Winter beans can be drilled into the spring
Winter beans can be sown right through the winter and into the spring, advises leading pulse specialist, Wherry & Sons.
The company is responding to queries from growers about latest safe drilling dates, as difficult seed-bed conditions and continued wet weather play havoc with fieldwork plans.
“To date, winter bean drillings are around 20% behind where they usually are for this time of year,” reports the company’s Peter Smith. “We’re being asked almost daily about cut-off dates and whether growers should consider switching to a spring variety.”
His message is that there is still time for winter beans. “It’s not unheard of to drill winter beans in January and we did some trial work in 2010 at PGRO looking at March sowing dates, which gave encouraging results and yields of around 3t/ha.”
“It’s not unheard of to drill winter beans in January and we did some trial work in 2010 at PGRO looking at March sowing dates, which gave encouraging results and yields of around 3t/ha.”
Peter Smith, Wherry & Sons
Apart from later maturity dates, the winter beans fared well in the trial when compared to spring type, Fuego, he reveals. “All three winter types – Arthur, Sultan and Wizard – fared equally well in what was a reasonably normal year for weather.”
Conditions at drilling are more important than date, he notes. “There’s every opportunity for winter beans to do well from later drilling dates, providing they get off to a good start.”
But growers should be aware that their vernalisation requirement helps to trigger tillering, he explains. “So for that reason it makes sense to increase seed rates and go up to 35 seeds/sq m if drilling doesn’t take place until March.”