Anyone ever use them? If so, how'd you like/dislike them? I'm thinking about doing a few acres of them on my property. I really like the fact that they are roundup ready, that'd save a bunch of time.
I was going to plant some last season but I couldn't find a dealer nearby. I ended up planting what beans I had on hand and they did fine. I would like to try some out though.
I haven't used them because I don't understand why anyone would want to plant beans and not have the pod production for the winter months. If you buy beans for a zone to your south you will be able to plant them later, they will stay green longer into the season and you will still get pod production. To me that is the best of both worlds. Granted you wont get the early tonnage of eagle beans but most people plant beans to kill deer early and late season and have high protein food available during the winter.
Friend and I mixed them in with regular ag beans in his plot. Best of both worlds. When the ag beans turned yellow the eagles were still green for a few weeks still. I like the browse pressure they can take and have had pods form but it was hit or miss over the years. I personally would never do a full plot of eagle beans.
I did not notice at first that you are from Georgia. Because you are so far south your best bet would be to plant a mixture like Jake suggested.
This is what I am planning on doing for my food plot this year with Eagle Seed beans. I am going to plant the Big Fellow beans, fence them for about 6-7 weeks, than turn them loose to the deer. They should have no problem withstanding the brows pressure, about 60 days before season I am going to broadcast either Brassica or Eagle Seed Broadside mix so that once the beans brown out, there will be a nice bottom layer of forage for winter months. Just my thought on it.
Pods are what the deer are after late season, it's where all the protein and carbs are stored. Forage soybeans do not produce a lot of pods, instead they produce a lot of forage, or green leafy matter. This is great early season, but come late season you better have a back up plan because they will abort ship because not as many pods are being produced as normal, crop soybeans.
Thank you, makes sense! Looks like I'll try and go with a mixture. I really like the round up readiness of the soybeans. Big fan of that. Does anyone know if you have to sign a stewardship agreement to plant them ? Thanks again for all the info
Yes your suppose to. We have been planting them for several years now and you would be surprised as to the pod production. Eagle beans might not be for everyone but in the south our high stress period is late summer and it is unreal what kind of draw these beans have in late summer and early fall
Eagle has several kinds of beans...not all are strictly forage beans. They have some that produce more pods. The forage beans are best if you have a huge amount of summer pressure while they are growing
I'm done with signing "stewardship agreements"...these big companies that want to slap a proprietary label and a patent on seeds can kiss my jolly red butt. I did it for years and have grown sick of it. I went back to conventional seed and will make due with that rather than play along and continue to subsidize mega corporations ability to pillage producers with super high priced seed and an annual permission slip to buy it. I'll go back to mechanical cultivation first.
