Green beans, also known as string beans or snap beans, are a popular legume to almost every family over the world. It is a favorite green veggie with a lightly sweet taste and can be cooked in different ways.
To have quality green beans and to adjust how many green beans per plant are grown, a gardener has to take care of not only a careful plan to have the most beans but also various factors related to productive yields.
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What month do you plant beans?
The climate in different regions might affect the choice of the proper planting season.
The beginning of spring, after the frost passes, is normally the ideal time of the year to plant green beans. The soil temperature at this moment is around 55oF and the air temperature is around 60oF.
The reason is because green beans are quite sensitive to frost. Cold and moist soil will cause a delay in the germination or result in rot seeds.
It’s not necessary that green beans needed to be planted at the exact beginning of the season. A gardener can wait from 2 to 4 weeks for the ground to warm up after the cold season.
More interestingly, fall crops are also recommended by some researchers. The crop in this season brings about a lower yield of beans, but they are in better quality than spring beans.
A gardener should see what he would like to focus on – the quantity or the quality of beans as this will be related to how much green beans per plant cost.
Tip: Do not soak the seeds in water before planting because this process may take away the oxygen, damaging the embryos.
How long does it take for green beans to grow?
There are 2 different sorts of snap beans based on their feature of growing.
Bush beans are more suitable for small garden beds because plants don’t take up too much space. By the way, they are easy to grow without any needed support. The beans are ready for a large harvest at once in about 50 to 55 days.
On the other hand, pole beans require larger space and support as a pole or a trellis to climb on. Instead of one harvest, the plants produce beans again and again for a longer period – from 55 to 65 days if a regular harvest is maintained.
The best advice is to read the packet as different factors will affect the bean quantity and quality. Check your beans every single day to be sure that they are ready to be collected.
How many times do green beans produce?
Mature bush beans generally reach about 2 feet tall, which is a good time for harvest. They grow pods for a few weeks and then stop. This sort of beans, as mentioned above, will be ready for 1-time collecting, so gardeners need to prepare for the next crop in advance.
However, it takes a longer period for pole beans for a crop. Pole beans can grow up to 10 feet tall, and give a more productive crop. Especially, you can harvest the beans regularly, so the growing season is extended, leading to an increase in your green bean’s productivity.
Tip for collecting green beans:
- The best time of the day to collect the beans is in the morning when the sugar level is at the peak.
- For bush beans, don’t forget to search thoroughly inside the bushes.
- For pole beans, they should be collected upon reaching the length off 4-5 inches, before the inside seeds begin to bulge. If you see this happens, it means that the beans are past their peak and will be harder.
- Cut the plant when pole beans reach the top of the support, which enables them to concentrate more energy on more pods.
- Be careful when picking the beans as it’s easy to tear the plants.
How many green beans per plant?
It depends on various factors such as regions, weather, pests, soil, cultivars or even seasons for a high yield. Therefore, it’s important for gardeners to have a good plan for a good yield.
Ideally, for a 100-feet row of bush beans with a distance of 2 to 3 feet between 2 plants, a harvest that can be achieved is around 30-75 lbs of beans. If seeds are organic, the harvest can be up to 150 lbs. Hence, it can be understood that the productivity of a bush bean and an organic bean plant can be around 0.125 lb – 0.1875 lb and 0.25 lb – 0.375 lb respectively.
Regarding pole beans, for an acre of land with 3-5 plants per feet of row and the distance between rows at 4-5 feet, the yield would be around 250 to 300 bushels, equivalent to 6000 to 7200 lbs of string beans. Therefore, a pole bean plant can produce 0.165 lb – 0.23 lb of string beans.
How to get the highest yield?
1. Sun
It’s necessary to have your plants under full sunlight – around 8-10 hours per day.
However, what you have to bear in your mind is that the extreme heat might cause the beans to stop flowering if you decide to have the beans in summer. A solution to this would be to water your plant to create the balance for the plants.
2. Soil
First of all, before planting anything, particularly green beans, remember to remove all weeds and trash to refresh the soil.
Second, always moisturize the roots by covering them with soil. You have to ensure that it is well-drained so you don’t have your root rotted.
3. Water
Water is another important factor in the quality of yield. After planting the beans, the soil needs to be watered regularly until the seeds sprout.
Green beans need around 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week. It will be more effective to water in the ground or to have a drip system than water rapidly from above. This can keep the leaves clean and avoid diseases.
However, if something is too little or too excessive, the effect might be inverse. Therefore, you can always check the ground moisture by using your fingers to see if the ground is watered enough.
4. Fertilizer
An annual soil test is recommended so that gardeners can choose the proper fertilizer rate. You can begin to fertilize the soil after heavy bloom.
As green beans can adjust the level of their nitrogen, no additional fertilizer is needed. Also, it’s better to have a dressing of compost rather than a growing season rather than liquid fertilizer.
5. Temperature
Green beans produce the highest yields in air temperature at between 650F to 800F while the soil temperature should be at least 500F to 600F. If the temperature is above 80⁰F or below 50⁰F, the growth of the crop might be hindered.
Conclusion
All in all, green beans are one of the top choices of gardeners as they are quite productive and easy to grow. If you are patient and take your time to observe as well as to understand the rules of beans, you will be able to adjust the number of green beans per plant to have a good harvest.