Seeding Practices for Pulses
The Chouteau County Extension office has compiled notes per communications and workshops from Extension professionals. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 622-3751.
• Testing seed for Ascochyta blight will cost $200.00. It takes ten days to develop the fungus on a plate. In addition, the $200 will test for 8 other diseases. Please contact the Extension office for additional testing information or search for the Montana State Seed Lab.
• Use viable inoculant distributed uniformly with seed and promptly plant. Inoculation is expensive, but it’s the best insurance for maximizing pulse production. Most pulse growers prefer the granular inoculate over the liquid. Liquid has issues with sunlight, cold and age killing bacteria.
• Inoculant: Granular inoculants are normally applied from a different drill box, such as fertilizer box and not mixed with seed. Peat powder inoculants are mixed with seed. It is fine if farmers want to use peat powder inoculants, but don’t do seed treatment and inoculation at the same time. Treat the seed first and let it dry, and inoculate the seed just prior to seeding. Mixture of seed treatment with liquid inoculants is a very bad idea because the high concentration seed treatment will kill the bacteria in the inoculants (Chengci Chen, 2016).
• Seeding should occur as early as possible when temperatures in the top one inch of soil exceed 40°F (commonly from Late March to April). Pulse plants should be blooming before intense summer heat begins.
• Rolling pulses after seeding is essential for a successful harvest. It takes out the furrows where pulse crop seed can be missed by the combine. Rolling can take place up to the 5th node stage. Be sure to roll in the same direction as planting.
• Nitrogen fixation will take place from about four weeks after emergence through seed formation.
• Seeding depth is 1-3 inches with seed placement at least half an inch into moisture.
• Pea seeding rate of 8-10 plants/square foot is needed for successful production, which means seeding rates of 150-200 pounds per acre are common.
• You need to apply P fertilizer if the soil test is below 16 ppm (Fertilizer Guidelines).
Side band 25-30 pounds of P2O5 in whatever form. If you use 11-52-0, please apply 50 lbs product (Chengci Chen, 2016).
• A Nitrogen application is not necessary if the top soil initial N is above 20 lb/a. Higher N can inhibit germination (Chengci Chen, 2016).
• Can I seed pulses into a field coming out of CRP? One of the biggest problems coming out of CRP is weed control. There will be a lot of weed pressure from all sorts of things that you didn’t realize were there. The weed seed bank is pretty full after CRP. I would recommend a cereal grain. Producers might even be inclined to go with a Clearfield wheat just to increase my options for weed control (Kent McVay, 2016).
Montana State University U.S. Department of Agriculture and Montana Counties Cooperating. MSU Extension is an equal opportunity/affirmative action provider of educational outreach.
