Do you use legume inoculant?

[IA MC D2]

I will be planting some beans and peas very soon.

What is the forum's current thoughts on the application of legume (nitogen-fixing bateria) inoculant?

Do you use it? Always? Sometimes?

With all legumes, or just peas or favas or other?

Thanks,
Daryl

[VA Gardener]

I use it with all my legumes - beans, peas, favas, soybeans, peanuts etc. Different bacteria is used for different legumes - you have to check the label on your inoculant packet. You don't have to use it every year. The bacteria is supposed to live in the soil once you used it there.

I hope this helps

[Dick Shannon]

I use it with beans & peas. Also used it with Noodle beans and Cowpeas last summer. When I have pulled up bean vines at the end of the season there's always a bunch of little "nodules" along the roots -- so it must be working.

Another thing I think helps the bean and pea crops is lots of organic matter. Last year my peas got to 7 feet tall on a 5 foot fence -- oops! I had used my lawn mower on a pile of maple leaves and then mixed them in with the dirt where the peas grew. I saved seeds from that crop and tomorrow I'm going to plant this years crop.

Good luck with your garden this summer, I hope it's the best ever!

Dick Shannon

[elmtree3]

First time I used it was probably 5 years ago, on my peas. I couldn't beleive the difference in production! It made a big difference in my yield. So now I use it on all my Peas and Beans.

[WI_HO_C]

I've always used inoculant for most of the legumes I grow, and they always did well... but given the annual cost of the inoculants, I wanted to know just how much they really did. So I did an experiment with several species, with treated & untreated rows of equal length.

The idea was to make observations on their growth & general health, and to weigh the dry seed for comparison. There was little observable difference for beans, limas, mung beans, soybeans, and garbanzos. Only cowpeas showed a notable improvement, with visibly denser foliage, and more "peas" per pod than the untreated. More tellingly, I had withheld inoculant from my yardlong transplants (yardlongs are also cowpeas), and they were much weaker than in previous years, with poor pod set... while the treated cowpeas did very well.

Because I grow so many beans, I suspect that the symbiotic bacteria for beans, peas and soybeans are already established in my soil... which would explain the apparent lack of improvement. The bacteria for cowpeas, though, may not be hardy enough to survive my Wisconsin winters.

Based upon the results of my trial, I make a point of inoculating my cowpeas & yardlongs annually, and recommend it for those with similar climate. I still inoculate my beans & soybeans also, but I suspect it is an unnecessary expenditure. Our ancestors grew beans successfully for hundreds of years without it.

[Walk]

Originally posted by WI_HO_C:

Because I grow so many beans, I suspect that the symbiotic bacteria for beans, peas and soybeans are already established in my soil...
I still inoculate my beans & soybeans also, but I suspect it is an unnecessary expenditure. Our ancestors grew beans successfully for hundreds of years without it.

We used the inoculant during the first year or so we gardened but that was a few garden locations (and decades) ago. We didn't see any difference after stopping the practice. I think you're right that the bacteria may exist naturally in some soils, particularly if organic and biologically active. One thing to check is to dig up some clover, alfalfa, or other naturalized legume plants and check for root nodules. If they look healthy, you should be good to go.

[gixxerific]

I tend to use it when I have it. One year in my newer garden I used it and didn't in my older garden, which mean the newer garden didn't have as much manure, compost added to the nasty clay that is my yard. the newer garden planting did leaps and bounds over the other planting both planted at the same time.

No actual proof there are too many variables but why not is what I say.

[Raymondo]

I've always assumed that the right bacteria are hanging around because I've never used inoculant but have always found plenty of nodules on whatever legume I'm growing. This has been the case where ever I've garden. It may be just coincidence of course.

[spacecase0]

I have wild clover growing in the area,
so I assumed that the bacteria is there,
I have never added any and have never had any issues with production

[tyto]

I've been looking into this for several years. It's not that I mind spending the 4 bucks every year for inoculant. I would like to know if I'm growing those bacteria successfully just as I want to succeed in everything else I'm trying to grow.

I start my beans indoors (stifle your your gasps) and would appreciate advice as to whether it is better to inoculate my sprouts or to inoculate my transpants because I don't buy enough inoculant to do both.

Has anyone ever had their leftover inoculant tested for bacterial viability a year or so later?

Where's the thread for mycorhizal soil ammendments? Fungus... it's not just for dead trees.

[hementia]

This is the first time I have used it in a number of years and find production has doubled
I also use Sumagrow[mycorhizal] with the addition of molasses