The only time I used inoculant was on the Austrian Winter Peas this fall. I never had it available for peas or beans before. They still grew, and produced, though they might have done better in the new dirt if I had used it. I'm not impressed with the AWP growth, maybe it will get bigger in spring.

AWP really takes off in the spring. Or they should.

I don't innoculate if legumes are growing in a bed where related legumes grew the year before. I do innocumate if legumes are going into an area where no legumes have grown during the previous couple of years.

Some people never innoculate. Some always do. I do believe I get heavier yields when I innoculate, and I'm all about wanting to get the max yield per square foot.

Amy, Assuming you planted your AWP in September or October and got a good stand, they should grow rapidly in March and/or April (exactly when it happens would depend on your weather) and will give you a lot of organic matter then.

Dawn

This is new to me. I have heard of it but have no clue how when or why?

This is new to me. I have heard of it but have no clue how when or why?

U know how legumes do their own special thing? Well, they do it in coordination with soil microbes that contain special microbes ... along that line. I'm really tired and lazy tonight. Anyway, if you plant them, they will put that stuff in the soil. However, it takes a while for them to produce these microbes to their best advantage. SO, if you're planting where no legumes have gone before, it might not have any or not enough of these microbes in the soil to make them the most healthiest or the most prolific.

For fact, my garden has not seen a legume for more than 4 decades - especially not Austrian Winter Peas which is foreign to my area and has it's very own type of microbe. I don't know how I became aware of it, but knew inoculating the soil was kinda important for AWP.

Certain legumes like beans and peas have their own type of soil microbe which works for any variety of bean or any variety of peas. Sometimes legumous species - like mimosa - have put them there, but they're not always compatible. Yet, it's simple enough to make general assumptions.

I'll be back with a link from a prior discussion that has a lot of 'fire side' reading

bon

Okay, the link is in this thread. Many of our store-bought seeds with the white coating often contains the necessary inoculate in addition to anti-fungal agents. symbiotic. That's the world I couldn't remember earlier. The necessary soil microbes form a symbiotic relationship with the leguminous plants necessary for healthier plants. Most don't worry about it unless they introduce a new variety dependent upon its own inoculate, like chick peas.

Here

I will try that for sure. I saw it at tractor supply but forgot to ask if it was necessary.

I will try that for sure. I saw it at tractor supply but forgot to ask if it was necessary.

It isn't necessary, but it is helpful.

Alfalfa fields were inoculated in the past by moving some soil.

Another example.

True, and that can be done. Based on what we now understand about how plowing, rototilling, and constantly disturbing the soil do disturb the microbial life in the soil and can damage its structure, I just try to disturb the soil as little as possible any more. I am a much-reformed cultivator operator. My Mantis probably gets lonely sitting there in the garage because it just doesn't get used nearly as much as it once did. I still love it though.