Is pea inoculant necessary for planting green beans and any other kind of pea?

Looks like it's taking a while for you to get an answer. Sorry about that!

I just searched in the "Article Library" (on this site) under "PEAS" and found this:

"Inoculating the seed with rhizobium bacteria (available at feed stores and garden centers) helps the roots fix nitrogen from the air. This black powder can be applied dry or wet."

This same entry also says:

"Build soil with lots of compost, lava sand, sugar, Texas greensand and organic fertilizer."

That said, we have grown both green beans (bush varieties) and snow peas. I did not inoculate the snow pea seeds. I DID amend the soil with compost, lava sand, Texas greensand, molasses, and worm castings. My peas were beautiful, healthy, and produced heavily until it started getting hot.

As to green beans, under "Beans" in the Article Library, I found this (for snaps, bush, and limas):

"Legumes make a lot of their own nitrogen, therefore, don’t usually need heavy fertilization."

I assume -- perhaps wrongly -- that since the beans PRODUCE nitrogen that the don't need to be inoculated. Again, I may be wrong.

That said, we have not inoculated any of our beans. We grow several varieties of bush green beans and also grow pinto green beans. Another legume, black-eyed peas, we grow prolifically as well and have not inoculated them, either.

I hope that helps!

Thanks for the help. I didn't use any this first go around. I'll see what happens.

If it's a legume, then it will benefit from the correct strain of rhizobium. If not present in soil (whether added to the seed as an inoculant, or found naturally in the soil), then the plant will not produce/fix any nitrogen. Legume plants will grow fine with out the rhizobium, as long another nitrogen source is present, and available to the plant.

You only have to do it once. Once you have inoculated, or grown a cover crop, you don't have to do it again in that garden.

TYPICALLY, there are environmental factors (however) that can sometimes cause the the need for "re-inoculating".