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Vegetable growing guide
Common beans, bush or pole, are quick, warm-season legumes. Sow them into warm, well-drained soil, give climbing types tall supports and pick pods often for a long harvest.
Choose bush (dwarf) types for small plots and quick crops, pole (climbing) types for a longer harvest from less ground. Where beans are grown for the first time, TNAU recommends treating seed with Rhizobium culture so the roots can fix nitrogen.
Not needed. Bean seed takes up water easily.
Not needed. Beans are frost-tender annuals and need warmth, not cold, to germinate.
Not needed. Sow dry seed into soil that is moist but not waterlogged, and water after sowing.
Beans need a soil temperature of at least 16 °C (60 °F). The good range is 16-29 °C (60-85 °F), the optimum about 27 °C (80 °F) and the upper limit 35 °C (95 °F). In cool soil seed sits and rots; in temperate climates wait until frost risk has passed, and warm the bed under fleece or cloches for a few weeks first.
2.5-5 cm (1-2 in): about 2.5 cm in heavy, moist soil and up to 5 cm in light, dry soil.
Well-drained, fertile loam. TNAU gives pH 5.5-6.0 and works in well-rotted manure before sowing. Avoid wet, heavy ground where seed rots.
Moist but not soggy until seedlings emerge. Once plants flower and set pods, water regularly in dry spells.
No light is needed for germination. Grow in an open, sunny position.
About 16 days at 15 °C (59 °F), 11 days at 20 °C (68 °F), 8 days at 25 °C (77 °F) and 6 days at 30 °C (86 °F).
Bush beans: about 15 cm (6 in) apart in blocks or double rows. TNAU sows two seeds per hill at 30 x 15 cm in the hills and 45 x 30 cm on the plains. Pole beans: 20 cm (8 in) apart in double rows 30 cm (12 in) apart, with 1.5 m (5 ft) between row pairs, or one or two seeds at the base of each cane, thinned to the strongest.
For an early crop sow single seeds 5 cm deep in pots, harden the seedlings off and plant out at about 8 cm (3 in) tall once frost risk has passed. Handle the roots gently.
Weed at about 20-25 and 40-45 days after sowing and draw soil up around the stems. Put up supports for pole beans by 20 days: canes or poles about 2.5 m (8 ft) tall. Twiggy sticks keep bush-bean pods off the soil.
TNAU lists bush varieties Arka Komal and Premier for the plains and YCD 1 and Ooty 2 for the hills, and pole types such as Ooty 1 and KKL-I. Sow small batches of bush beans every few weeks for a continuous supply.
Work well-rotted manure into the bed. TNAU adds nitrogen and phosphorus at sowing and, for pole beans, a balanced top dressing at 20 days; zinc and boron help on deficient soils.
Bush beans start giving green pods about 50 days after sowing, pole beans after 60-75 days. Pick pods young and regularly, typically at 15-20 cm (6-8 in) for French types, so the plants keep flowering.
For kidney and other dry beans, leave pods on the plant until they are dry and rattle, then shell and dry the seed fully before storing it cool and dry.
Fava, lima, adzuki, lablab and yardlong beans are different species with their own guides; this guide covers common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) only.
Sow bush or pole beans into warm soil for a fast, generous crop of pods.
Usually the soil was too cold or too wet and the seed rotted. Beans need at least 16 °C (60 °F) in the soil; at 25 °C they emerge in about eight days.
Bush beans need no tall supports and start cropping sooner, from about 50 days after sowing according to TNAU. Pole beans climb supports up to about 2.5 m and crop for longer from the same ground.
TNAU recommends October-November on the plains and February-March in the hills for bush beans; pole beans in February-March or July-August.
