iron and clay peas....

David

Active Member
Half the time when i read the seed description on different merchants websites it says "iron clay cowpeas" and half the time it says "iron and clay cowpeas"

could someone enlighten me? similar but different plants?

second question leads off the first.....can someone identify the different peas in this picture?

third question.....i am going to show my stupidity with this one, but, see any soy beans? maybe the two tiny leaves in the bottom right?

the plants in this picture show so many small differences that i cant make out what they are?

my blend was
10% buck wheat (easy for me to identitfy)
40% iron/clay peas
40% soy beans
10% sunflower (most have been eaten)

20170607_152023.jpg 20170607_151852.jpg
 
Iron AND Clay Cowpeas = a mix of iron cowpeas and clay cowpeas. There is a mix of 2 different types in there. A viney type of cowpea and a bushy type of cowpea. You know what buckwheat looks like and so the rest are the cowpeas, I believe, unless a sunflower snuck in there.

http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center...ition/Text-Version/Legume-Cover-Crops/Cowpeas

Those leaves in the bottom right, "might" be soybeans ... maybe. What type/variety of soybean did you plant?

https://www.google.com/search?q=soy...gC&biw=1600&bih=780#tbm=isch&q=soybean+leaves
 
It's been soooooooooooooo long, since I've seen a stand of cowpeas. I quit planting them after 5 acres could not keep up. Keep an eye on your plots and when they get to be about knee high and they start to flower, you might get pictures of a herd of deer on your plot.

I am assuming this is your first year planting them, so the deer do not know what they taste like yet?
 
Deer are already enjoying them now, they are hitting the buck wheat heavily also. I sat over the plot last night and had a dozen out there.

The beans are "atomic soybeans", cheesy I know, they might sell more if they were called super galactic atomic soybeans...

They are a tiny seed, forage bean. That's all I know. They come from a reputable dealer down here.

Is it common for the peas to out grow the beams overy the first month?
 
All sounds cool, something I do off and on I take place at home and put out each of each kind of seed so I can get good identification.

What is that in the photo a scare crow. First time I seen than in the food plot. Can I ask the purpose?
 
"My experience" with a mix of soybeans and cowpeas, I found that the deer ALWAYS ate the soybeans first .... how they knew, don't ask me! LOL. If I had to guess, I would say that they likely did the same for you, or at least it's showing up that way. Your Atomic Soybeans went nuclear.

If sunflowers get nibbled early, they're dead. If soybeans get nibbled off below the first 2 leaves, they are dead. If cowpeas get nibbled on, they just keep growing and growing and trying to out compete the nibbler. I counted on one cowpea, that was not 6" tall, 24 leaves that had been nibbled off and it kept trying to grow.

That's the beauty of cowpeas, for a deer plot.
 
All sounds cool, something I do off and on I take place at home and put out each of each kind of seed so I can get good identification.

What is that in the photo a scare crow. First time I seen than in the food plot. Can I ask the purpose?

Yep it's a scare crow.....my daughters and I made it. It's wa a fun family project. Funny thing is I would think it's actually working because that part of the fields have the best growth, but the exclusion cages tell other wise.

I think it's just better soil, sunlight, and level ground. Next year I am going to soil sample smaller areas within this plot.
 
"My experience" with a mix of soybeans and cowpeas, I found that the deer ALWAYS ate the soybeans first .... how they knew, don't ask me! LOL. If I had to guess, I would say that they likely did the same for you, or at least it's showing up that way. Your Atomic Soybeans went nuclear.

If sunflowers get nibbled early, they're dead. If soybeans get nibbled off below the first 2 leaves, they are dead. If cowpeas get nibbled on, they just keep growing and growing and trying to out compete the nibbler. I counted on one cowpea, that was not 6" tall, 24 leaves that had been nibbled off and it kept trying to grow.

That's the beauty of cowpeas, for a deer plot.


Quite possible they did kill my beans already. A few more weeks and there won't be enough sunlight for anything under there.
 
That plant in the bottom left corner is a soybean, see how the leaves are a bit more rounded compared to the peas, also, it lacks the shiney waxy coating on the leaves
 
All sounds cool, something I do off and on I take place at home and put out each of each kind of seed so I can get good identification.

What is that in the photo a scare crow. First time I seen than in the food plot. Can I ask the purpose?
I do the same thing.. kinda helps me know where things should be at the farm also.
 
Is there a good herbicide for broad leaves in an iron clay pea plot?

I have plots in a iron clay peas, soybean, and sun hemp. I have tried 24d-b and it kills iron clay peas but didn't effect the soybeans or sun hemp.
 
Were they dicamba resistant? Id have to do some checking on sun hemp, but now that I think about it, soybeans do have slight resistance to small amounts of dicamba or maybe I'm thinking of something else, it's been a long day.

I can check in my sprayer guide tomorrow for cowpeas

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Quick Google check looks like Raptor and Pursuit are okd by SDSU for post app, but do a quick search, that might not be ok in GA I'm assuming by your handle

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Looked in my 2017 NE weed management guide and it looks like 3 oz of Pursuit and 2 pints of NIS per acre is gonna be your best and cheapest bet. But the peas have to have at least 1 trifoliate leaf but before 5 nodes and flowering. There still may be some injury to the crop, it lists it at a 3 on a scale of 1-10, which equates to less than 60%, whatever that means. Should run about $11.50/acre

Unfortunately there isnt many options for broadleaf control in cowpeas, and still allows for them to be fed or foraged as soon as possible, most pre harvest intervals are about 30days
 
thanks for the replies. I will give it a try and report my findings for everyone that is interested.
if it doesn't work out, I guess next year, will just be soybeans and sunn hemp with an initial glyphosphate kill and maintenance with 24d-b
 
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