled winter crops, in addition to your 200+ acres of existing cover crops (presumably in front of Spring sown crops), surely it's a goer at £129/ha?

 

[Spud]

Good point about nematodes, research into potential disease issues with companion cropping, as well as the most suitable species to use, resistance to pre-ems etc needs to be done (or maybe it has been?) I agree that the IPM3 companion crop payment is not really worth the effort, but if you could get the multispecies winter cover crop payment on any earlier drilled winter crops, in addition to your 200+ acres of existing cover crops (presumably in front of Spring sown crops), surely it's a goer at £129/ha?

Its never as simple as that though. I can't see a cc pre a winter sown cash crop, purely because the cc is then not over winter. Then there's the real life effect of not being able to sow said cash crop in best order due to the calendar farming nature of such schemes - we need to retain some flexilbility