55LB LABLAB PEAS Lablab (Lablab purpureus) is a warm-season annual legume that originated from Africa. It is widely adapted to a variety of soils and climatic conditions throughout the country. However, it does not tolerate wet soil conditions. It has a trifoliate leaf (similar to soybeans and cowpeas) that is bright green, and the leaflets are triangular. The stems are viney, and the flowers are white, pink, or purplish. Lablab is extremely attractive and nutritious to deer, containing 25 to 30 percent crude protein in fields with good soil fertility. It is also tolerant of low fertility and soil acidity. Although it performs well with low fertility, the soil should be amended with the appropriate amount of lime and fertilizer to ensure plants achieve optimal nutritional quality. Perhaps one of its best attributes is its ability withstand dry conditions. This is particularly important in arid regions out west or in the Deep South where summers tend to be long, hot and dry. Lablab is extremely productive and can produce in excess of 7,000 pounds of quality forage (dry weight) per acre throughout the growing season. Compared to other forage legumes, lablab holds up pretty well to grazing pressure as long as plots are not too small and the deer density isn’t too high (click on the photo in the Gallery below to see how fast a high-density herd can strip a small plot of lablab). Depending on local deer density and habitat quality, plots should be a minimum of 1 to 2 acres.
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