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northeastern Ohio | About 10 years ago they developed a way to encapsulate the rhizobia. The encapsulation protects the rhizobia from drying out and provides a food source for up to 120 days. The addition of some fungicides shorten this window to 60 days. This is a great innovation, but the rhizobia numbers are on a decline from the day it was applied. So, if your beans are treated on March 1st, but you can't plant until June 1st, then you probably only have about 25% of the original rhizobia count. This is probably enough to ensure nodulation, but many studies show that higher rhizobia counts result in earlier nodulation and more nitrogen production over the course of the growing season.
To maximize rhizobia count, the best way is to apply it on the day you plant it. Traditionally, you had peat based products that had low rhizobia counts. Then liquid products were developed that had higher rhizobia counts because it was easy to make a sterile product in liquid form. Then the sterile peat products came out and also had high counts. And most recently, you have sterile encapsulated products that come in liquids or in a talc-graphite dry form and have a very high rhizobia count as well as a longer window of application.
My choice has always been to apply in planter box to maximize the rhizobia count. This has become easier because you can now apply the dry products with a talc applicator or the liquid products with a sprayer. | |
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Soybean inoculant treatment weeks prior to planting?
