Growing Chickpeas and Flax Together in the Same Plot
Watch Keith and Dale walk through a test plot where chickpeas and flax are grown together as a companion crop. You'll see how these two crops perform side-by-side, why they work well as a pair, and the practical benefits of intercropping—from easier harvest separation to built-in crop insurance if one species struggles.
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0:00 [Music] You [Music]
0:13 They'll we were we were to when we were
0:15 Talking about the chickpeas we talked about chickpeas and blacks growing together and so we have an example of that here, one of the plots that we did.
0:21 Because we met just mixed chickpeas and flax together we didn't put them in alternating rows we just mix them all together and we came out here as we
0:28 Rolled it and you can see mainly the flax because it's taller plant, but if you are looking straight down in here they look very, very healthy. They're both.
0:40 Doing quite well obviously the blacks is blooming in fact it's kind of a little bit post bloom there's a lot of these blue petals on the ground but then when
0:49 You look down in there, you see those little pretty pink flowers of the chickpeas are blooming down there as well. So these are two that pair very well.
0:57 Together being grown together. One of the reasons is because these are easy to separate. The chickpea is going to be about the size of the slaw soybeans and
1:23 That tends to wipe out the chickpeas. You're not completely out of a crop if you lose your chickpeas. The diversity both good mycorrhizal hosts. Some people.
1:39 Will plant. You know, for example, they're harvesting Raskin, received like winter canola. Very important to have a micro Raizel host to keep those funding alive.
1:51 And any plant you have no mycorrhizal host for a year, yeah essentially. And so the companion cropping concept.
2:04 Has a lot of traction, a lot of utility. I think it's something we're going to be using a lot more going forward. Big catch in the past, I guess, has been limited herbicide options, but for some of these crops there just aren't a lot of herbicide options anyhow. They all like corn or soybeans where you got it. So by intentionally layering plants, desirable plants, you remove some of the widget that some of the niches that some of the weeds would otherwise feel. You use up all the sunlight. There's a bullboy stur in that way. It's all in the crop instead of some of it to lose.