# Bean harvest... how much to expect?



## whinnyninny (Aug 17, 2005)

We planted some beans last week (Jacob's Cattle) and this week we want to plant some October beans. 

There are 250 seeds of each type. Provided that they have adequate fertilizer, water, and other care, how many beans (in pounds or whatever) can I expect to harvest? How many beans can you typically harvest off one plant? Does anyone know? We planted about 50 plants of Jacob's Cattle last year and harvested about 1-2 cups of beans!! But we had an unusually wet summer (20" of rain in 2 months, normal might be 4-6" of rain in 2 months) and didn't get a good harvest of anything.


----------



## whinnyninny (Aug 17, 2005)

I did the math and if get a germination rate of 92% on the October beans (what the bag says), that's 230 plants, and if I get 20 beans off each plant (I don't know how many pods each plant might have), that'll be nearly 8 lbs of beans. (Seeds are $5.25 for 250... pinto beans at the store are $6 for 10 lbs).


----------



## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

Soy beans typically yield from 20 to 60 bushels of beans per acre. I would expect garden beans to have a similar yield potential. The benchmark for many crops is 60 pounds per bushels. Since I don't have a bushel nor bean chart I would figure on a lighter weight per bushel to be on the safe side.

Thus an acre yielding 1,000 plus pounds has 43,560 square feet. What fraction of an acre do you have in October beans?


----------



## Txsteader (Aug 22, 2005)

Not familiar with October beans, but I planted Jacob's Cattle for the first time this year and harvested a dozen or more pods per plant, most pods containing 6 beans (peas). I'm averaging 2 lbs. dried beans per 10' row, which my research indicates is above average (average being 1 lb/10'row).


----------



## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

For Jacob's Cattle and most other dry bush beans, you can expect a return of 120 to 1 under normal conditions. Poor soil, drought, and close planting would be factors which reduce the ratio of return. 

Martin


----------

