Pea inocculant

[creister]

I am ready to plant a vetch cover crop. No one in town has inocculant in stock. My question is will I still get nitrogen fixation if I don't use any?

[RayR]

What crop was planted before? Pea and Vetch associate with the same species of nitrogen fixing bacteria. If the roots were left in the ground then some bacteria will still be there.
You can also use soil as an inoculant that had pea or vetch planted in it previously that had good root nodule formation. Probably the best you can do if you can't find fresh inoculant.

[creister]

Ray,

I planted inoculated vetch there two years ago. I may just plant and let it go. I still have time to get it in. I was also wondering if I plant and then mix inocculant in water and pour on soil if that would be of any benefit.

[RayR]

Originally Posted by creister

Ray,

I planted inoculated vetch there two years ago. I may just plant and let it go. I still have time to get it in. I was also wondering if I plant and then mix inocculant in water and pour on soil if that would be of any benefit.

I've read that symbiotic nitrogen fixing Rhizobia bacteria are most numerous in environments that have wild legumes present year after year. The situation with cultivated crop legumes is a different story so the purpose of commercial inoculants is to ensure and improve nodulation. Like Mycorrhizae, the Rhizobia need to be in close contact to the root, maybe injecting the inoculant into the root zone with a kitchen marinade injector may give better results than watering in from the top.

I don't know how long they can survive without a suitable host plant, but I have planted uninoculated pea seed in a container where pea seed were inoculated the previous year and got good nodulation. Of course I left the dead roots in the ground from the previous year. Each one of those nodules contains millions of rhizobium bacteria. Can some still lay dormant and survive past one year without a compatible host plant to infect, I don't know.

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by RayR

Can some still lay dormant and survive past one year without a compatible host plant to infect, I don't know.

The dormant spores can actually live many many years..even decades or more. But the issue is the other microbiology in the soil using the spores as a food source while they are dormant. So results do vary according to the degree of bioactivity of the soil, moisture, temp etc.... In most common conditions a 3 year rotation will keep enough of the spores with a host to ensure that inoculation only need be done once.

[KarenO]

Commercially available packaged inoculant is a pretty recent invention. Legumes have been grown for a very, very long time without it. They'll fix nitrogen just fine with the natural bacteria already in the soil.
KO

[drew51]

Originally Posted by KarenO

Commercially available packaged inoculant is a pretty recent invention. Legumes have been grown for a very, very long time without it. They'll fix nitrogen just fine with the natural bacteria already in the soil.
KO

I agree, I removed sod that was there for 40 years, put peas in, no innoculant and they grew fine. No legumes were ever grown there, till now!

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by drew51

I agree, I removed sod that was there for 40 years, put peas in, no innoculant and they grew fine. No legumes were ever grown there, till now!

How was the root zone? Good colonization?

[drew51]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

How was the root zone? Good colonization?

Well I just did this and have yet to harvest the fall crop. I will check it out when the time comes. I bought inoculant, but never used it. I would suggest one use it, I was worried about time, it's getting cold here, and the fall crop needed to go in, so I didn't wait for inoculant to arrive. I will put peas in a different place next year and use inoculant there.
The spot is really meant for blackberry canes. But the canes are young so I put a bean pole there for this fall. As the young blackberries have not filled it up yet. They need about 12 feet per plant, so lot's of room I didn't want to waste, Next year that spot will be jammed with blackberry canes.
I love my berries!! I harvest around 80 raspberries a day. Next year I should have about 30 blackberries a day. I was out of town Saturday so today's harvest was around 200 raspberries. Amazing!

[MissS]

Many years ago before the internet, I had my first garden and tried to grow peas and beans without much success. I read in some book about inocculant and it said that once used in the garden that it would be present even without host crops for 5 years. Given that, I would say that you are fine to plant and expect good results.

[creister]

Drew51,

When I was a kid we lived in Grand Rapids and we had a raspberry patch in the back yard. My mom made a lot of tasty jam from those berries. GrAndparents lived off of gratiot in the Sterling commons condos years ago.

[drew51]

Originally Posted by creister

Drew51,

When I was a kid we lived in Grand Rapids and we had a raspberry patch in the back yard. My mom made a lot of tasty jam from those berries. GrAndparents lived off of Gratiot in the Sterling commons condos years ago.

Small world, I passed Gratiot today on the way home. I live 8 miles from 8 mile in Sterling Heights. Near Schoenherr.
Yeah I have about 21 plants, many varieties, yellow, red, purple, pink, and black.

[creister]

Those look real good. I remember schoenherr. I think my grandpa lived on a farm off that road when he was a kid. Too bad you can't pm those berries.

[creister]

Amazing the lions beat Aaron Rogers today. Hope Tigs can hold on for the playoffs.

[drew51]

Originally Posted by creister

Amazing the lions beat Aaron Rogers today. Hope Tigs can hold on for the playoffs.

Yes, I missed the football game coming home. listened to some on the radio.
Highlights are on right now, gonna go watch them!
Go Tigers!