Beans For Better Land

[JurgenG]

I have around 2 rais of land, the quality of the soil is very poor. My neighbor says I should first plant some beans then, when fully grown, mix them with the soil. It can really improve the quality of the soil. He says the government gives away the seeds for free to farmers, it's a government program to improve the quality of the land in Thailand.

Did anybody try this before ? Is it worth waiting one season before planting something more profitable ?

[keeniau96]

Sounds right. That's what farmers did in souther USA, using peanuts to fix nitrogen. Of course they had peanuts as cash crops but the soil was enriched.

[Pond Life]

Beans or peanuts are good.

Also Sun Hemp.

If you've got plenty of time just let the weeds grow & keep cutting them back when they are knee to thigh high.

Dont burn the waste or use weed killer.

Just let the stuff lay where it drops & rot into compost.

Make sure to cut it short in the dry season to reduce fire hazard.

2 to 3 years & your soil will be much improved.

[pnustedt]

I tried it a couple of years ago on 15 rai (I bought the seed). I can't really say that it was a success. We have increased the yield from the land but I reckon it was more about proper management of the land than this one feature of the process. I certainly wouldn't wait a season to grow the beans.

[oldestswinger]

Contact your local Land Development Office. They have free seeds for green manuring and will work out at what rate you should be sowing.

[JurgenG]

Beans or peanuts are good.

Also Sun Hemp.

If you've got plenty of time just let the weeds grow & keep cutting them back when they are knee to thigh high.

Dont burn the waste or use weed killer.

Just let the stuff lay where it drops & rot into compost.

Make sure to cut it short in the dry season to reduce fire hazard.

2 to 3 years & your soil will be much improved.

Instead of letting the stuff rot on the ground, my idea was to use the discs to mix the beans (or other suitable plants) with the soil.

Contact your local Land Development Office. They have free seeds for green manuring and will work out at what rate you should be sowing.

Actually there are a lot of government departments / royal projects that give away a lot of stuff for free.

[WatersEdge]

May I recommend two items for building soil quality.

And first say that Peanut already mentioned are wonderful.

For seed I buy raw peanut with skin on at the grocery store, and they grow just fine.

Not only do they fix Nitrogen, the forage is good animal feed,

allowing you to plant much more densely than the final nut crop would require,

taking 2/3 the plants out at around 50 days

If you allow a thick planting of peanut to run its course as green manure,

disking it under after the nuts are ripe, you will get a second crop sprouting from seed

Peanut tap root will reach deep into the soil to fertilizer leached below the root zone of short season crop

Napier Grass Pennisetum purpureum grows very fast from transplanted sprigs.

It grows sprigs cleanly divided as easily broken individuals, ideally suited for transplanting.

It multiplies 10X in one month of good water and fertilizer,

and yet can withstand long periods of dry

I produces heavy wide bladed grass which matures into a small cane

The root will continue down into the soil as several months pass, forming a vegetation mass below ground

It also reaches deep nutrients that short season crops have let escape.

From a small grocery sack of sprigs given me by TV member GoatFarmer,

my entire farm is steadily trimmed in it, pond edges, sprinkler lines, fence rows, terrace dikes.

Cut at 60 cm high it is good forage for goats / cattle

Not rich enough for good hog feed.

When you are ready to be rid of it for the real crop,

one application of Glyphosate (Roundup) will wipe it out.

Of course if you can plow and disc the field, a couple or three passes would kill it.

The second highly effective soil improvement,

which is very inexpensive, B3,000 per 15,000 kg ten wheel truck load => B0.20 / kg

which I've only recently realized and begun to use,

is the heavy application of limestone fines CaCO3 from the aggregate quarry stone crusher.

Tropical soils are almost always acidic,

which chemically locks up fertilizer nutrients, especially Phosphorous

Limestone is chemically neutral, acted on by wet soil contact with acid

CaCO3 + Soil Acid => CO2 + Calcium Salt according to soil acid compound

Only the dust portion of the limestone fines is practically useful,

as the larger chips comparatively have very little available surface area.

Simply spread the limestone dust heavily across the surface,

it is not possible to apply too much,

and then disc it into the depth of the soil.

In highly acidic soil, the visible effect on the plants is rapid,

with the steady increase of soil pH gradually continuing.

Limestone is also effective in neutralizing the acid in animal manure waste.

I spread it liberally under any manure I flush in water or manually spread

I also throw it heavily into my fish ponds,

since the acid soil / pond muck automatically means there is a calcium deficiency,

and fish need a balance of Calcium along with Phosphorous just as animals,

otherwise will have poor bone structure.

This isn't a problem with prepared bagged rations,

but feeding only rice bran as I do does cause a calcium deficiency in the presence of excessive Phosphorous

The final application of limestone fines is keeping a pile available for pigs to eat in the corner of the corral

They will eat it steadily as they sense their need for calcium

They can't eat too much, even if their instincts were wrong, as it is chemically neutral

The Mae Sot Quarry also has a nice admixture of Gypsum Anhydrite CaSO4 in the stone,

providing a nice additional fertilizer benefit of Sulfur.

In the presence of soil moisture, the Gypsum will slowly hydrate, to the fertilizer useful form

Beans and especially Sugar Cane both have a high uptake of Sulfur, and will not produce a strong yield without it.

Rice has only a small uptake, but also will not produce a strong yield if the soil is Sulfur depleted.

For a rapid soil pH increase not requiring discing,

you can apply Calcium Hydroxide Ca(OH)2 Phoon Khao (Cement White)

It is chemically active, and will dissolve in rainwater, leaching downward into the soil

This is good for a small concentrated area, but would be cost prohibitive for a large field.

The lowest price I know is in Chiang Mai, where pay B2.50 per kg, packaged in 10kg clear plastic bags.

Construction supply stores sell it in smaller bags, but also charge a higher price, up to B12.00 / kg

[JurgenG]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a long answer.

I appreciate the brainstorming, there is always something good getting out of it. And sometime even answers to question you haven't asked.

[Foreverford]

Beans or peanuts are good.

Also Sun Hemp.

If you've got plenty of time just let the weeds grow & keep cutting them back when they are knee to thigh high.

Dont burn the waste or use weed killer.

Just let the stuff lay where it drops & rot into compost.

Make sure to cut it short in the dry season to reduce fire hazard.

2 to 3 years & your soil will be much improved.

Instead of letting the stuff rot on the ground, my idea was to use the discs to mix the beans (or other suitable plants) with the soil.

Contact your local Land Development Office. They have free seeds for green manuring and will work out at what rate you should be sowing.

Actually there are a lot of government departments / royal projects that give away a lot of stuff for free.

I'm in my second season of using Pah teung (sun hemp) as a green manure and this year was the best for one particular reason. When the rice crop was finished we went in with weed wackers and cut the stubble and broadcast the seeds in the rice mud and and cut straw. Application rates can be lower than 10 kilos per rai but more will facilitate more dense growth and occlude weeds from growing, a huge advantage. Remember to be sure you have some form of animal manure in your land (either by applying specifically or having cattle and kwai or chickens grazing) to introduce the micro-biotic life that is necessary for the legumes to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, get it in once and you won't need to worry about it again. Our first planting was minimal on part of one 18 rai plot due to the lack of seeds (we now have a large stockpile). The family was planting as I was tractoring and when i asked them their application rate they couldn't say. I then had them stake off one rai perfectly square and we planted it scientifically (calculated amounts - 15 kilo per rai half in one direction over the entire plot and half the seed in the other direction). As expected that square plot shined with lush good growth as the other areas were a bit spotty with some voids. we finally got a few tons of seed and I chose to disc the entire 18 rai, though it was a bit early (no flowering). We then replanted the entire plot (half scientifically and the other haphazardly). The scientific was perfect and lush, the other not so. But... the "not so" had my original square plot and to the locals and family's amazement, the pah teung in the old square plot was growing much faster and was much more green and lush. there was no comparison throughout the entire plot, the square area that had the first planting produced much bigger and healthier plants than anywhere else on the plot. It all was disced in when it flowered and eventually we planted rice on it this year. The story is the same the square plot shows much vibrant healthier and bigger plants, a very true success story. Also note that we didn't burn any straw and it was incorporated into the soil to add tons of organic matter. the soil was a white clay that had been chem'd for a while before and all the plots around it have that white hard clay structure, this plot has started turning a lovely brown color and the tilth is improving nicely.

Of note: SESBANIA ROSTRATA known as Sanoh Africa or snow africa has been mentioned as a good green manure. It can be, but it is very long germinating like weeks or months and if introduced to a rice setting it can thrive if allowed to seed. There is a green manure section in the "Organic" section of "Farming" at the top section of "Pinned" subjects it is extremely helpful and thorough. choke dee and forever with a Ford

[rice555]

Hello All, has anyone used this as a cover crop in LOS, I was trying to get a bush longbean seed?

I've got the B-L-B seed here before at the Korat Ag Show past, just thought this one was a new verity they were giving me, after reading some on the web, it's not what I was after.

Any grown it?

rice555