7 Types of Legume Inoculants and How to Use Them

03.05.2024 - 14:19 / gardenerspath.com / Kristina HicksHamblin

7 Types of Legume Inoculants and How to Use Them

Through the power of microbial action, inoculants help legumes convert nitrogen from the air into nitrogen they can use to grow and thrive.

That means using these beneficial microbes are key to ensuring a plentiful harvest!

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Long before the creation of synthetic fertilizers, legume plants flourished thanks to the assistance of beneficial microbes living in the soil.

These microbial partners help legumes convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form the plants can use as nutrients.

And when organic gardeners and farmers take advantage of this mutualistic symbiotic relationship, we receive abundant harvests of legume crops containing more protein – without any synthetic nitrogen inputs!

Sound like a sweet deal? Now all you need to do is to pick the right bacteria for the job.

In this article you’ll learn which microbes to use for which crops, as well as how to apply them. Here’s a sneak peek at what we’ll cover:

Before we dig into these different options, let’s make sure we understand the purpose of applying inoculants, and look at why and when we should use microbial products when growing legumes.

Certain bacteria help legumes convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, a type of nitrogen biologically available to plants to help them grow – this process is called nitrogen fixation.

Legumes need nitrogen because without this plant nutrient, they can’t manufacture chlorophyll, protein or amino acids!

So bacteria help these plants access nitrogen – but what do the bacteria get in exchange?

In colonizing the roots of the legumes and creating nodules that fix