Common Vetch: Early Blooming, Easy to Harvest Legume for Spring Mixes

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0:13 All right, we're going to talk about common bench. Common bench again is in the set family like we talked about the wooly pod. It's a spurring.

0:22 Annual like wooly five bet it is not as cold hardy as a woolly pod match for a spring annual but it's still quite good and this is going to be a much earlier blooming plant because as you can see.

0:36 There's already pod set so this match is already blue and it's setting pods come and bench is much more determinate blooms it sets pods it's done blooming whereas wooly pod bench and hairy vetch.

0:49 Are very indeterminate. They'll bloom, they'll be setting pods, they'll just keep blooming for a long time, three at a time. So in that instance, in that regard, you know, those are great for pollinator type.

0:58 Plots this is better for seed production and that's one of the reasons common batch is the least expensive of all these benches because it's a better seed producer because it's a very determinate.

1:08 Plant. It's been bred for that so probably not quite as growth as the wooly pod. Again, part of that it's because of its determinant, but still a very good and reasonably priced legume.

1:20 To put in a spring mix now you dug up a root there why don't you show us what you're seeing on that okay. What I'm seeing here is the nodulation of course one of the reasons we plant.

1:47 Vetch seeds are fairly pricey because they're just really difficult to harvest. You've got blooms and ripe seeds with shattering pods on the plant at the same time.

1:59 Time there's just no, they're good seed producers they're just impossible. This is easy of Arvest compare the others all the pots they bloom they ripen all about the same time good seed.

2:14 Producer makes this a lot more economical in situations where economy is really important. I use this a lot for a fowl replacement product out in western Kansas, eastern Colorado where

2:31 Where people are very price sensitive because they've got limited moisture and they don't want to spend a lot of money out there for a fallow replacement crop. But it does make pretty good leveling nitrogen. It does interlock and form a mat, maybe not as well as the woolly pod vetch, but it can do it at much less cost.