Food Plots Mung Beans

[BSK]

Anyone planted them in a summer plot? I've been told they make a great companion plant for sorghum. Thinking about giving them a try next summer.

 

[Quailman]

Anyone planted them in a summer plot? I've been told they make a great companion plant for sorghum. Thinking about giving them a try next summer.

Don't know much about them? Any local vendors sell them? Now you've got me interested!

Are they climbing beans?

 

[megalomaniac]

Green cover puts them in their summer release blend Woods endorses.

Any legume is good to put in with sorgham/millet in summer plots. I'd go with the cheapest. Right now, it's hard to beat Hutchinson forage beans at $35 per 50lb bag. I suspect Mung beans will be in the $50 to $60 per bag range

 

[BSK]

Interesting Mega (as always). Thanks. I think they were recommended because they are an early maturing bean. I'll be planting mid-May and mowing the plots down mid-August, so I don't need a late maturing bean.

 

[MickThompson]

Interesting Mega (as always). Thanks. I think they were recommended because they are an early maturing bean. I'll be planting mid-May and mowing the plots down mid-August, so I don't need a late maturing bean.

Why do you need an early maturing bean then? That would only matter if you wanted them to make grain. I'd be hard pressed to overlook cowpeas for that role

 

[BSK]

Why do you need an early maturing bean then? That would only matter if you wanted them to make grain. I'd be hard pressed to overlook cowpeas for that role

I want a plant that puts on maximum growth early instead of one of the varieties that take a while to establish then put on most of their growth late. Those type plants don't fair well in my environment (deer eat them before they get to their maximum growth stage).

 

[megalomaniac]

Why do you need an early maturing bean then? That would only matter if you wanted them to make grain. I'd be hard pressed to overlook cowpeas for that role

Cowpeas/ black eyed peas are the bomb... but they are expensive and don't handle a lot of browse pressure in small plots. Last bag I bought was 3 years ago and I think I paid $80 for a 50lb sack.

 

[BSK]

Cowpeas/ black eyed peas are the bomb... but they are expensive and don't handle a lot of browse pressure in small plots. Last bag I bought was 3 years ago and I think I paid $80 for a 50lb sack.

My experiences with Cowpeas was that they get wiped out in short order. But that was back when I had far less acreage in food plots.

 

[Popcorn]

Any particular reason you wouldn't consider sun hemp. It's more suited to compete with sorghum, it's a legume and will contribute to your organic matter many times more than any bean

 

[MickThompson]

My experiences with Cowpeas was that they get wiped out in short order. But that was back when I had far less acreage in food plots.

It's been a while but my experience was just the opposite. They let it be early but absolutely decimated it in late summer.

 

[DoubleRidge]

My experiences with Cowpeas was that they get wiped out in short order. But that was back when I had far less acreage in food plots.

The one time we tried cowpeas was with a blend of soybean, peas and sunflower...two acre plot...it did great and was looking good...got just under knee high and then the deer found it....and in a few weeks they absolutely destroyed it....even stripped the leaves off the sunflowers....I've wondered before if you could blend cow peas and buckwheat to maybe distract or slow the deer down a little? Just wonder if the peas would grow well with buckwheat growing so fast?

 

[BSK]

Any particular reason you wouldn't consider sun hemp. It's more suited to compete with sorghum, it's a legume and will contribute to your organic matter many times more than any bean

My last experiment with Sunn Hemp was only partially successful. It grew like crazy, even in poor soil. But deer only nibbled on it. And the residue once mowed down will prevent tilling of those soils for 10 years! The plots are covered in 12-foot sections of steal cable.

If "green manure" is ALL you are trying to produce to improve poor-soil plots, I don't think there's a better plant than Sunn Hemp. But I would like something growing that deer will eat and benefit from.

 

[BigAl]

So how big of a plot of beans do you need to plant to keep them from getting mowed down by the deer. My plots are all around .25 acres, although I have room to plant more.

 

[BSK]

So how big of a plot of beans do you need to plant to keep them from getting mowed down by the deer. My plots are all around .25 acres, although I have room to plant more.

They will wipe that out in short order.

 

[chris1976]

So how big of a plot of beans do you need to plant to keep them from getting mowed down by the deer. My plots are all around .25 acres, although I have room to plant more.

Personally I wouldn't plant less than 3 acres of beans.

 

[Moonman]

This thread only makes me think of the office and Creeds mung beans.