Dry Edible Beans: Tillage

Excerpt from Agronomy Guide for Field Crops (Chapter 7)

Order OMAFRA Publication 811: Agronomy Guide for Field Crops

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Tillage Options
   • Crop Rotation Considerations
   • Crop Rotation and White Bean Yields - Table 7-1
3. Updates on Dry Edible Beans: Tillage
4. Related Links

Introduction

Dry beans belong to a class of legumes that are grown almost entirely for food. There are a number of classes of dry beans, including navy (white), kidney, cranberry, large white, black, pinto, pink, small red and yellow eye. Adzuki and mung beans are only distantly related. Dry beans require special cultural management practices for optimum quality and profitability.

Ontario has been one of the main white bean producing areas in North America; however, acreage in both Ontario and Michigan has been declining over the past decade. Over 80% of Ontarioís white bean production is exported.

Larger, seeded coloured beans are grown where the weather is suitable for achieving the size and quality demands of the market. Acreage of the coloured bean types in Ontario and Michigan has been increasing.

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Tillage Options

Research and on-farm demonstration trials have shown that edible beans can be successfully grown under either a conventional or a no-till system. However, production concerns and buyer contracts often require conventional tillage practices.

White beans respond to some form of tillage in the seed zone at planting. This is largely due to their inherently small and poorly developed root system. In a no-till system, tillage coulters on the planting unit will provide the necessary seed zone tillage. Beans are slightly shorter when grown under no-till and thus are more suitable for narrow row production. If edible beans are to be direct harvested, packing the field following planting levels the field and presses down small stones. Packing is also essential for no-till beans planted into corn stalks. This will prevent the combine from catching corn stalks and contaminating the beans with dirt.

Land planted to edible beans is susceptible to soil erosion. The crop canopy and crop residue protect the soil for a relatively short period of time. For beans in wide rows, a crop canopy may only fully cover the soil during August. Dry edible beans are also more vulnerable to soil crusting prior to emergence than soybeans. Secondary tillage should be limited to the minimum amount required to prepare a seedbed.

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Crop Rotation Considerations

A good crop rotation is the most important factor for high edible bean yields. Results from a white bean study at the Huron Research Station, Ridgetown College, University of Guelph, revealed that a good rotation produced yields 225% higher than the worst case rotation (see Table 7-1. Crop Rotation and White Bean Yields).

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¹Study conducted over 9 years following 25 years of sod.

Yield improvements were attributed to reduced disease problems and improved soil structure compared to continuous beans. A rotation where beans are grown only once in 3 years is essential to avoiding the build-up of diseases. The most common diseases encouraged by short rotations or continuous beans are Fusarium root rot and white mould. Soybeans, canola or sunflowers are not optimal rotational crops since they are susceptible to white mould (Sclerotinia) and may increase the risk of white mould in succeeding bean crops. Highest yields are often produced when beans follow sod.

Edible beans are very sensitive to certain herbicides. To reduce carry-over injury from previous crops, select herbicides carefully the year prior to bean production. Select fields with low weed pressure, as beans are not competitive with weeds. The number of herbicides available for weed control in beans is limited. Weeds present at harvest may also create quality problems with staining of beans.

Beans are very sensitive to boron and should not be grown the year after rutabagas that received boron.

For more information on appropriate crop rotations for edible beans and precautions under different tillage systems, refer to the section Crop Rotation.

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Updates on Dry Edible Beans: Tillage

No updates available at this time.

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Related Links

• Dry Edible Beans

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