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Traditionally grown on the more heavy soils where early spring seedbeds are difficult to obtain, they are often considered to be a low input and an ideal crop to offer different spray chemistry in difficult black grass situations. With the development of lower seed rates and a programmed approach to disease control, the hectarage grown over the last few years has remained constant. They are principally used for inclusion in animal feed. Winter Beans are generally harvested later than peas and their harvest often runs into late August/September.

Soil Type
Better on medium to heavy soils. Worth avoiding light/drought prone types. Soil structure needs to be good - avoid water logged areas, and areas that are suffering from compaction (see picture below).

Soil PH.
Anywhere between 6.5-7.5 will be suitable.

Rotation/Choice Of Field
Aim for a rotation of 4-5 years. Beware of other leguminous crops in the rotation (Peas, Clover, Soya Beans etc.) If stem nematode has been diagnosed, increase gap between bean crops to 10 years or better still avoid growing on that field altogether.

Seed Quality
Make it a routine to have seed tested for ascochoyta, stem nematode and germination percentage and . Do not plant seed that has stem nematode infection. Bought seed is sold as Basic (B), Certified seed/1st generation (C1) and certified 2ndgeneration (C2). C2 is used for commercial seed production; C1 and Basic are generally grown for further seed crops. If you can annually put down a small area for seed production, this may be worthwhile method of keeping seed costs to a minimum.

Sowing Methods.
Ploughing - This is one of the most popular methods. Seed is broadcast and the land shallow ploughed to a depth of 13-15 cm. Levelling of seedbed afterwards helps in weed control but is not essential. Care must be taken not to overwork seedbed and so prevent the seedbed slumping and losing structure during the winter period.
Drilling - Use a standard cereal drill, row widths from 17-35cms. Drill if possible to depth of 7.5-10cms, as this will allow the use of Simazine/Kerb based spray programmes. If this is not possible then a depth of 3cms will allow the use of other pre-emergence sprays. Check the required drilling depth for all weedkillers before applying.

Sowing Date.
Optimum time of sowing is the last 10 days October. Avoid sowing earlier as disease risk dramatically increases. Avoid drilling after end of November as ground conditions deteriorate. Aim to get crop established and visible on row by the latter half of December.

Seed rate.
Winter beans will tiller quite well, unlike their spring counterparts. The time and method of drilling need to be taken into consideration when determining appropriate seed rate. Percentage winterkill is always a hard factor to predict. In mild winters this is small but in severe winters it can be considerably higher. Assume an average field loss of 20%in good conditions to 25% in poor conditions (see table). We need to be aiming for about 40 flowering stems/sqm from a final target population of 18 plants /sqm.

SEED RATE/SOWING DATE INTERACTION

Seed rate can be worked out using the following formula:

Example.
Assuming Thousand Grain Weight = 540, target pop. = 18plants/sq.m, % germination = 95%, field loss = 15%.

Seed rate kg/ha = 125kg/ha (7.95stone/acre)

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