lablab forage?

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alforddm

alforddm

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I bought some lablab seed from a company that sells seed for deer food plots and livestock forage applications. It's supposed to be about 20% protein and the leaves, flowers, and young seed pods are all edible. Dried beans can be eaten as well but they need to be cooked. I plan on planting them a last a small patch of them and see how they do. It says it take about 150-210 days for them to get complete seed pods so I probably won't be able to harvest any this year. If the rabbits like them and they seem to do well, I'll see about harvesting seed next year by planting in the spring. They are a legume.

Just curious if anyone has tried them?
 
Once it establishes itself, 1.5 months or so, you cannot use enough of it to set it back. I planted about 12'X20' and have more than I can feed 10 adults and various sizes/amounts of growouts. They love the stuff!!
 
I ordered a pound of seed and planted maybe a quarter of it. It hasn't starting sprouting yet but should soon. I planted it in a pretty rough spot. We have acidic soil and this is mostly sand/clay. They say it can tolerate acidic soils and clay so I have my fingers crossed.
 
lablab = hyacinth bean = copied from good o wiki: "The hyacinth bean is an old domesticated pulse and multi-purpose crop.[6][7][8] Due to seed availability of one forage cultivar (cv. Rongai), it is often grown as forage for livestock[9] and as an ornamental plant.[10] In addition, it is cited both as a medicinal plant and a poisonous plant.[11][12]

The fruit and beans are edible if boiled well with several changes of the water.[12] Otherwise, they are toxic due to the presence of cyanogenic glycosides, glycosides that are converted to hydrogen cyanide when consumed. Signs of poisoning include weakness, vomiting, dyspnea, twitching, stupor, and convulsions.[12] On the other hand, it has been shown that there is a wide range of cyanogenic potential among the varieties.[13]

The leaves are eaten raw or cooked like spinach.[8] The flowers can be eaten raw or steamed. The root can be boiled or baked for food. The seeds are used to make tofu and tempeh.[5]"

so should be able to be fed the cut plants as long as the beans/pods aren't growing yet.
 
The young bean pods are edible as well. It's only the mature/dry bean that causes problems. It's a tropical legume, so it takes a while (depending on the cultivar) to produce seed. Some sources say up to 45 weeks. <br /><br /> __________ Sat Jul 04, 2015 10:38 am __________ <br /><br /> When I checked it this morning I was suprised to find most of it several inches tall! There had been nothing yesterday. I planned it Monday evening.
 
alforddm":2pcqrlfl said:
When I checked it this morning I was suprised to find most of it several inches tall! There had been nothing yesterday. I planned it Monday evening.
Click to expand...


I protected it for the first few weeks, but once it took off it could not be harvested too much. I think I'm going to try to keep it planted year round in south Texas
 
This is day 9 since planting. As you can see I went to alot of work to prepare a seed bed

I literally just poked holes in the ground with a pair of scissors, dropped the seeds in and covered them a bit. <br /><br /> __________ Fri Aug 21, 2015 10:32 am __________ <br /><br /> I thought I would update this. My lablab mostly died. We literally didn't get any rain from the time I planted it until yesterday. It just never had enough moisture to get well established. I did attempt to water it once but then left it alone. Even so a few plants that were in a shadier area in better soil have survived. We got 1/2" rain yesterday so I'm looking forward to seeing if they start to grow they are about 12" high now. I really think if I had planted this earlier in the season it would have lived through the dry spell. I going to try again next spring.
 

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