Growing beans

[Cynthia]

There is time yet to get a crop of bush beans before we freeze. Does anyone use inoculant for their beans and peas? I never have but would love some feedback on this.

[gardengirl72]

I have never heard of that. I am going to find out some more about that myself.

[Cynthia]

Maybe it is just here in Texas - we are a wild and wooly bunch down here :)

[AbbeyLehman]

I have not only heard of inoculant but I used some this year. They sell it near the seed displays in late winter here. I used it on the peas but not the beans this year, and it may be coincidence (first year for a garden at this house) but the peas did GREAT and the beans kinda ~eh~. It is said that you don't need to use it after the first time in the same spot because the thingies you need stay in the soil (real technical, I know!), although I've heard some say they use it every year and some have never touched it. Dunno. I'll be starting fresh again next year with new raised beds, a la GardenGirl, so I can't do any comparisons. I think if you have healthy soil that it probably wouldn't matter, but that's just my highly suspect opinion!

[Cynthia]

I think it is the nitrogen in the soil that the inoculant helps deliver to the beans - or maybe the beans inoculate the soil? who knows. Glad it worked for you. I will probably try some for peas this winter - but my beans went in yesterday

[gardengirl72]

Well beans are fix nitrogen into the soil. That is why the native americans plant beans and corn together. The corn takes the nitrogen and the beans put it back into the soil. If you plant squash underneath that you have a perfect symbiosis with the squash leaves acting as a mulch.

[AbbeyLehman]

Well beans are fix nitrogen into the soil. That is why the native americans plant beans and corn together. The corn takes the nitrogen and the beans put it back into the soil. If you plant squash underneath that you have a perfect symbiosis with the squash leaves acting as a mulch.

Do you plant them this way in your beds? I thought about trying it, but everything I've seen on it shows it taking up a lot of space, which is at a serious premium around here.

[Cynthia]

Just a tidbit - squash, corn, and beans are known as the "three sisters" and I am wondering if it has to do with this companion planting - or maybe it is just because they taste good together :)

[Sinfonian]

The three sisters is a companion thing. Patti brought up the bean nitrogen symbiosis and though I believe squash does something more than provide mulch I don't know. See my family doesn't like squash so I haven't researched it.

So what I'm not clear on is what is an inoculant? First I thought fertilizer but then maybe beneficial netothingies hehe. My beans have given me two freezer preservation harvests this year and I don't expect more in this rainy season. My peas did ok in spring but were slow due to a late winter so they died before a big push due to the summer heat. Go figure. I'm hopeful for my winter peas since heat won't kill them.

Thanks.

[PJJ]

"So what I'm not clear on is what is an inoculant?"

I have that same question. What is it?

Thanks,

Penny

[Sinfonian]

I should have done this rather than posting. I just looked it up online. Here's what I found...

"Are additives containing bacteria selected to grow quickly and dominate the bacterial population in the silage. Traditional inoculants contain homofermentative LAB, e.g. Lactobacillus plantarum, Pediococcus spp., to increase lactic acid production and so increase the rate of pH drop and decrease the production of acetic and butyric acids. Newer inoculants have been developed containing bacteria proven as aerobic stability enhancers, e.g. Lactobacillus buchneri, either on their own or in combination with the traditional inoculant organisms. "

Sounds nothing close to organic to me, "newer ones have been developed" no thanks, I'll stick to compost and organic fertilizer. Maybe a nitrogen boost toward the end.

[gardengirl72]

That may not be all bad. Beneficial bacteria is a good thing. So I don't want to completely knock it yet. It just has scary names.

[AbbeyLehman]

At the risk of sounding highly un-technical, the inoculants add GOOD thingamajigs to the soil in the spot where you want peas & beans to grow if you haven't planted these things in that spot before.

If you HAVE planted those things in that spot before, it is said that you don't NEED to inoculate again since the thingamajigs are already there, although I have heard people who do it every year anyway, just to be sure.

Inoculating is supposed to increase your yield--I hadn't heard that it really did anything else.

[Karen]

I realize this is an old post but I just happened upon it. Legumes do fix nitrogen in the soil; however, they require certain types of beneficial bacteria to do it. If you've never grown legumes in your soil, the bacteria won't be very plentiful; hence the need for an inoculant the first year. Unless you solarize your soil or something, though, they will still be present after that, though it never hurts to add them again. You put some in a bag with your pea seeds, shake it up and then plant them - the inoculant sticks to the seeds. I've done it before and it definitely made a difference in how well the peas grew and produced.

I think the "new development" just means they've grown out cultures of bacteria selectively to select for the best ones for the job.