Using the CurseBuster when growing edible beans

[Admin]

Hi Jim,

70 acres corn stalks going into whites next year. Locally they tell me to plow it for whites. Get rid of stalks etc. Any experience with CB ground for edibles?

Carl Brubaker
Arthur, Ont.

[Admin]

Carl,

This question takes me back to 1990-1994 when I was growing several hundred acres of blacks and reds in central NY State. We used a lot of vertical tillage and left a lot of residue although not usually corn fodder.

The local advice is based on a lot of experience with clean till and probably using bean pullers to harvest the beans. are you pulling or direct harvesting with a soybean row crop or flexhead?

Harvest technology makes a difference in the decision you make. So does the planter you use. Using row cleaners to get a clean path for the planter openers can mean you lose the flat field for direct harvesting the beans unless you are very careful of the row cleaner you use. It better float.

Depending on some of these practical matters will to a significant degree determine whether you use CurseBuster and farm with a lot of residue or turn it all under with the plow. It’s certainly not the end of the world if you choose to plow. If you do then use the CurseBuster to prepare the seedbed. it will eliminate the horizontal compacting forces of the disk or sweep blades on the finishing tool you use after the plow. You will be amazed at what a single pass will look like in the spring. Likely to be enough to be planter ready.

Bear in mind that diseases are actually worse on clean tilled field surfaces. The splash of water combined with soil up onto the small plant is a serious source of pathogens. This should actually become less of a source of pathogens as you run the CurseBuster over time on all of your farm favoring the expansion of beneficial aerobic microbes. The pathogens don’t do well in the aerobic microbiome.

I personally I like farming with the soil surface mulched for some pretty obvious reasons especially with beans and other legumes because the rhizobium on the roots like cooler soil temps created by the mulch. It helps to control the rain drop compaction which is a serious impediment to good water infiltration and air exchange during the growing season.

I do NOT believe for one minute that pathogens on the corn fodder are a problem for healthy beans. If beans do get successfully attacked there are always phosphites that can be applied without hindering the normal immune system function of the plant. In fact I would try to set the plant up with a healthy immune system right at planting by using beneficial mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria such as bac. Subtilis with or on the seed combined with known nutritional support for these organisms such as fish hydrolysate and short chained fatty acids.

Hope this is helpful without getting confusing but if I have confused please ask me to clarify.

God Bless and always pray after you read my stuff.

Jim

[Admin]

How would the spring pass do for incorporation of chemical?

[Admin]

Can you apply behind the roller and in front of the harrows using saddle tanks or a tank on the CB?

If you could then that’s the way I would do it with a roller or rolling basket on your rear hitch on the CB. Using Eptam/Treflan ppi approach?

Be sure to reverse the harrows on each pass. Till in the same direction as the plow pass. It’s the most effective direction for max. leveling in a single pass.

Plant with light tractor to minimize foot print impression.

I estimate beans without rain will pop in three days. The same abundant capillary water that soaks beans so quickly will also make chemical very active.

God Bless.
Jim