Chickpeas: Planting to Harvest

Planting and Growing Chickpeas

There are two different kinds of chickpeas grown in Canada, including Desi and Kabuli. Desi chickpeas are smaller and more ‘bumpy’ than kabulis and usually darker in colour. Desi chickpeas are mainly used as split chickpeas and chickpea flour (also called Besan). Kabuli chickpeas are relatively round and cream coloured with a smooth seed coat and these are the kind you’ll see in cans on the grocery shelf. It is the main type grown in western Canada—these are also known as ‘garbanzo beans’ (even though they aren’t beans)  

Once the snow melts and the soil warms up (8-10 C) enough to allow seeds to sprout (no later than May 24), the farmer places seeds into the soil about 1.5 – 2.5 inches deep and deposits a specific amount of fertilizer along with the seed to help the crop grow.  It’s important not to seed chickpeas too late in the season, as they are a long season crop and in a wet year, it can quickly turn into a race against the calendar to maturity. 

Like all pulses, chickpeas fix their own nitrogen, and this allows farmer to minimize their fertilizer application for that year of their crop rotation.  Chickpeas are very well adapted to semi-arid areas and are extremely good at extracting moisture. They need little moisture to thrive.

Chickpeas don’t compete well with weeds so farmers prioritize weed control prior to planting chickpea crops. Farmers apply a herbicide, either pre-seed or pre-emergent, to provide early season weed control.

Before being placed in the ground, the chickpeas is coated with a seed treatment to protect them from diseases and to encourage sprouting.

Once chickpeas are direct seeded and before crop emergence, farmers may choose to roll the field. Rolling pushes rocks down for easier harvesting and must be done before the crop emergence to avoid damaging the small chickpea seedlings. 

The chickpea lifecycle from seeding to maturity is typically 110-120 days, depending on the environmental conditions like drought, high temperatures or crop disease. The farmer and an agronomist will help monitor the health of the chickpea crop as it grows. They will scout for weeds, diseases and insects that could damage the crop. Farmers can apply crop protection products to protect the chickpea crop.

Once chickpea seeds are planted, farmers focus on weed control to keep the crops from having too many weeds. This ensures that nutrients are available for the growing crops and not the weeds. Pesticides are substances used to manage pests by killing or repelling them. Pests can be insects, plants (weeds), rodents, or diseases.

There are 4 types of pesticides:

• Herbicides: control unwanted plants (weeds) that compete with crops and natural habitats for nutrients, space, water and sunlight.
• Fungicides: protect plants from fungi that can spread from pant to plant and destroy crops.
• Insecticides: control insects that eat crops or transmit disease.
• Rodenticides: kill rodents such as mice and rats that may carry disease.

Harvesting Chickpeas

Chickpeas have an indeterminate growth habit, this means that the plants continue to flower until they encounter some form of stress, like drought, heat, frost, or nitrogen deficiency. Chickpeas typically reach maturity 110 to 120 days after planting. Chickpeas are considered ready to harvest when most of the plants are yellow and most pods are mature.

The farmer monitors the crop for maturity and moisture content (no more than 18% seed moisture content) and will use a moisture meter to know if the crop is ready to be harvested with a combine.

A combine is the machine that is used to harvest the chickpeas. Typically the combine is fitted with a flex header, which attaches to the front of a combine harvester. The flex header floats low to the ground to pick up the crop. Harvesting chickpeas is very dependent on the weather, because weather can impact the quality of the crop. Too much wind, rain or cold weather can damage the crop.

Once harvested in the combine, the chickpeas are transported in grain trucks to large storage bins. Farmers take samples of the crop and record the moisture content and quality of the chickpeas. This is important information for the farmer to have when it comes to selling the crop.