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Re: Plant Beans in Wheat?





lloyd kinder wrote:

> This is our first year at organic farming and our beans have an awful
> lot of weeds. We noticed that the weeds get off to a slow start in the
> wheat fields, so I thought I'd try planting beans in the wheat next
> spring. I want to drill some and plant some in rows. The latter I can
> cultivate after wheat harvest. The drilled beans we can't cultivate, but
> I'm hoping they'll be too far ahead of the weeds for the weeds to be
> much trouble. I figure beans should do okay in the wheat, because clover
> does and both are legumes, so they may behave similarly in wheat. Clover
> grows slowly under wheat, but it's okay with me if the beans grow slowly
> too till wheat harvest, because there's plenty of time yet for them to
> grow fast and mature. Drought becomes more of a problem after wheat
> harvest, but I figure diluted hydrogen peroxide sprayings should take
> care of that. So I'm wondering if anyone else has experience with such a
> wild idea. Even if someone says it won't work, I'll probly try it
> anyway. Anyone else want to try it? I'm also thinking of a similar
> method with corn, but I think it'll need more room between the wheat.
> We'll see. By the way, someone didn't like the way I answered Jay
> before. I wasn't being hostile. Some people take the slightest molehill
> for a mountain, or innocence for violence. What a drag. Nonetheless,
> Aloha. Lloyd
>
> ______________________________________________________
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Lloyd

You have a fascinating idea, When I first read it I thought it wouldn't
work, but upon thinking more, it very well could. It is worth an experiment.
We are in Ontario Canada and take our winter wheat off July 21-28. I'm not
sure it would be able to work here but then there were some farmers here
that got their wheat off early because of  a good growing season and then
planted soybeans.

I think your weed problem this year is probably more due to the fact that
you've just started farming organically. The soil is probably out of
balance, perhaps too much readily available fertility. Mother Nature has her
ways of healing the soil and getting it back into balance. She will grow
certain plants(weeds) that magically appear to correct the imbalances in the
soil. Go into a wood lot and see if you can see any weeds. Everything grows
according to what Mother Nature wants. Sounds corny but true.
When we farm organically we are in fact trying to trick Mother Nature. She
craves diversity. We do this by having the proper
rotation, by growing many plant species through the rotation. If, after
several years, she has seen many crops and cover crops grown, her need to
introduce diversity is diminished. Then you have less weeds.What a concept!
But it works.
Whether your idea works or not, you're thinking  I call conventional farmers
"bag openers". Don't need to think, just talk to the neighbours at the
coffee shop to find out what they are doing, then buy and open the bag. As
Henry David Thoreau said (and I'm paraphrasing) "It is truly better to know
100 acres intimately than to travel all over the world visiting places and
learning a little bit about each place but not a lot about any one place"
Perhaps our current factory mentality towards conventional farming creates a
modern version of these travellers Thoreau talked about.

Keep thinking

Gary Elliott
Parkhill, Ontario



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