Broad Leaves is Most Ideal for the Bean Plant and the Soil

I promised you on Steemit that I'll be sharing more on different plants either than peppers.

Yesterday we did the palm trees and today, I'll show you this beautiful beans farm. You could tell they're very young and this is the exact moment where they need protection the most not just from infection but from competition.

When we mention the word competition, you know we'll most likely bring up Weeds.

When you grow beans, the first thing you notice is how they have big leaves as soon as they come out of the ground. Those big leaves are actually really important because they protect the soil from the sun and stop weeds from growing.

You can think of the leaves as like giant solar panels that soak up the sun’s rays. Then, they turn those rays into power for the plant to grow most plants typically do.

Not only do they get the power, but the big leaves grow really fast and cover the whole area around the stem. The sun is really hot especially during the afternoon here I. Ghana when it's beatinf down on the field. Heat is one thing that makes the soil dry up really fast. If all or most of the water evaporates from the soil, then the plant won’t be able to get water enough in the hot afternoon hours. You could say that drip irrigation can help but for low budget, you may have to depend on the natural water of the soil and to some degree, drip irrigation or not, most plants do depend on the soil for water and other nutrients you don't want missing in the soil.

So the leaves provide a thick layer of shade that keeps the soil cool. With the shade, the water doesn’t evaporate, so the roots are always getting enough water.

The soil has tons of random seeds that all want to grow and the big boss of them all, weeds. Weeds have the most resilience in plants. Just a little sun and access to water and they start coming out.

That's why the rainy season and immediately afterwards is when we see the most weeds around if the land is not kept well.

The weeds grow faster than the beans and steal nutrients from the crop. But the bean leaves grow large enough to block out the sun. Seedlings of weeds don’t have enough sun to make their own food and with no sun, the weed seedlings will just wither and die.

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