innoculating beans and peas

[ACW]

With my garden having been coated with a mix of rubble gravel bound with clayey subsoil i am slowly restoring some semi raised beds and my lawn.
to help improve fertility i woud like to grow some legumes ,how do I innoculate them to produce the nodules?

[Gary350]

I bought Legume Inoculate at Farmers Co-op it was a bit expensive $15 for 1 lb bag 30 year supply. Directions R on the package you only need 1/2 teaspoon for 1 lb of seeds stir it all round in a bucket before you plant seeds. I have used Legume Inoculate from time to time but I can not tell for sure it makes much difference in crop size. If you were to plant 2 crops side by side 1 crop with Legume Inoculate and other crop no Legume Inoculate maybe you can see a difference. I was told there is something natural in most soil that Inoculates the seeds the powder that you buy just speeds it up but I'm not sure that is true maybe someone else knows?

You can buy Legume Inoculate several places in smaller bags $5 per bag do Google search for Legume Inoculate.

[pepperhead212]

ACW, Be sure you don't get that granular inoculant they sell in shaker cans. That stuff is less concentrated, and inoculates far less for the money. The small (2 oz, I think) packs of black powder that Gary mentions, inoculates 8 lbs of beans. You soak the beans 30 min., then toss them with a small amount of inoculant, then plant them. Years ago, when I first got that stuff, I tried some with and some without, and the ones with were MUCH larger, and more productive. After a while, if planting in the same place, the difference probably won't be as obvious, since the inoculant gets into the soil, but I still use some.

[ACW]

Thanks for the replys,unless its good on Fava/broad beans i will wait on the spring plantings next year.

[pepperhead212]

Since you mentioned fava beans, I thought that I'd add this note: fava and soy beans require different inoculants, and some types will not work on them. However, this last season I had to order some, and got some from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and it said that it worked on all of the legumes, including those two - first time I've seen this on any that I've bought, and it was just a regular priced packet, for 8 lbs of beans. Not sure if any of your sources in the UK will have this kind, but it is worth looking for.

[rainbowgardener]

Personally I have never used an innoculant. My soil has lots of home made compost in it and sometimes I do compost tea. I figure there's lots of microbes around. My legumes produce just fine. I of course have no way to know if they might produce EVEN MORE if innoculated, but since I'm getting lots of veggies, I don't worry about it.

[jal_ut]

rainbowgardener says: "Personally I have never used an innoculant. "

I am with rainbowgardener. I have never used an innoculant.

[imafan26]

If you can plant legumes and get good root nodules forming then, you don't need to inoculate them. If you are going to fertilize your beans anyway, you don't need to inoculate either.
If however, you are growing beans or legumes as a cover crop and your soil, like mine is fungal dominant, few nodules form without inoculation. So, I have to inoculate just to get more than 0-4 nodules (mostly 0 without inoculation, about 12 small ones with inoculation).

I grow cowpeas, so I use a cowpea inoculant from Burpee. Pleasant valley and Johnny seeds also have inoculants and they have a combination inoculant that can be used for peas, beans and vetch. It is about $5 for 1.5 oz. It is enough to inoculate 8lbs of beans. Since the inoculant has a limited shelf life, only buy what you need.

[clunker]

I work with legumes for a living, and there are several things to consider when inoculating seeds or soil. imafan26 is exactly correct that root nodules are the key. If your plants do not have root nodules, then they were not sufficiently inoculated. Pay close attention to the expiration date of inoculants. If they have not been in cold storage, then even year-old inoculants might be worthless.

Contrary to popular belief, legumes do not magically manufacture their own nitrogen. They rely on a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in the soil (rhizobia), and the result is in the form of root nodules. Each type of legume relies on a specific species of bacteria for nodule formation. Rhizobia for peas, mesorhizobium for chickpeas, sinorhizobium for clover, and so on. Once the soil is successfully inoculated, the bacteria usually remains in the soil for several years and will not require further inoculations. Another important ingredient is sodium molybdate (commonly known as Moly to farmers). It is an essential nutrient for the formation of nodules.

There are two common methods for inoculation. One is to coat the seeds before planting, which is probably the easiest for small-scale gardening. The other is to broadcast over an entire field, which is much more efficient for large-scale growers. Hope this helps.