Comment on This is a meme about beans
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Is there any evidence that living legumes make the nitrogen they fix available to other plants nearby? I thought they locked it up in root nodules and it only becomes bioavailable if you chop and drop the legumes so that the nodules break down and release nitrogen into the surrounding soil. Otherwise the legumes are just going to use the nitrogen for their own growth.
Think they talked about this in the most recent season of Clarkson’s Farm. One point they are measuring the availability of nitrogen in the soil and they see that it has increased.
They planted a mixed crop of corn and beans together and it seemed to have a positive benefit.
Did they test the soil and plant a control crop of corn only in nearby similar conditions?
Yes. Well worth watching the episode if you’re interested. Hell, the whole series is very interesting.
NataliePortland@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
This is my understanding too. After the plant dies it can release that nitrogen. While the legume grows, the benefit of nitrogen is negligible and negated by the fact that the legume is competing in the ground for water and other nutrients. The Three Sisters is a nice idea but there is a reason it’s not common practice. See also ‘companion planting’, the astrology of gardening. What plants want most is room to grow roots.
The best thing to do with legumes is till them under before they go to seed, or add them to compost.
roguetrick@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Somethin to keep in mind is that it’s a labor intensive harvest and the products aren’t really what we’d want to market. You’d wait until the whole lot of them kind of dies down and harvest winter squash, dry beans, and flint corn then till the remainder back into the soil.
It’s not bad for substinence farming, but you’re not going to get the yields or reasonable market prices with those crops.
felbane@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I mean, the three sisters works wonderfully as long as you’re not trying to harvest mechanically or minmax your yields. It’s a great way to produce food for a family or small village with a comparatively small amount of land and effort.
It’s common in backyard and community gardens for a reason. To my understanding: (1) corn is a fast growing, relatively high yield calorie and carbohydrate source and provides a natural trellis for (2) beans which stabilize the stalks and provide a protein and vitamin source, while (3) squash serves as a ground cover to retain moisture, limit weed growth, and produces fruit high in fiber and vitamin C.
The beans do fix nitrogen but this only plays a role in replanting for the next season, reducing or eliminating the need to fallow.