Faba Bean Agronomy

Faba beans can be grown very similarly to peas, but they do like/need mid-season moisture for optimum yields.

We grow them under irrigation.

Common practices for our farm:

• No nitrogen is needed
• We use 60 lbs of product of 11-52 in the seed row on a 10" disk drill 
• We seed 1-2" deep and can be seeded deeper if needed
• They can tolerate early seeding (early April), but should be seeded before May 10th.
• 4 plants per square foot target plant stand can mean around 4.5 bu per ac on Fabelle, but we often go up to 4.5 plants target
  • We usually use a Fungicide and Insecticide seed treatment to protect from pea leaf weevils. They can fly in when we have a warm early season and the larva eat the nitrogen nodules and can impact the crop. 
  • We can supply and apply a peat based inoculant on seed that is good for up to 30 days on seed, it works out to $9 per ac on faba beans.
• Seeding tips include:
  • Using 2 seed tanks to meter the seed at the same time can improve the flow of seed
  • Using the top airstream on a double shoot can help as well
  • Faba Bean augers on a Bourgault
  • Not using paired row openers
  • Land rolling should be done as lower pods can be close to rock height.
• We use Edge ahead of the crop for kochia and wild oat control.
• In crop we use Viper and often do a group 1 herbicide in a separate pass. 
• We delay fungicide application until mid flower/mid-podding (around early to mid July) unless we see disease on the plant earlier.
  • Many will mix in an Insecticide for lygus bugs at this time as well to reduce black spots on the seed.
  • Additionally speeding up your pivot to apply more passes per week can help push lygus bugs out of the crop. 
• Expect to water an additional 3-4" more than a wheat crop as they do like water.
• Reglone is often used once 80% of the crop has black pods to even out harvest timing and reduce lower pod shatter from over ripening
• Round bar concave can be used or wires can be pulled
• Faba beans are tougher seeds vs other pulses and resist cracking well
  

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Faba bean varieties: https://www.stampseeds.com/faba-bean.html