September Pulse Check

Back in March Cambridgeshire grower, Guy Wakeham, told us he was testing two cultivation approaches to establishing his spring beans. In June’s issue , James Loder-Symonds explained he was exploring the effects of grazing and topping the cover crops that were sown ahead of his spring beans. With harvests under their belts, this month’s Pulse Check finds out how they, and the other growers we’ve featured, have got on.

James Loder-Symonds, Kent

“The spring beans yielded just over 4t/ha. We were quite pleased considering how dry it has been and how stressed the crops were. Bruchid beetle damage was about 6%, which is lower than normal for us. While they were smaller than we would usually expect, the sample was consistent.

“Tissue analysis - done as part of the Pulse YEN - enabled us to identify and apply the required trace elements. Within 48 hours the impact was visible and I’m sure this helped alleviate the drought stress.

“We ran a number of on-farm trials which had some interesting results. Where the cover crop was grazed by sheep rather than topped, there was a 20% uplift in yield, which has to be the result of the manure going back onto the soil.

“We also experimented with cultivations with some crops being direct drilled and others having an additional pass. That extra cultivation led to a higher weed burden, which was clear to see in the stubbles.

“Our winter beans also performed really well, yielding around 6t/ha. For us that is really good and showed how beneficial the cover crop was. Again, quality was pretty good and we had a consistent sample. Where we had a thicker crop, the pod set was only on the top half of the plant. Yield pay-off was higher when plant counts were down towards the mid-20s (per m²). In short, the higher the seed rate, the lower the yield.

“Looking ahead, beans will very much be a part of the rotation, not only because they are a profitable break crop, but for the nitrogen they fix.

“We allowed last year’s winter beans to become a volunteer companion crop in some this year’s wheat and there was definitely a yield response. We sprayed those off in April, as soon as they started to compete with the crop. This is another technique we will be using again.”

Guy Wakeham, Cambridgeshire

“Like everything else, our spring beans suffered with the heat and dry weather, but yielded on average around 4.7t/ha which isn’t a bad result.

“We’ve not done all the analysis on our on-farm trial but initial results suggest that the ploughed land yielded slightly more at 4.9t/ha than those cultivated with the McConnel Discaerator and sown with cover crops. They came in at 4.6t/ha. However, I suspect the margins will have been lower on the crops which were on the ploughed land.

“There was some Bruchid beetle damage but being grown on a seed contract, I’m not too worried about it.

“Next year we’ll be looking to grow a similar acreage. I was going to try and plant a cover crop ahead of that crop but I haven’t been able to drill that yet as I’m currently waiting for moisture.”

Chris Eglinton, Norfolk

“Sadly, the peas turned out to be a disaster. At 3t/ha they were the worst crop we have ever had. At least I didn’t have to dry them though.

“It was simply a result of the lack of moisture. Other than a shower or two when they were sown, they didn’t have any rain at all and it’s amazing that they yielded anything.

“On the other hand, the winter barley was much better than we expected. On heavy land we got our best yield ever at 11t/ha. Other fields of barley that are on lighter land didn’t fare so well and some struggled to hit 8t/ha.

“The oilseed rape was also good and yielded over 5t/ha. The wheat was mixed in terms of yield but all had good proteins, which is unusual this year.

“We have sown this year’s oilseed rape crop. We’re hoping we will get rain shortly and the rain will keep coming. If it doesn’t, it will become a cover crop and go into peas next spring.”

John Charles-Jones, Nottingham

“Harvesting the spring beans wasn’t quite the salvage job I had feared, but at an average yield of 2.23t/ha it wasn’t good! Basically, the crop didn’t get the moisture that it needed at any point during the growing season. In the calendar year until the end of August, we have only had 53% of our 18-year average rainfall, and most of that came before the spring beans were drilled.

“Most of the crop was awful and I’m surprised that parts yielded as high as they did. Some areas reached 4t/ha whilst others were less than 1t/ha.

“With hindsight, I could have planted the seeds deeper. We had been waiting for the ground to dry out before drilling and being later than I would have preferred, I took the decision to reduce drilling depth slightly. As it turned out, I don’t think that helped.

“Our 5-year average spring bean yield is 5.6t/ha and, given their contribution to the rotation and to the bottom line, I’m still keen to grow them again next year. I may try and drill them this autumn if the weather allows; I have done it once before and it worked quite well.”