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Inoculation Procedure
Pea plants, like all other legumes, have the ability to fix nitrogen. They do this through a process known as symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Inoculum can be purchased in a dry form. It is important that inoculant is fresh and stored in a cool place as it is live bacteria. If properly inoculated field peas will fix 1.25 pounds of nitrogen for every bushel produced.
The seed should be coated with a sticky solution so that the inoculant will stick to the seed during seeding. Mixing dry inoculant with dry seeds is not effective. Some sticky solutions used to coat the seed include:
unmedicated milk replacer
skim milk powder
corn syrup
wall paper paste (must not contain a bacteriacide)
All of these substances should be mixed with water. It is very important that distilled or purified water should be used. Some producers use canola oil with excellent results since it sticks the inoculum to the seed without gumming up the machinery, or sticking together in a solid mass if placed in the seeder before the inoculated mixture has dried.
The sticky solution is usually applied using a back pack or a hand sprayer while the grain flows from a bin or truck into an auger intake. The inoculum is spread either by hand or mechanically. The inoculum label will indicated the amount of inoculum to apply, but it does no harm to apply more than the recommended levels.
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