- About Dry Beans
- Video: High-Value Crops & Varieties for Your Garden • Tutorial with Niki Jabbour
- About Snap, String & Green Beans | What to Look For
- Types of Beans | Bean Basics From Johnny's Selected Seeds
- Bush Bean Varieties | Comparison Chart (PDF)
- Bean FAQs
- Bush Beans | Key Growing Information
- French Filet Beans | Key Growing Information
- Fresh Shell Beans | Key Growing Information
- Dry Bean | Key Growing Information
- Fava Bean | Key Growing Information
- Lima Bean | Key Growing Information
- Pole Bean | Key Growing Information
- Soybean | Key Growing Information
- Video: How to Grow Bush Beans • From Seed to Harvest
- About Pole Beans | 6 Steps to Success: Select Varieties, Plant Seed & Set Up Your Trellis
Dry Bean - Key Growing Information
CULTURE: Choose well-drained soil with a pH above 6.0. After the last frost date sow seeds directly into the garden soil about 2" apart, 1" deep, in rows 20–36" apart. Optimum soil temperature for germination is 70–90°F (21–32°C). Plant when daytime soil temperatures average at least 60°F (16°C), or risk poor germination. Inoculants can increase yields. For a continuous supply make successive sowings every 2–3 weeks through midsummer. Dark-colored seeds germinate better in cool soil than white seeds.
DISEASES: Plow under or remove and compost bean straw in the fall to hasten destruction of most disease organisms. Diseases affecting beans include blights, anthracnose, sclerotinia, and mosaic. Plant in well-drained soil, keep free of weeds, and do not handle when wet with rain or dew. Practice a three-year crop rotation, preferably into corn or grain crops. All our bush bean seeds are Halo-Blight free.
INSECT PESTS: Mexican bean beetles can be controlled with insecticides such as pyrethrin or azadirachtin.
HARVEST: When at least 90% of leaves have fallen and pods are dry, pull plants out by the roots. Complete drying under cover if weather is wet.
THRESHING: Depending on quantity, thresh by: (1) shelling pods individually; (2) holding several plants by the roots and banging back and forth inside a barrel or trash can; (3) stepping on a large, closed bag full of dry plants; or (4) using a properly adjusted threshing machine.
STORAGE: Make sure beans are dry (max. 9% moisture) and then store in a cool, dry place. Freeze dry beans to control storage insect pests.
AVG. SEEDING RATE: 1 lb./115', 9 lb./1,000', 125 lb./acre at 7 seeds/ft. in the row and rows 3' apart.
SEED SPECS: SEEDS/LB.: See individual varieties.
PACKET: 100 seeds, sows 14'.