Crop & CanopyA life in growing
THE CROPS

Chana

Three varieties, uneven ripening and a harvest taken in stages. Follow our Rabi 2025–26 chana season through photographs, films and field notes.

Cicer arietinum
Chana pods on drying stems.
Chana pods on drying stems. From our farm archive.
The crop
Annual pulse · chickpea or Bengal gram
Growing season
Rabi in the recorded 2025–26 farm season; a cool-season crop whose progress depends on variety and weather.
Our notebook
Recorded season · Rabi 2025–26
MEET THE CROP

A closer acquaintance.

Chana brings the field down to a smaller scale: divided leaves, pale flowers and pods tucked among branching stems. The plant can keep making fresh growth after flowering begins, so flowers, filling pods and older pods may overlap. That makes a close walk more useful than judging the whole crop by colour from the boundary. In our Rabi 2025–26 season, three recorded varieties were kept separate through a harvest that unfolded over several weeks. The story connects the living crop with cutting, drying, threshing and cleaning—and leaves room for the patches whose behaviour we could not fully explain.

GENERAL GROWING GUIDE

How the crop grows.

Follow the stages. Their timing changes with the variety, weather and growing conditions.

  1. 01

    Roots, leaves and branches

    The seedling develops a taproot, lateral roots and a branching stem with small leaflets. Compatible soil bacteria can form nodules on its roots and help supply nitrogen. Good establishment gives the plant a foundation for its later flowers and pods.

  2. 02

    Flowering among new growth

    Pale flowers appear along the branches while the plant can continue making leaves and shoots. Chana’s indeterminate growth means flowering and vegetative growth can overlap. Late favourable moisture may encourage another flush instead of the whole crop drying together.

  3. 03

    Pods begin to fill

    Small pods form after flowering and their seeds expand. Open representative pods to see the difference between a developed outer pod and a filled seed. Plants and branches that flowered at different times may still be at different stages.

  4. 04

    Ripening, cutting and threshing

    Pods and seed change towards their mature colour as the crop dries. Cutting may proceed in stages where maturity differs. Further drying allows threshing to release the grain, followed by cleaning before storage or processing.

IN THE FIELD

What shapes the season.

Protect the root environment

Chana favours well-drained ground and tolerates waterlogging poorly. Plan irrigation around soil moisture and development rather than treating every green patch as thirsty. Fixing a leak can matter as much as providing a planned watering.

Support nodulation and soil fertility

Chana’s relationship with compatible bacteria can supply part of its nitrogen need, but it does not remove the need for fertile soil. Where inoculation is advised, the product must suit chickpea. Soil testing helps identify other nutrient needs without assuming every pulse feeds itself.

Reduce competition and follow the pods

Young chana leaves room for weeds between its branches. Timely removal reduces competition before flowering and pod filling. As harvest approaches, compare pod and seed development across the field so an unusually green patch does not dictate the treatment of everything around it.

FROM OUR FARM · RECORDED SEASON · RABI 2025–26

One season, in the notebook.

Daftari, Pusa Manav and Pusa 362 were followed through staged cutting and threshing. A small patch resumed leafy growth after flowering with its cause unresolved; unintended irrigation affected other patches. The final weight is a cleaned-grain total, not a per-area yield.

  1. Manual cutting began

    Cutting started on mature chana in one field.

  2. Harvest still uneven

    One field had been cut; the other was about 60% complete. Two plots remained green after unintended irrigation.

  3. A major threshing round

    The first major threshing covered the first field and part of the second, after the cut plants had dried.

  4. Final threshing reached

    The final lot had been threshed by this date. Cleaning and winnowing followed.

  5. Cleaned grain counted

    The recorded cleaned-grain total was 1,950 kg across the three varieties. Planted area by variety is needed before comparing yields.

These are dated entries from our farm. They describe this season’s work and results, rather than a schedule for another field.

CROP QUESTIONS

When the field looks different.

Green plants beside a mature crop

Compare pods and seeds, and trace the patch’s water and establishment history. Regrowth is possible, but the cause of the farm’s unusual flowering-then-leafy patch was not confirmed.

Read the field guide

An unclear journey into storage

Label lots through cutting, drying, threshing and cleaning. A finished threshing job does not establish that grain is ready for its intended storage conditions.

Read the field guide
FROM FIELD TO FOOD

Another life after harvest.

Chana can be kept as whole grain or processed into split dal and flour. These are different forms of the same crop, with cleaning, dehusking and splitting among the possible steps. Our season’s 1,950 kg record refers to cleaned grain before any later dal or flour recovery is measured.

See the food journey
CHOSEN FOR THIS CROP

Stay a little longer.

Journal / FIELD READING

Chana: a harvest in its own time

Three varieties, uneven ripening and a harvest that unfolded over several weeks. A Rabi season in words and photographs.

Farm story · 3 min read
Field Guide / FIELD READING

Chana from the pod to the pantry

Harvesting, cleaning and deciding between whole chickpeas and dal are separate pieces of the work.

Growing guide · 2 min read
Sources behind this profile

General growing information draws on the references below. Farm dates and quantities come from the owner’s working notes, also explained in the linked farm stories.