# Dry beans aren't worth growing -



## happydog (May 7, 2008)

I just had someone tell me that. They say you don't get enough to make it worth the space. REALLY??

Do you grow beans specifically for dried beans? I do but I have to admit I don't end up with stellar yields compared to, say, green beans that are continually harvested. Is there anything I can do to maximize their yield? I bought inoculant this year.


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## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

We grow horticulture beans and pick them when the hulls turn color from green to an off white with pinkish stripes and get 2-3 pickings from them.. They are not totally dry, but we pressure can them for a nice pinto type bean.. The last picking can be left on the vines to dry. This also opens up room for fall crops to be planted after the vines die. We pull them up and pick the remaining beans off under the shade tree, rework the ground, and plant cabbage and so on...

When we are done canning the green beans, we also let most of them dry up for shell outs. They make a nice soup bean as well.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

I sort of feel that way about sweet corn and lima beans. I love lima beans, but they take up so much space and have so little yield compared to green beans. I would like to try some beans for drying though.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

sorry, duplicate post


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## Stephen in SOKY (Jun 6, 2006)

Pintos & great northerns may well be a losing proposition as they're cheap in the store. Navy, dk red kidney and other beans are significantly higher and I suspect it would pay to grow those. I use quite a few pounds of navy and should probably be raising those. Like KyCountry, I always grow a few rows (225 feet this year) of Dwarf Horticulturals just for dried beans.


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

Vermont Bean Seed Co has quite a selection of dried beans to choose from, and I usually grow some kinds for home use each year. Doesn't take that much space, and you get back nitrogen and organic matter for reuse next year since beans are a legume plant. You do have to plan for a long growing period and good dry-down weather in your area, since wetness can spoil the beans in the pods. For that reason, I grow bush type dry beans--not runner types that could get entwined and touch the wet ground in September....

I planted Kenerly(formerly Maine Yellow Eye) last year and have plenty for the coming year. Also, Jacob's Cattle Bean, and this year they sent me a trial pack of Money Beans. Nothing better than a pot of beans in the crockpot when the wind's blowing cold and snowy.....

Oh yes, Kenerly(Maine Yellow Eye) has the reputation of beng non-gassy.......you can tell by the brown spot that they are pre-farted...... 

geo


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

We love crowder peas and they are very reliable in hot dry conditions. They're heavy producers too. They aren't very commonly found in stores and are expensive to buy. In the old days folks in this area grew tons of peas as animal and people food. They're so easy to grow they'd just broadcast sow a field of them and leave them till harvest. They grow so fast they shade weeds out pretty well.

I like to keep viable seed around for anything I might want in the case of something happening where we couldn't buy seed for awhile. Better safe than hungry or in a govt "camp" lol. We buy different varieties of organic beans in bulk for eating pretty reasonably through our food co-op - they could be used for seed if needed as being organic they aren't irradiated.

We always grow plenty of dwarf horticultural beans (october beans, shelly beans etc. they have many names) as shell beans and dry beans also, because that's another one you can't really buy.


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## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

I don't think the most important things when growing dry beans are productivity or the price of them in the stores.. I thought most wanted to know what they are eating and what chemicals are used on them, I know I do.. 

The higher price of growing them and extra space and work is what we pay to know this. 

Just something to ponder on..


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## alpidarkomama (Jan 22, 2012)

We did pinto beans and got 1 lb., 9 oz. out of 24 square feet. I'm waiting to see what the soy bean yield is.  I don't think it was really "worth" it, but it sure was fun!


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

happydog said:


> I just had someone tell me that. They say you don't get enough to make it worth the space.


I would actually agree with that. Unless you have a lot of area to plant, so that covering a lot of area with beans wasn't an issue, then I would choose to not plant them. That's jmho, but in my experience beans are a lot of work and take up a lot of space to get a good sized harvest.


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## happydog (May 7, 2008)

I grow them because I can't buy Dolloff or Tobacco Worm beans in the store. Or Violet"s Multicolored Butterbeans or Good Mother Stallard or Pinkeye Purple Hull or Mississippi Silver Hull. Or Hutterite.

Mine didn't do real well last year but I thought it was because I wasn't able to plant until very late in the season. And I found out my ph was really low. To console myself I went to Rancho Gordo and bought a wide selection of heirloom beans to sample.  

To me they're worth growing just to eat really good beans. But it is kind of disappointing to plant an entire packet of seeds and only end up with enough beans for a few meals. Compared to something like zucchini where you plant one seed and feed everybody on the block. OBVIOUSLY, I need to plant larger amounts, lol.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

We can our snap beans when the seed is quite large. Add 5 minutes to the canning time. Dark seeded ones are the best for this. But you have to have a large garden to grow dry beans. Which I don't.


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## imthedude (Jun 7, 2011)

wouldn't necessarily say they aren't worth growing, but you do have to have a decent amount of space to get a good amount of return. i grew some pintos last year, and their yield wasn't bad. our problem is that my wife doesn't care much for pintos, navy's, black beans, etc., so it doesn't really pay for me to devote space to them.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

If given proper spacing, one plant should return about 120 beans. At that rate, pound of pinto beans could give 120#. Those who claim less usually crowd them like snap beans and that doesn't work well. They're lucky to get a 60:1 return. I planted 30 varieties of dry bush beans this and every one at 6" to 8" spacing depending upon the known plant growth habits.

Martin


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## silverseeds (Apr 28, 2012)

Your spot on paquebot. especially on the .. "Those who claim less usually crowd them like snap beans and that doesn't work well."...


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## happydog (May 7, 2008)

Geesh, I probably made that mistake too. In fact I know I did. 6-8" looks like a lot for one tiny seed. I plant them in wide rows, about 30" wide.

I bet I planted the pole beans too close together. Yay, now I know the secret! Thanks!


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I found out this year that some beans are best for dried beans and some are not. My family doesn't like beans. But I have to have some because they are an important nutrient source. I'm growing dried beans that have a smaller bean. Then when I put them in chili, they won't bug the family so much. Paquebot's True Red Cranberry and brown and black turtle as well as adzuki are the ones I am growing this year. A couple quart jars of each will do us easily.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

happydog said:


> Geesh, I probably made that mistake too. In fact I know I did. 6-8" looks like a lot for one tiny seed. I plant them in wide rows, about 30" wide.


First thing to do when planning a new dry bush bean is read the description. It will generally say how tall they get. How high they get is about 25% more than their width. Dry beans are grown as a determinate so they must put all of their pods on at one time. To do that, they need all of the branches that they can form. If you ever have doubts on any bush bean, grow just one in a 5-gallon pail. 



> I bet I planted the pole beans too close together. Yay, now I know the secret! Thanks!


Pole beans can be squeezed down to 3" if the ground is real rich. I use 4" with few exceptions. 

Martin


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Callieslamb said:


> I found out this year that some beans are best for dried beans and some are not. My family doesn't like beans. But I have to have some because they are an important nutrient source. I'm growing dried beans that have a smaller bean. Then when I put them in chili, they won't bug the family so much. Paquebot's True Red Cranberry and brown and black turtle as well as adzuki are the ones I am growing this year. A couple quart jars of each will do us easily.


If you like the turtles, try to remember to ask me for the spotted one. Same size and taste as the black and brown and may be a bit more productive. Best black production was exactly 240 beans from one plant but that one had also been allowed to climb a fence. Spotted averaged probably 150 per plant last year and is the only turtle planted this year.

Martin


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

...I guess I better go thin my 'Coco Noir' beans then...the directions that came with them said to plant the seeds 4" appart and gave no further instruction on spacing....


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

NickieL said:


> ...I guess I better go thin my 'Coco Noir' beans then...the directions that came with them said to plant the seeds 4" appart and gave no further instruction on spacing....


Coco Noir is not a dry bean but rather a flat snap bean. It's also a "dwarf" so you might be OK. Beans don't like to be transplanted and I hate to cut any off. I'd rather suffer a blank spot from a no-show than kill a perfectly healthy plant. I've got 15 varieties of snap bush beans in the ground so far and everything is about 8" spacing in a double row as wide as the Mantis can make it. No need to sacrifice a single seed.

Martin


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

Martin does the spacing matter as much with field type peas as it does with dry beans?


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

alpidarkomama said:


> We did pinto beans and got 1 lb., 9 oz. out of 24 square feet. I'm waiting to see what the soy bean yield is.  I don't think it was really "worth" it, but it sure was fun!


I would consider that pretty good yield from a small area. 1 lb 9 oz would could about $3 in the store to buy and you might get one to two meals from it. I recently made hummas from a 1 lb bag of chickpeas and that gave me enough hummas for three days worth of meals and snacks. I was eating large portions also.

If a person is looking to feed themselves for the long term I would think that a person would need at least a 20'x20' plot to grow the dry beans in.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

I plant four pole beans, in a circle, 3 inches away from the single rope that they will all climb. They seem to love it. By letting them bunch up together on the same string they seem to be able to take the heat and the strong sun of the summer a little better. They all seem nice and happy with enough room in the soil to wiggle their toes.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Cliff said:


> Martin does the spacing matter as much with field type peas as it does with dry beans?


Peas are different in that they support each other as they grow upwards. That places the pods higher up for ease in harvest. They are generally drilled in at about 3" spacing and rows 7" to 8" apart. 

For beans, I'll know exactly within a few days. About 50' from my garden will be the corner of about 40 acres of yellow snap beans. They're scheduled for planting Monday or Tuesday with a soybean planter. Since it will be a type which is grown as a determinate, spacing in the row will be around 4" with single rows about 15" apart 

Martin


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## happydog (May 7, 2008)

Paquebot said:


> Peas are different in that they support each other as they grow upwards. That places the pods higher up for ease in harvest. They are generally drilled in at about 3" spacing and rows 7" to 8" apart.
> 
> Martin


Just to clarify, are you talking about english/green peas here, or field peas/cowpeas?


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

The peas in my reference are Pisum which would be what are often referred to as English peas. If it's cowpeas, just happen to have a packet of pinkeye purple pod in front of me and recommended spacing is 3".

Martin


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## Randy Rooster (Dec 14, 2004)

The whip-poor-will field peas I plant, I put 2-3 inches apart in a double row about 6 inches apart - a lot of folks around here just till up a patch and broadcast them by hand.

Martin - the vermont cranberry, tongue of fire, and etna beans you sent me are all doing well and should make a great crop - this year its all about finding which does best for me and building up my seed stock - theyre already in bloom - if I can keep the dag gone kudzu bugs off them.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Randy Rooster said:


> The whip-poor-will field peas I plant, I put 2-3 inches apart in a double row about 6 inches apart - a lot of folks around here just till up a patch and broadcast them by hand.


I spaced my whippoorwills about 5" in a staggered double row 8" wide. The extra space is to allow hoeing rather than weeding.



> Martin - the vermont cranberry, tongue of fire, and etna beans you sent me are all doing well and should make a great crop - this year its all about finding which does best for me and building up my seed stock - theyre already in bloom - if I can keep the dag gone kudzu bugs off them.


You have kudzu bugs, I have Japanese beetles. Not certain if a trade would benefit either of us.

Martin


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

Paquebot said:


> If you like the turtles, try to remember to ask me for the spotted one. Same size and taste as the black and brown and may be a bit more productive. Best black production was exactly 240 beans from one plant but that one had also been allowed to climb a fence. Spotted averaged probably 150 per plant last year and is the only turtle planted this year.
> 
> Martin


Sounds good. I'll make a note of it for next year. I always put my beans on at trellis. Mine is made of strings currently. I prefer poles over bush beans now that my joints prefer to reaching up to reaching down. I only grow bush beans because they cover the ground so well and I don't have to weed as much.
I made a mistake and planted the cranberries like they were bush...so when the McCaslans behind them come up- I'll waste those and let the reds climb the trellis. I have plenty of McCaslans. I'm growing out the red cranberries for seeds this year.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

I've been 5 years stabilizing the turtle mutants and the spotted one has come back true for past 2 seasons. The brown shows various degree of color from tan to dark brown. I'm not going to promote that one anymore and others can keep it going if they like. 

You have to pay attention to the cranberry bean descriptions to be certain of the growth habit. True Red Cranberry is a pole while Vermont Cranberry is a bush. 

Martin


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