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Vanisle_BC
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Pea inoculant
Has anyone used pea inoculant, and if so observed any advantage?
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pepperhead212
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Vanisle_BC
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applestar
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Yes same inoculant for those, different one for soybeans... I’m thinking it might also be different for broad beans, but I might be wrong? But sometimes, they just combine them all in a package so it’s a no-brainer, I think.
I’m not one to be able to say definitively, and I use them off and on, but I tend to grow legumes in a succession-rotation once a year or so, most certainly within 18 months? So maybe my garden soil already have a certain level of those bacteria.
All in all I have noticed not so much increased performance when using so much as absolute LACK and pitiful ness of growth when trying to grow peas in containers in bagged potting mix WITHOUT any inoculant treatment.
I’m not one to be able to say definitively, and I use them off and on, but I tend to grow legumes in a succession-rotation once a year or so, most certainly within 18 months? So maybe my garden soil already have a certain level of those bacteria.
All in all I have noticed not so much increased performance when using so much as absolute LACK and pitiful ness of growth when trying to grow peas in containers in bagged potting mix WITHOUT any inoculant treatment.
I use pea inoculant, but I only use it on cover crops. The inoculant for peas are usually used on cowpeas, and soy beans. The inocculent for vetch is a different species.
The inoculant does not really improve the current crop. If your soil is low in nitrogen, even legumes will need some additional nitrogen to grow well. The bacteria in the nodes, will always feed themselves first. If you have a good native population of the bacteria, then you really don't need it and your soil is probably already rich in nitrogen. I think if you have good soil and you inoculate, there may be some advantage, but most of the advantage should be for successive crops.
Inoculants are usually only good for the year they are produced and should be stored in the refrigerator or at least somewhere that is cool and the temperature is relatively constant. There are a couple of ways to apply inoculent but the gist of it is that the inoculant pretty much needs to be on or right next to the seeds. The bacteria does not walk around to find host roots, so they need to be close so they can invade the roots. The inoculant I use requires that the beans be soaked, then coated with the inoculant, dried and used within 4 hours so it takes a bit of planning. The soil should already be amended with compost and fertilizer. If you are using organic fertilizer, it should be added up to six months before. If using conventional, ideally 4-6 weeks before, but I have used conventional fertilizers two weeks in advance to a day in advance. They release very fast, I just need to make sure it is well incorporated.
If your soil is naturally high in the rhizobacteria, then you really don't have to inoculate. The soil in the herb garden is really poor and challenging in many ways. It limits what I can plant. The soil is tested every few years. The ph 7.8-8.2, the compost is very alkaline so it does not help the pH. Most of the garden is heavy in compost up to 50% of the soil volume. The high pH makes it impossible to grow acid loving plants, but the compost does buffer the soil so at least it behaves more neutrally.
This soil contains nematodes, phythophtora, and underneath it was an asphalt parking lot. When the garden was created in the 60's, instead of removing the asphalt, they just put dirt on top of it. Every once in a while, I still dig up pieces of asphalt. The garden is in a flood zone and the herb garden is one of the lowest points in the garden. When it rains heavily, parts of it will flood and remain flooded for weeks. I have paved over the worst places and have urns there instead. The other sections prone to flooding have plants that can tolerate a little flooding like ginger. The areas known to have nematodes are planted pretty much constantly in crackerjack marigolds or sun hemp. Nematode resistant cultivars are used whenever possible. The ginger bed needs special care as ginger is not nematode tolerant. The soil is fungal dominant. The normal nodulation without inoculant is 0-4 nodules (tiny ones). That is essentially near zero as few of the legumes produce any nodules and most are zero. With inoculation of legumes, with the cowpea inoculant, the nodules increase to 8-12 per plant.
For a cover crop to benefit the soil, it needs to be turned under at peak nodulation, which is at the flowering stage. Once pods are produced, energy is transferred to the pods. If you eat the pods, then it does not benefit the soil as much. The benefit is the increased nitrogen once the cover crop and the bacteria die and decompose. It becomes food for the next crop cycle.
I have tried double cropping planting inoculated cowpeas, turning it under and planting uninoculated cowpeas right after that. The result has been that the soil cannot sustain the micorrhizzae populations. The uninoculated cowpeas revert to 0-4 nodules. Cover crops still provide biomass and I still plant cowpeas and buckwheat for that. I cannot change the nature of the soil, so it is better for me to just use sulfate of ammonia since that is what the soil really needs. It is high or extreme in all of the other elements.
The inoculant does not really improve the current crop. If your soil is low in nitrogen, even legumes will need some additional nitrogen to grow well. The bacteria in the nodes, will always feed themselves first. If you have a good native population of the bacteria, then you really don't need it and your soil is probably already rich in nitrogen. I think if you have good soil and you inoculate, there may be some advantage, but most of the advantage should be for successive crops.
Inoculants are usually only good for the year they are produced and should be stored in the refrigerator or at least somewhere that is cool and the temperature is relatively constant. There are a couple of ways to apply inoculent but the gist of it is that the inoculant pretty much needs to be on or right next to the seeds. The bacteria does not walk around to find host roots, so they need to be close so they can invade the roots. The inoculant I use requires that the beans be soaked, then coated with the inoculant, dried and used within 4 hours so it takes a bit of planning. The soil should already be amended with compost and fertilizer. If you are using organic fertilizer, it should be added up to six months before. If using conventional, ideally 4-6 weeks before, but I have used conventional fertilizers two weeks in advance to a day in advance. They release very fast, I just need to make sure it is well incorporated.
If your soil is naturally high in the rhizobacteria, then you really don't have to inoculate. The soil in the herb garden is really poor and challenging in many ways. It limits what I can plant. The soil is tested every few years. The ph 7.8-8.2, the compost is very alkaline so it does not help the pH. Most of the garden is heavy in compost up to 50% of the soil volume. The high pH makes it impossible to grow acid loving plants, but the compost does buffer the soil so at least it behaves more neutrally.
This soil contains nematodes, phythophtora, and underneath it was an asphalt parking lot. When the garden was created in the 60's, instead of removing the asphalt, they just put dirt on top of it. Every once in a while, I still dig up pieces of asphalt. The garden is in a flood zone and the herb garden is one of the lowest points in the garden. When it rains heavily, parts of it will flood and remain flooded for weeks. I have paved over the worst places and have urns there instead. The other sections prone to flooding have plants that can tolerate a little flooding like ginger. The areas known to have nematodes are planted pretty much constantly in crackerjack marigolds or sun hemp. Nematode resistant cultivars are used whenever possible. The ginger bed needs special care as ginger is not nematode tolerant. The soil is fungal dominant. The normal nodulation without inoculant is 0-4 nodules (tiny ones). That is essentially near zero as few of the legumes produce any nodules and most are zero. With inoculation of legumes, with the cowpea inoculant, the nodules increase to 8-12 per plant.
For a cover crop to benefit the soil, it needs to be turned under at peak nodulation, which is at the flowering stage. Once pods are produced, energy is transferred to the pods. If you eat the pods, then it does not benefit the soil as much. The benefit is the increased nitrogen once the cover crop and the bacteria die and decompose. It becomes food for the next crop cycle.
I have tried double cropping planting inoculated cowpeas, turning it under and planting uninoculated cowpeas right after that. The result has been that the soil cannot sustain the micorrhizzae populations. The uninoculated cowpeas revert to 0-4 nodules. Cover crops still provide biomass and I still plant cowpeas and buckwheat for that. I cannot change the nature of the soil, so it is better for me to just use sulfate of ammonia since that is what the soil really needs. It is high or extreme in all of the other elements.