Hi all, I have challenge related to the production cycle of Mucuna Puriens. We are experimenting with Mucuna - Maize and Cowpea - Maize intercropping in the south of Burkina Faso. The challenge we run into is that the Mucuna does not mature early enough to get to full potential seed production before the rainy season ends. This makes it harder to recover seeds for next season.
Does anyone recognize this issue? What would be possible solutions? Are there varieties with shorter growing cycles or other techniques to tackle this?
We can’t sow the Mucuna too early, otherwise it will smother the young maize plans.
We are eager to hear your thoughts/experiences.
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Hi Abram,
I was just mentioning the long production season required for mucuna to another network member @Kevin-Ray_Fall who is producing mucuna seed in his context. He may have recommendations for you. Long seasonality is a concern for mucuna seed production around the subtropics and tropics. I’ll add a few tips below, but local constraints may void some of these. @Emma_Weiss or @Tim_Motis feel free to add your thoughts to this list:
- Mucuna plants intended for seed production are best grown in areas where other crops (like maize) are not growing actively to keep from smothering the staple crop. One alternative I have heard some farmers do is to cut some of the aboveground biomass of the mucuna to keep it off the staple crop (e.g. maize), but this is a labor increase you have to consider and needs to be timed properly to allow for healthy plants to produce healthy seeds. @Roland_Bunch or @Nathan_Deboer may have recommendations for the timing of doing this biomass reduction with mucuna.
- Some mucuna varieties flower with shorter day lengths (<12 hours) while others are neutral (12-14 hours). If you’re not sure about your variety, ask your original seed supplier.
- Mucuna plants intended for seed can take up to 270 days to reach maturity (dependent on local conditions like temperature and rainfall), so plan your crop calendar to account for the space required for seed production. Growing degree days are one way local conditions can be used to estimate crop maturity
Stacy
Good afternoon, I would like to know when your rainy season is? What months? How much rain?
Can you send photos of the bean seeds you have?
We would plan on planting velvet bean after the corn is waist heigth . In June in the locations where I have lived.
But I would not look for flowers or bean pods til December. Kevin
Hi Abram,
Here at ECHO’s Global Seed Bank we have a day-neutral variety called “90-day” that flowers in 90 days regardless of time of year (as long as it gets enough water). The pods should be ready to harvest beginning ~60 days after flowering. If you can’t find a variety near you that works, feel free to reach out to us about seed.
Emma