Beans, Snap

Phaseolus vulgaris (Fabaceae or legume family)

Production

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Soil preparation and rotation

• Beans should not follow after other legumes, lettuce, carrots, nightshades, Brassicas or a lush green manure.
• Rotate after cereals (grains like corn and rye, or oats) to avoid soilborne diseases. Beans do quite well when planted through a rolled and crimped rye cover crop. Growing beans in rolled and crimped rye can reduce the incidence of white mold (Sclerotinia).
• Apply compost and other amendments based on the results of a soil test.
• Spread lime as needed to increase both the pH and Ca levels. Dolomite lime will also increase Mg levels. Spread gypsum when calcium levels are low but pH is correct.
• Total nutrient uptake can reach 170 lbs. of N (with a significant amount coming from N-fixing bacteria), 16 lbs. of P and 80 lbs. of K. Apply compost and other amendments based on the results of a soil test. Too much nitrogen will cause beans to get floppy and fall over.

Common recommended fertilizer rates¹

Nitrogen	Phosphorus	Potassium	pH
40	0-100	0-80	6.2-6.4
1Rates are for New York and are from Cornell University’s Nutrient Guidelines for Commercial Vegetable Production (2019). Check the Cornell website for updated guidelines, or consult with local experts for recommended rates outside New York.

Varieties

• West Virginia green bean variety trial
• Indiana green bean variety trial
• Maxibel, Jade, Isar and Royal Burgundy are favorites for hand picking. The better varieties for machine picking, such as Caprice, contain more fiber, which helps avoid bruising and breaking. Caprice is still tender when harvested a few days late.

Direct seeding information in 30- or 36-inch rows (a tractor with 60- or 72- inch wheel spacing)

• Plant beans when the soil temperature is above 60°.
• Inoculate beans with Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. Phaseoli to enhance N fixation, especially in fields where you haven’t grown beans before.
• Most rows are 30–36 inches apart because this allows for good airflow. Some growers add the biological control Trichoderma (available as RootShield or a similar product) in the planter box to avoid damping off.
• You can also transplant beans using a paper-pot planter, which allows you to get optimum spacing. Start paper pots in the greenhouse. This results in a high rate of germination, and pot spacing of 4 inches (LP303-10) is optimal for easy picking. Plant in the field when the beans are in the cotyledon stage. Completely bury the pot and young plant when planting. They will emerge within 1–2 days. Planting later leads to transplant shock. One tray of LP303-10 can plant one 100-foot row.

Seeder	Rows	Seeds per foot	Seed plate no.	Depth (inches)	Sprocket setting	Notes
Planet Jr.	2	24	Hole #32	1/2-1		Will need thinning as the optimum spacing is 2–4 inches.
MaterMacc	2	12	24 H 4.5	1/2-1	22-27	A higher population is used to facilitate a narrow harvest window for machine picking.
Jang	2	6	N-6	1/2-1	Front 14/rear 9	Difficult to get the correct plant spacing with this seeder.

Seeding time and successions

• Plant seed when the ground is warm and no frost is in the forecast. For the northern United States, successions start in May and end sometime in July.
• Plant each succession when the cotyledons are up on the previous planting. Generally, allow 10–14 days between the first and second succession, and end with intervals of 7 days for a continuous harvest.
• This succession method is more challenging when starting plants in the greenhouse. In this case, plant the second planting 10–14 days after the first one, and then reduce the interval by 1 day until you’re on a weekly schedule. This helps you avoid a situation where several successions are ready to harvest at the same time.

Cultivation procedures

• Prepare the seedbed 2 weeks in advance, then again before planting. For machine picking, don’t make a raised bed, as a machine harvester needs a flat field. 
• Use a finger weeder with torsions in combination with side knives, or alternatively use spring hoes in combination with side knives when weeds are in a white thread stage, or as soon as possible without damaging the crop. Don’t use spring hoes when planning to machine harvest, as the machine will pick up soil along with the beans. 
• When hand picking, you can use Lilliston rolling cultivators for the last cultivation, or hill with a wheel hoe. Set hillers less aggressively so they hill the plants only slightly.

Frost, disease and insect protection

• Beans are very cold sensitive. Plant after the last frost date or protect your first plantings with row covers. Harvest before the first frost.
• For leafhoppers, use sticky cards to monitor their presence. To control them, use Beauveria bassiana at the nymph stage. For severe infestations of leafhoppers use an OMRI-listed pyrethrum product like PyGanic EC 5.0II at the nymph stage; for best results repeat for three 5-day applications. Pyrethrum breaks down quickly when exposed to UV light (it has a half life of 12 hours) and is considered among the shortest-acting insecticides. It’s also toxic to bees and other pollinators. For both reasons, apply a pyrethrum-based product in the evening. 
• You can prevent cutworms by spraying the soil with the beneficial nematode Steinernema carpocapsae. Once the pest is in the crop, control the population by spraying the crop with Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki, or spread a baited product containing spinosyn, like Seduce, around the plants.
• For control of white mold (Sclerotinia sclenotorium), plant beans in areas with good airflow and water drainage; use multi-year rotations (at least 3 years); and incorporate the biological control Coniothyrium minitans (such as the product Contans). Apply this product to the soil up to 2 months before planting or directly in the planter box. Planting beans after grain crops or mustard also reduces disease pressure. 
• Phytophthora blight (Phytophthora capsici) is a devastating disease that can be caused by flooding or standing water. There is currently no remedy for this disease. It’s recommended to rotate an infected field out of rotation for several years and use biofumigants like mustard to reduce the presence of this pathogen.
• Ozone injury: While ozone injury can dramatically reduce yields, unfortunately there is no remedy. It’s mentioned here as it is quite common and often mistaken for a plant disease. 

Other cultural practices

• Irrigate frequently for optimum yield and plant health. Frequency depends on soil type, evaporation, precipitation and the particular needs of the crop. 

Double cropping and/or cover cropping

• You can plant another short-season vegetable crop like transplanted lettuce, kohlrabi or baby bok choy after early-planted beans.
• For later dates, work under any harvest remains to avoid insect or pathogen build up, and plant a cover crop. In the northern United States and Canada, you can follow summer- and early-fall-harvested beans with a cover crop of oats and peas in September, or rye and vetch planted at later dates. Adjust accordingly in other regions.

Additional resources

• Organic Production and IPM Guide for Snap Beans

Harvest

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Harvest and cleaning procedures

• When hand harvested, you can harvest the plants several times, increasing the overall yield.
• Keep the stem intact when harvesting by hand.
• Bring beans in regularly to the packing shed or keep them in shade to avoid field heat accumulation and wilting.
• Wash hands before handling produce and boxes.
• Wash hands and rinse boots before entering the wash-and-pack shed, and cover up field clothes with a bib. If a long-sleeve shirt contains soil, remove this as well.
• When machine harvesting, dump beans on a conveyor belt that leads to a well-lit sorting line. Remove all broken beans, pin beans, beans with defects and stems that don’t fall through the sorting line.
• Don’t harvest when the plants are wet.
• If necessary, wash beans in cold water. Add a sanitizer like hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid to the water for the first washing in the washing tub, or in the circulation tank of the rinse conveyor vegetable washer. Use the guide How to Wash Produce Using a Peracetic Acid Solution to establish how much sanitizer solution to add to water.
• Allow beans to dry before placing in storage, as any Sclerotinia (grey mold) and cottony leak (Pythium spp.) will quickly spread under wet conditions in the cooler.

Additional resources

• Snap Bean Post Harvest Factsheet
• Wholesale Grading and Packing Instructions
• U.S. Standards for Grades of Snap Beans
• Production Guide for Storage of Organic Fruits and Vegetables

Packing and storage summary for snap beans

Cleaning in the field	When machine picked, adjust the blower so only pin beans and leaves blow out of the stack.
Packing in the field	One person rides on the bean picker to switch boxes and to adjust the machine and signal to the driver to speed up or slow down, depending on yield and other conditions.
Packing for delivery	Pack beans in ½ bushel or 1 ⅑-bushel boxes at either 15 or 31 lbs. for wholesale. See the International Federation for Produce Standards for the correct PLU code. Add the prefix 9 for organic crops. A clean box of choice for CSA distribution. Use a clean box of choice for CSA or farmers market distribution
Storage	Store at 41–45° and 95% humidity but never under wet conditions or below 40°, to avoid chilling injury. Beans are moderately sensitive to ethylene exposure. Allow for good air exchange and don’t store with crops that release ethylene.

This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.