Growing Broad Beans, also Fava bean

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30 Jun 13 ron hutton (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
what fertiliser do i use for my broadbeans. potash ?
03 Aug 13 Gene (Australia - temperate climate)
Broad Beans don't need any fertiliser. They produce heaps of nitrogen on their own and can be used as a green fertiliser crop themselves. Some people even grow two or three around their fruit trees in winter for the additional nitrogen they produce. When you're finished with the crop, don't pull them out. Cut them off and leave the roots in the ground to break down. It's ideal to use the plot for growing plants that need high nitrogen in next - such as your leafy greens.
01 Dec 21 Celeste Archer (Canada - Zone 7b Mild Temperate climate)
Though Broad beans like all beans fix their own nitrogen, they still need micro nutrients, as well as phosphorus, and potassium (macro nutrients). I find that adding a dose of micronutrients to the just planted seed soil gets them going faster, I hear that phosphorus works like an alarm clock. I also hit them with any kind of manure I can source; chicken, steer, cattle, sheep, alpaca.. whatever.

Broad Beans don't need any fertiliser. They produce heaps of nitrogen on their own and can be used as a green fertiliser crop themselves. Some people even grow two or three around their fruit trees in winter for the additional nitrogen they produce. When you're finished with the crop, don't pull them out. Cut them off and leave the roots in the ground to break down. It's ideal to use the plot for growing plants that need high nitrogen in next - such as your leafy greens.

- Gene

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