Soybean issue

[Blizzard Ridge]

Sounds like beans may not be in the cards for you. Your deer density may be a little high. You could fence them off or spray some of the deer deterrent chemicals that are on the market and maybe give the beans a chance to canopy. If you could get them to that point they should be able to withstand the heavy browse. I would just plan on a good turnip/radish/brassica mix for this fall at that location.

 

[SwampCat]

Picture of two different Eagle Seed forage soybeans - both five acre plots - seven miles apart. Deer numbers on the nice field are about 20 psm, the eaten down field about 30 psm.

 

[Drycreek]

Just for info purposes, I disc, drag smooth and then I almost straighten my disc to where it just cuts shallow grooves in the plot. I then broadcast fertilizer, then beans or IC peas. I then drag it again and cover the seeds. I've had zero difficulty getting a good stand of beans or peas with this method.

 

[LetThemGrow]

Wow thanks for teaser pics! I will likely be returning plots to LC mix for third year. Had hoped to overseed beans but not looking too good...

 

[Vandy]

Same issues as your having kind of... deer/turkeys just hammer them so hard that brassica type mixes are all I am going to run in the future. Turkeys are actually the ones that did a number on my beans. I can run out there to scare them and they just walk away like its nothing... bottle rockets are in the future, that should scare them off for a few hours

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

The one good thing about folks beans getting hammered is your critters are being fed well. I know it frustrates me too when they wipe out my plot. I look forward to having standing beans to hunt over come mid to late December. Usually my brassica mixes I over seed in the fall will help take pressure off the beans. Getting them to that point is the problem!

 

[j-bird]

Only way I can have small plots of beans is for 2 reasons:
#1 - few mouths to feed (low deer density)
#2 - overwhelming supply of soybeans (I have 80 acres myself and am surrounded by 100's of acres of production soybeans)

The buildings in the distance in the pic are roughly 1/2 mile away.....lots of beans (deer food) in there. It also looks the same way in the other directions as well!!! Summertime food is NOT an issue on my place.