Abstract
Dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), a high-protein pulse crop, have been grown in the Northeast since the 1800’s. As the local food movement continues to diversify and expand, consumers are asking stores to carry more locally-produced foods, and dry beans are no exception. But the yield and quality of organic dry beans has been affected by the lack of information on variety selection, inadequate management of diseases and weeds, and suboptimal recommendations for no-till production. Due to these production challenges, the exponential increase in consumer demand for organic dry beans has not been realized. Current management practices for organic dry beans can deplete the soil because of the reliance on tillage and cultivation for weed management and harvesting. Direct-harvested dry beans, specifically black beans, have shown promise for incorporation into rolled-crimped cereal rye mulch cropping systems and could reduce the negative impacts on soil health while still suppressing weeds. Dry bean performance may be enhanced in the rolled-crimped cereal rye mulch system by increasing dry bean seeding rate. In the 2021-2022 growing season, the University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crops and Soils Program (NWCS) initiated a trial to evaluate various black bean seeding rates in a conventional tillage system compared to a no-till system on crop productivity and weed biomass.
Keywords
Vermont, University of Vermont, UVM Extension, Northwest Crops & Soils
Publication Date
3-2023
Recommended Citation
Darby, Heather and Krezinski, Ivy, "2022 Organic Black Bean Seeding Rate Trial" (2023). Northwest Crops & Soils Program. 515.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/nwcsp/515