Pea & Bean Booster
 

Have got a couple of packets to try. Its organic, a live culture of harmless bacteria. You coat the seeds with this powder prior to planting. What it claims to do, is fix the nitrogen in the plant to produce better and bigger pods. Has anyone used this before and with what results?

Up in the far north, we need all the help we can get!

Pea & Bean Booster
 

geowicz wrote:
Have got a couple of packets to try. Its organic, a live culture of
harmless bacteria. You coat the seeds with this powder prior to
planting. What it claims to do, is fix the nitrogen in the plant to
produce better and bigger pods. Has anyone used this before and with
what results?

Up in the far north, we need all the help we can get!

It sounds like it is rhizobia which is the nitrogen fixing bacteria that
grows on the root nodules of legumes. If that is the case it is fairly
common practice to inoculate legumes in this way and it does improve the
nitrogen fixing capacity of the plant and hence its growth.

David

Pea & Bean Booster
 

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

geowicz wrote:
Have got a couple of packets to try. Its organic, a live culture of
harmless bacteria. You coat the seeds with this powder prior to
planting. What it claims to do, is fix the nitrogen in the plant to
produce better and bigger pods. Has anyone used this before and with
what results?

Up in the far north, we need all the help we can get!

It sounds like it is rhizobia which is the nitrogen fixing bacteria that
grows on the root nodules of legumes. If that is the case it is fairly
common practice to inoculate legumes in this way and it does improve the
nitrogen fixing capacity of the plant and hence its growth.

David

Doesn¹t the inoculation also enrich the soil as well. I'm not sure.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/peas1.html

--
Bill Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA
http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending
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http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_feynman.html VERY NEAT

Pea & Bean Booster
 

Bill who putters wrote:
In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

geowicz wrote:
Have got a couple of packets to try. Its organic, a live culture of
harmless bacteria. You coat the seeds with this powder prior to
planting. What it claims to do, is fix the nitrogen in the plant to
produce better and bigger pods. Has anyone used this before and with
what results?

Up in the far north, we need all the help we can get!

It sounds like it is rhizobia which is the nitrogen fixing bacteria
that grows on the root nodules of legumes. If that is the case it
is fairly common practice to inoculate legumes in this way and it
does improve the nitrogen fixing capacity of the plant and hence its
growth.

David

Doesn¹t the inoculation also enrich the soil as well. I'm not sure.


No, it is applied in only small amounts and provides the bacteria for the
root nodules not a direct nutrient, if you haven't grown lugumes in that
spot it might be absent from the soil. The growing symbiotic bacteria then
does the nitrogen fixing which enriches the soil.

David

Pea & Bean Booster
 

In article ,
Bill who putters wrote:

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

geowicz wrote:
Have got a couple of packets to try. Its organic, a live culture of
harmless bacteria. You coat the seeds with this powder prior to
planting. What it claims to do, is fix the nitrogen in the plant to
produce better and bigger pods. Has anyone used this before and with
what results?

Up in the far north, we need all the help we can get!

It sounds like it is rhizobia which is the nitrogen fixing bacteria that
grows on the root nodules of legumes. If that is the case it is fairly
common practice to inoculate legumes in this way and it does improve the
nitrogen fixing capacity of the plant and hence its growth.

David

Doesn¹t the inoculation also enrich the soil as well. I'm not sure.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/peas1.html

You mean beyond allowing the pulse to fix nitrogen? They are in the
nodules making NH4, which in turn could support a microbial ecosystem,
which in turn supports . . ., and so on and so forth.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

Pea & Bean Booster
 

On Mar 22, 11:20*am, geowicz
wrote:
Have got a couple of packets to try. Its organic, a live culture of
harmless bacteria. You coat the seeds with this powder prior to
planting. What it claims to do, is fix the nitrogen in the plant to
produce better and bigger pods. Has anyone used this before and with
what results?

Up in the far north, we need all the help we can get!

--
geowicz

I use this every year with my beans, peas, etc.
In tests, it increases yield by 30% over using untreated seeds.
One warning is that they are bacteria and are subject to dying. While
it takes only a small amount to treat your beans, I keep mine in the
fridge when not using and I replace it EVERY year.
Pinetree Gardens in New England sells it in small packages as does
Bountiful Gardens in Willits California.
Every commercial farmer who grows legumes knows to inoculate the seeds
for maximum yield. I only have very limited room and always throw a
bunch away but it is still worth it to me. My pole beans produce and
produce. Rattlesnake green beans (from Pinetree for warm climates
produced so many in six cat litter buckets filled with potting soil
that I was able to can 16 pints of green beans over what my wife and I
were able to eat.
Definitely worth the $3.50 or so I spent for the inoculant.
Just my experience.
Jim in So Calif

Pea & Bean Booster
 

In article
,
jimnginger wrote:

On Mar 22, 11:20*am, geowicz
wrote:
Have got a couple of packets to try. Its organic, a live culture of
harmless bacteria. You coat the seeds with this powder prior to
planting. What it claims to do, is fix the nitrogen in the plant to
produce better and bigger pods. Has anyone used this before and with
what results?

Up in the far north, we need all the help we can get!

--
geowicz

I use this every year with my beans, peas, etc.
In tests, it increases yield by 30% over using untreated seeds.
One warning is that they are bacteria and are subject to dying. While
it takes only a small amount to treat your beans, I keep mine in the
fridge when not using and I replace it EVERY year.
Pinetree Gardens in New England sells it in small packages as does
Bountiful Gardens in Willits California.
Every commercial farmer who grows legumes knows to inoculate the seeds
for maximum yield. I only have very limited room and always throw a
bunch away but it is still worth it to me. My pole beans produce and
produce. Rattlesnake green beans (from Pinetree for warm climates
produced so many in six cat litter buckets filled with potting soil
that I was able to can 16 pints of green beans over what my wife and I
were able to eat.
Definitely worth the $3.50 or so I spent for the inoculant.
Just my experience.
Jim in So Calif

You do know that once you grow legumes, the rhizobia is in the soil. You
don't have to re-inoculate each year.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

Pea & Bean Booster
 

On Mar 22, 10:20 am, geowicz
wrote:
Have got a couple of packets to try. Its organic, a live culture of
harmless bacteria. You coat the seeds with this powder prior to
planting. What it claims to do, is fix the nitrogen in the plant to
produce better and bigger pods. Has anyone used this before and with
what results?

Up in the far north, we need all the help we can get!

I've used it and it does seem to work. Soaking the seeds for a few
hours before planting seems to work, too. Try it both ways, seed is
cheap. -aem

Pea & Bean Booster
 

In article
,
aem wrote:

On Mar 22, 10:20 am, geowicz
wrote:
Have got a couple of packets to try. Its organic, a live culture of
harmless bacteria. You coat the seeds with this powder prior to
planting. What it claims to do, is fix the nitrogen in the plant to
produce better and bigger pods. Has anyone used this before and with
what results?

Up in the far north, we need all the help we can get!

I've used it and it does seem to work. Soaking the seeds for a few
hours before planting seems to work, too. Try it both ways, seed is
cheap. -aem

How would you know that the inoculation of rhizobia works? Rhizobia
exists naturally in the soil. An inoculation speeds things up the first
time, but once you have grown legumes, the population of rhizobia in the
soil is much higher. It seems like throwing good money away.
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html