Fertilizer for Beans!

[james dilley]

O K I was trying to find A general Guide for fertilizer For beans. And possibly corn, Any recomendations of A Gen. purpose type??

[kbshorts]

Nothing seems to work better for me than plain old horse manure.
KB

[sammyd]

You need to test your soils levels of N K and P to really know what you need.
Just guessing and adding too much of something is inefficient and can lead to problems.

[Windy in Kansas]

Recommended fertilizer rates per acre--for New York state.

Bean--N 40 pounds; P 40-80 pounds; K 20-60 pounds.

For the New England area Bean N 50; P depending upon soil 25-100; K 25-100 depending upon whether the soil is deficient to very deficient.

For mid-Atlantic states bean N 40-80 pounds; P 40-80 pounds; K 40-80 pounds.

For Florida bean N 100 pounds; P 80-120 pounds; K 80-120 pounds.
Relative response of bean plants to micronutrients--
Manganese, high response.
Boron, low response.
Copper, low response.
Zinc, high response.
Molybdenum, medium response.
Iron, high response.

Sometimes crop removal values are used to estimate fertilizer needs by crops.
However crops will take up more than really needed if it is available so that is not an accurate measurement.

Another method is to check crops for the nutrients taken up by the plant.
On test showed snap beans AND plants accumulated 170 pound of N, only 16 pounds of P, and 100 pounds of K each on a per acre basis. Of course the plant is providing much of needs by its leguminous nature.

Much of the aforementioned information was found in Knott's Handbook for Vegetable Growers, which is a great book. An Inter-Library Loan may be in order for off/pre season reading.

I expect that there is another source such as a seed catalog that simple states the needed N, P, K requirements for an average need.

[pixelphotograph]

beans are the fertilizer for my corn.
I plant beans first and since they fix nitrogen after they are done I plant corn.
Or you can do the three sisters indian way corn stalks act as bean poles and squash for weed guard.