Marty Edwards
PMA Member
I’ve only planted cowpeas one time. I planted 15 or so acres of them in various sites on my farm. Some in bottom areas along a creek, others in plots on hill tops. I was amazed at how thick and tall they became over the summer. The deer seemed to hammer them, but the cowpeas more than kept up with the browse pressure. In fact, they were so thick and tall and viney, they were basically impossible to walk through. Overwhelmingly, I was impressed with them. The Pros were, high protein growing season deer food that shaded out ALL weed competition and handled all the pressure my deer herd could dish out. The Cons were, two hard frosts and they became useless as a fall/winter food source.
For those of you with experience with cowpeas, how did you approach keeping your plot productive into fall/winter? I’ve been broadcasting brassicas and rye into standing beans and corn for years with great results (if it rains) but there’s zero chance that would have worked with the cowpeas. They were like the hair in a dogs back until wayyy too late.
Is the only solution mowing it and then drilling? Man…not sure my rotary cutter would handle them…maybe.
Terminate with gly first then drill?
Can a drill handle just running through that thick viney tangle and be effective? Would it terminate enough of the cowpeas during the process to allow the brassicas to grow?
Better off to split the field in half and cowpeas in half, maybe something like buckwheat or other, then drill brassicas into the the opposite half?
My “issue” is that even a bean plot of 4 acres in size gets pretty well pounded all summer and never really gets as productive as it should. I’ve tried 2 acre bean plots on the opposite side of the farm and they get eaten to the dirt.
E-fence is of course a good option.
Anyway…those are just a couple of my off season ramblings. Be interested in getting your thoughts.
For those of you with experience with cowpeas, how did you approach keeping your plot productive into fall/winter? I’ve been broadcasting brassicas and rye into standing beans and corn for years with great results (if it rains) but there’s zero chance that would have worked with the cowpeas. They were like the hair in a dogs back until wayyy too late.
Is the only solution mowing it and then drilling? Man…not sure my rotary cutter would handle them…maybe.
Terminate with gly first then drill?
Can a drill handle just running through that thick viney tangle and be effective? Would it terminate enough of the cowpeas during the process to allow the brassicas to grow?
Better off to split the field in half and cowpeas in half, maybe something like buckwheat or other, then drill brassicas into the the opposite half?
My “issue” is that even a bean plot of 4 acres in size gets pretty well pounded all summer and never really gets as productive as it should. I’ve tried 2 acre bean plots on the opposite side of the farm and they get eaten to the dirt.
E-fence is of course a good option.
Anyway…those are just a couple of my off season ramblings. Be interested in getting your thoughts.