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Harvest and Storage
1. Usually swathed to reduce shatter (do not underestimate time required to do a good job of swathing).
2. Moisture at harvest can reduce yields and increase dockage. Lentils are very sensitive to harvest rainfall.
3. Lentils will lodge and swathing can be difficult.
4. Swath lentils when lower pods begin to speck or turn light brown and rattle and plants are yellowing but still appear greenish color.
5. Swath as low as possible to harvest all pods. A floating cutter bar on the swather with a pick-up reel works well.
6. 7-10 days are required for Lentils to dry in the swath. Rain at this time causes discoloration.
7. Reduce cylinder speed (350-400 rpm). To minimize chipping and splitting.
8. Lentils are considered dry at 14% moisture. Ideally, growers will start combining them at 18 to 20% moisture and dry lentils in aeration bins. This practice reduces shattering losses and mechanical damage to the seed. Overdry seed (less than 12% moisture) is extremely brittle and very susceptible to mechanical damage such as seed coat cracking and splitting of the seed. Lentil discolors when stored for any length of time. Therefore, you should attempt to market the crop within a year to avoid grade loss.
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