Wheat to beans...

[Daver]

I have a relatively large, 5 to 6 acres, winter wheat field that was planted last August but is now back to growing actively again. Apart from the wheat the field is still relatively clear of weeds, at this point anyway. I want to plant RR beans there yet this spring.

Should I have the beans drilled in over the existing wheat and then spray with RR to kill off the wheat soon after planting OR should I just ignore the wheat for now and drill the beans in and then spray with RR later killing whatever weeds or wheat are present OR turn the wheat under with a disk first and then drill the beans OR some other idea?

 

[dowellgt]

If the winter wheat isn't so thick that it would interfere with the planting I would either spray and plant or plant and then spray asap. The common wisdom now is to keep roundup ready beans as weed free as possible asap since the weeds( wheat in this case) soon rewtrict growth and yield very quickly. I am not a big fan of tillage unless absolutely necessary.

 

[bjkpharmd]

How tall is the wheat? If you can get beans drilled now you'd be able to do it either way- spray now or later. If wheat isn't too thick- it will take some pressure off the young beans and you could wait for a few weeks. I saw a decent stand of beans that were broadcast and then the wheat/rye was brushogged over top them.

 

[Daver]

As of last Saturday, the wheat was about ankle high after being essentially "bare dirt" low this winter. Let's just say that this plot gets a lot of activity.

With all of the rain in souther Iowa this spring though I was kind of wondering if the wheat would take off and dominate the beans or not.

Another factor I failed to mention... this field at this time last year was still an overgrown CRP field, riddled with scrub cedars and oaks and so forth. It was brush hogged(mowed) about a year ago to re-establish compliance with CRP renewal and then disked later in the summer and then planted with winter wheat. It is still a little rough out there, having only been disked the one time. Maybe I should drag it to smooth it some, essentially burying the wheat a little here and there, and then plant the beans and then spray the wheat that is still up??

 

[JNRBRONC]

The guy at the CoOp said that “weeds” that are injured (by tillage, planting, etc.) are harder to kill with herbicide. If this is actually true, then you might want to apply roundup before drilling beans or waiting for the rye to start growing vigorously a week or two after drilling beans.

If you have heavy deer pressure, I think I would let the rye grow up after drilling, then burn it down with glyphosate. The rye that is standing might shelter the beans from the deer (they might be more reluctant to put their faces down into the dead rye to nibble the emerging soybeans).

Soybeans can tolerate early weed competition better than corn.

 

[dbltree]

Farmland QDM did something on that order but I don't recall the extact planting dates.

I think he had wheat and rye mixed and no-tilled the soybeans into them.

The deer left the beans alone due to the rye straw poking then in the eyes (at least that's kinda what it appeared)

If the wheat gets too tall it will be hard to kill...so either you have to kill it early...or leave it and spray for other weeds etc. later.

I kinda liked the way Rob's turned out but I think the beans were planted much later.

If not for deer damage...spraying right now would most likely yield the most beans...but leaving it might protect them.

Not sure there is a right or wrong answer...

 

[FarmlandQDM]

[ QUOTE ]
I have a relatively large, 5 to 6 acres, winter wheat field that was planted last August but is now back to growing actively again. Apart from the wheat the field is still relatively clear of weeds, at this point anyway. I want to plant RR beans there yet this spring.

Should I have the beans drilled in over the existing wheat and then spray with RR to kill off the wheat soon after planting OR should I just ignore the wheat for now and drill the beans in and then spray with RR later killing whatever weeds or wheat are present OR turn the wheat under with a disk first and then drill the beans OR some other idea?

[/ QUOTE ]

Drill the beans into the wheat now and wait to spray after the wheat turns brown so the seed heads can mature. This will provide shade and some browse protection for your young beans and wheat seed for your turkeys.

The photo below shows a wheat/rye/and AWP plot that I drilled sorghum into a few days ago. Except for the tractor/drill wheels there is very little damage to the wheat/rye.

Last year we drilled soybeans into the wheat/rye field below and then applied roundup after the wheat/rye started to turn.

The result was an overstory of wheat/rye with an understory layer of beans.

Adjacent soybean plots were wiped out but this plot was protected from overbrowsing by deer and remained a good food source late into the fall.