Cultivations for winter Beans.

[Neddy flanders]

Have now had a couple of poor Bean yields. Either 750a or Horsch Co following LD subsoiler. Agreed no crop can really survive last autumn weather. Don't mention ploughing but on goodish land with quite a reasonable clay content where am I going wrong. What cultivation would you do?

 

[Steevo]

Personally I much prefer drilling them direct using Horsch solo coulters. Much easier for spraying too when the ground is less disturbed and boggy/sinky.

I think you are correct that the weather we’ve had wouldn’t have helped even if you had cultivated. Cultivation can just create a loose mess of sloppy porridge on top of not careful and the seed is still sitting in water.

 

[teslacoils]

Have now had a couple of poor Bean yields. Either 750a or Horsch Co following LD subsoiler. Agreed no crop can really survive last autumn weather. Don't mention ploughing but on goodish land with quite a reasonable clay content where am I going wrong. What cultivation would you do?

I mean....Id plough.

Certainly wouldnt stick with crap yields for the sake of not tunring it over.

 

[tr250]

We sumo trio wait till rock hard and dry and cultipress to level off and knock the barley volunteers about then sabretine but early as soon as we’re finnished wheat so 10-15th Oct seems to be fairly successful

 

[Brisel]

Drill direct with a deep leg with a seed tube down the back e.g. a Shakerator.

 

[curly]

I made this bean drill 10 to 15 years ago using a McConnel Shakerator that we already had & an old Massey seed drill that was lying in a hedge virtually on a neighbours farm that we got for doing some hedge cutting for them. The funnels, the seed pipes & the lights were the only things that were bought, all the steel was from stuff lying around. The drill is removable.
It works very well, the 1st pic I used a Sumo Trio first & then levelled afterwards with a power harrow on 6/11/20 and the second pic was just the drill & no levelling as it was getting too wet by then on the 11/11/20

 

[Salopian_Will]

I'd lightly work the top inch or so and then go in with a Claydon or similar. The reason to work the top inch or so is to give a bit of tilth to allow the following harrows to cover over.

I'd caveat that I've only grown spring beans with our Claydon, but with some success and as a result it would be my starting point for winters. There is a narrow point for winter beans.

 

[DrWazzock]

The roots just wouldn’t go down here without some kind of busting, so we plough in then just power Harrow the tramlines so you can spray.

 

[Brisel]

I'd lightly work the top inch or so and then go in with a Claydon or similar. The reason to work the top inch or so is to give a bit of tilth to allow the following harrows to cover over.

I'd caveat that I've only grown spring beans with our Claydon, but with some success and as a result it would be my starting point for winters. There is a narrow point for winter beans.

I used to drill beans with a Claydon. I just removed the seed boot altogether & rarely had any seed left on top. I used narrow 3" points behind the legs.

 

[Tompkins]

Claydon is excellent for beans, we made some single shoots to fit behind worn A shares with the wings cut off.

 

[Will 1594]

Drill direct with a deep leg with a seed tube down the back e.g. a Shakerator.

Do you want ours 11 legs in 3.5 m Accord hopper twin coulter behind each leg and cousins razor packer ,

 

[Brisel]

Do you want ours 11 legs in 3.5 m Accord hopper twin coulter behind each leg and cousins razor packer ,

Thanks but no thanks. I've given up winter beans and will probably give up spring beans too next year. Too many pulses in the rotation here and they've never made consistent margins. Or any profit at all!

 

[Will 1594]

Thanks but no thanks. I've given up winter beans and will probably give up spring beans too next year. Too many pulses in the rotation here and they've never made consistent margins. Or any profit at all!

same here having ab15 and herbal leys instead of beans and oats

 

[ZXR17]

What row spacing is that please @curly and do you find they yield better than narrower spacing?
I remember on another thread someone was getting good yields on wider spacing but I can't remember who it was.

 

[YELROM]

What row spacing is that please @curly and do you find they yield better than narrower spacing?
I remember on another thread someone was getting good yields on wider spacing but I can't remember who it was.

Was it maybe @Fish with some sort of precision planter

 

[Banana Bar]

We’ve tried all sorts here. My current preferred method is Topdown straight after the combine and drill from 10th October onwards with a Claydon. We use worn 5” shares and an open spreader boot, if conditions are smeary we will take the leading tine out apart from behind the tractor wheels. Beans can be very variable but this year we drilled 100 ha of Tundra over 2 nights on a light frost in January and achieved 4.8t/ ha over the weighbridge. What I have learnt this year is that winter beans don’t have to be drilled in the autumn.

BB

 

[Steevo]

We’ve tried all sorts here. My current preferred method is Topdown straight after the combine and drill from 10th October onwards with a Claydon. We use worn 5” shares and an open spreader boot, if conditions are smeary we will take the leading tine out apart from behind the tractor wheels. Beans can be very variable but this year we drilled 100 ha of Tundra over 2 nights on a light frost in January and achieved 4.8t/ ha over the weighbridge. What I have learnt this year is that winter beans don’t have to be drilled in the autumn.

BB

Winter beans are classed as "winter hardy spring beans".

 

[Hesstondriver]

It used to be common to broadcast beans then plough and press them in . And achieve respectable results

 

[STUBBY63]

Anyone sown farm saved Beans that have been Round up off prior harvest

 

[Luke Cropwalker]

Anyone sown farm saved Beans that have been Round up off prior harvest

Yes, just make sure you do a germination test before sowing. It helps if the beans were already quite mature when sprayed, ie nearly all of the pods are black but the stems can still be green.