Subject: RE: Growing fava beans over the winter

From: Greg Bowman <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 23:26:35 -0400

On Thu, 26 Aug 1999, Kim Stoner wrote:
I am interested in growing fava beans over the winter in Connecticut =
(USDA zone 6).  I am growing them as a cover crop, but what I am =
particularly interested in is growing a good crop of bean aphids and =
lady beetles to use in my experiments next year. /snip/

Kim:
Agway sells Fava Bean - Broad Windsor (320 seeds per pound!) I'll be
planting soon done here in my part of Zone 6 from my five pound bag of
'96 seed.

I've grown them twice in the past three years and they survived winters
of both light and heavy snow, with temps down to zero. They were planted
in micro-plots of organic soil (compost-amended red clay-shale) in slow
transition to Bio-Intensive--4x10 feet.

Yes-I've had the aphids both years, but they don't seem to prevent good
production or diminish the pod quality. I wasn't observant enough to
check for lady beetles. Sorry.

For biological efficiency, I know I should terminate the crop at
blossoming (the cover crop book tells me so!), but I really enjoy the
encouragement of early blooms and then amazing my friends with the size
of the fava bean. 
Greg
-- 
Greg Bowman - Indian Creek Community Farm - Harleysville PA
<[email-masked]>
Communicating for whole farms...for whole communities...for the whole
world.

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