I think that's all Jim plants, and from what I've seen on grant Wood's videos his turn out pretty good. I'll be trying a mix this year that has eagle beans in it.
The pods are just fine. Are they as good as the pods of traditional ag beans?... Well, I don't know... But I don't think the deer can tell the difference. They sure don't have any problem eating them.
How big of a plot are you planting?that is what I was thinking! I was just surprised at how much negative Ive heard about the pod production. I am thinking I am going to have no late season forage! I hope I am wrong and have plenty of draw!
Don't get hung up on pods. They will be fine for what you need. Pods and beans aren't that important until very late in the season. The deer aren't really eating the beans early but when they fall to the ground and the acorns are gone they go after them. It's the planty stems and leaves they are going after
Will you be putting a fence around it until they get established or just leaving it open?
You won't need to fence them if you're planting four acres. You'll be fine.
What I've seen in the biggest difference between Eagle and ag beans is the browse tolerance. The ag bean plants that get hammered early on don't amount to shit and produce very few pods. The Eagle beans withstand browsing extremely well and as a result produce more food tonnage, both in leaves and pods. You definitely want good pods for the late season IMO. You may or may not be hunting that late in the season, but there's no question you're going to draw in a lot of deer to your area. Shed hunting should be worthwhile. Lol
Is it too late to plant them? I can't plant till July 15th do to my property in crp.