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Legume Inoculant
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Posted by zeedman 5_Great_Lakes (My Page) on Fri, Sep 8, 06 at 2:16
| A question that has often arisen in both the Bean and Vegetable Forums has been: "Does the use of bacterial inoculant on beans, peas, and other legumes provide noticeable improvement?"
To this end, has anyone performed a side-by-side comparison? Or know of a study that was done on garden legumes (beans, peas, limas, cowpeas, peanuts, etc.) independent of the inoculant manufacturers?
I have always used the proper inoculant on all my legumes each year... and that is the problem; the bacteria are already present in my soil from previous applications. Any trial by me would only demonstrate the relative advantage of annual application of inoculant, vice plants grown with the residual population alone.
To perform a proper experiment on the relative advantages of inoculant application during planting, both the treated & control would need to be grown on new ground (or where legumes have not been grown previously).
Anyone interested? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| I think the experience among growers down here is that the inoculants work much better in organic gardens and still better in no-till organic gardens. |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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I have a new area that I have turned over recently. It was part of my lawn, nothing but grass has ever been there. I have on hand 1/4lb. Bluelake Bush and 1/4 pound Strike(r) Bush.
I have put compost,alfalfa slush,and dry molasses over the area.
I want to see for myself if I wasted my money on the innoculant...If I did zeedman..will you send me some diff. seeds? hahaha probably not allowed to bet here huh?lol
David |
RE: Some quite serious discussions...
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| ...can be found at the link below. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Physiology Online Chapter 12
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| This forum has been really slow over the winter, so I just got around to checking Albert's link. I found no "serious discussions", just a brief summary of a chapter of a course. Nothing that either supports or refutes the effectiveness of inoculants for leguminous crops. Now that planting time is approaching for most of the U.S., I am hoping that more GW members will take a greater interest in this experiment. |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| I may be able to take part in this experiment. I'm planning on planting 3 15' rows of blackeye peas and the same amount of blue lake bush beans. It would be quite easy for me to inoculate only 1 or 2 out of the 3 rows. Blackeye peas grew well in this area last year without fertilization or inoculation, but I did not check for root nodules. Hopefully I can at least give some anecdotal evidence as to the effectiveness of inoculating--might even go so far as to weigh the harvest if there is an obvious difference in yield. My concern right now is finding the proper inoculant for blackeye peas (cowpeas). Most garden centers carry only the "garden combo" inoculant, and it may not be listed for cowpeas. Jason |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| zeedman, It looks like this post got lost and no one really attempted this experiment. I would like to give it a try next season. I plan on growing Pole beans next year for the first time in ground that has never been under vegetable cultivation(my backyard yard). I will make a note for my next year planting to try out this experiment. I assume I can get "Legume Inoculant" at my local garden supply centers? Any application advice? thanks, Dean |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| Wondering if anyone ever tried this experiment? pm2 |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| I bought inoculant. However, since I've neglected housecleaning in favor of balcony gardening, I can't find the inoculant now. I then figured that I'd wait until spring to plant my sugar snap peas. I asked the master gardeners at the farmers market, and they said that most commercial seeds come pre-inoculated. Said something about there is a visible pick or white dusty coating. |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| If inoculated seed has ever been planted in the ground and legumes (preferably the same species, such as beans) are grown every few years, the soil will maintain a reservoir of inoculant and additional treatments won't make much if any difference. The way to tell if you need to add inoculant is to pull a plant in mid summer and see if the roots have pinkish nodules on them. If they do, you are fine. If they don't, then adding inoculant will help. Still, it never hurts to experiment. Just remember, the inoculant is a living bacteria, so store it in a cool place, and it is best to use any inoculant purchased in the year you get it. |
make your own Legume Inoculant
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| Has anyone tried making their own inoculant by low temp drying of nodules and soil surrounding them to avoid having to buy inoculant every year |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| I will be testing this year. Several years ago I started a new garden. Beans have only done so/so each year. This year I am trying the inoculant. |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| Hello, I saw this post and thought I would offer my results at the end of the season. It was quite interesting...luckily I had ordered a pack of inoculant online, but wanted to pick up another due to the qty of legumes I'll be planting. Have you ever been looked at as though you were from outer space? Exactly my experience when I asked the gentleman from Home Depot, where their seed inoculant was. "Our what?" he exclaimed, "What's it for?" So I proceeded to explain. He looked at me like I was nuts and said, "It sounds like a real sophisticated product and you'll probably have to go to a real nursery to get it." I was a bit surprised...but hey, what do you want from HD? Anyway, I am currently having to plant in containers, so I figured I'd test out half of the legumes (both peas and beans and about 40 varieties) and see the difference in growth and production. Obviously, there is no residual inoculant from previous years, in the buckets. All new soil etc. So, when I get to harvest time, or if I notice any difference between the plants during the growing season, I'll post my results. It will be fun to see which do better or if there will be a difference. Toni |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| I'm wondering if you did the experiment? Love to know the results! |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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I am with a company called Agri Culture Labs and we have perfected a product which we have called Micro Blast�. By improving soil and plant health, Micro Blast� assists in germination, flowering, fruiting and ripening in plants thus increasing yields and quality of produce. Micro Blast� also enhances the efficacy of organic matter as fertilizers and assists the photosynthetic capacity of plants allowing them to use more of the light spectrum.
Other benefits include the suppression of soil borne pathogens and pests. Please feel free to contact me for more information. We have many testimonials to prove the effectiveness of our product. |
RE: Legume Inoculant
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| Called the extension offices around here and got the area's horticulture specialist. He said that it is a good idea for newly dug gardens, and will definitely improve the yields if the nitrogen-fixing bacteria are not present already. If you have planted beans, peas, clover, alfalfa, buckwheat or legumes at any point in the past, within about 10-20 feet, or more if you've tilled, it should already be there, and won't be necessary. |
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