Drying Bean Seeds - Black Turtle

Minimum Seeds per Packet: 75

Packet Weight: 14g

Planting Season: After Last Frost

Sowing Method: Direct Seed

Seed Depth: 1"

Direct Seed Spacing: 1-3"

Soil Temperature: 60-80 ℉

Days to Sprout: 7-14

Mature Spacing: 3-4"

Sun Requirement: Full Sun

Frost Tolerance: Frost Sensitive

Days to Harvest: 90

When to Seed Drying Beans 

Drying beans are a fast-maturing, frost sensitive crop that should be directly seeded into the garden after all danger of frost has passed. 

Where to Plant Drying Beans

Drying beans will want a spot with full sun and loose, well-draining soil. They’ll love a spot rich in organic matter, but too much nitrogen can cause plants to produce more leaves than flowers or pods. 

Growing Drying Beans

Drying bean cultivars are primarily bush type, unless otherwise noted. If you do end up growing a pole or half-runner drying bean, be sure to provide a trellis. While any bean can be used as a drying bean, these varieties have been selected for flavor and production in regards to drying specifically. Plant drying beans one inch deep and one to three inches apart, in rows one to two feet apart. Once germinated, they can be thinned to their mature planting distance of three to four inches. Assuming your soil is high quality with well-aged organic matter, you shouldn’t have to apply any kind of fertilizer. Something that can be helpful is to use a legume inoculant. This ensures that legumes will have all of the symbiotic microbes they need. Typically, these microbes are already found in the soil but can be in low numbers if your garden is depleted or has recently been converted from a lawn. Make sure your beans get at least one inch of water per week. 

Harvesting Drying Beans

Unlike with your regular green bean plantings where you will harvest your beans often and before you see much bean development in the pods, with drying beans you want to leave the beans to mature and then ultimately dry on the plants for the best flavor and nutrition. Plan your plantings to leave at least four weeks for the beans to dry on the plant. After you separate your beans from the dry pods, spread your beans out to continue drying for at least two more weeks. We strongly recommend you freeze your beans for about two weeks before storage to kill any possible bean weevils that might be present.

Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) including bush beans and pole beans typically self-pollinate and only need to be isolated by about 20 feet from other bean varieties in order to save pure seed. Note: favas, runner beans, and asparagus beans are not the same species, and require more isolation distance. To collect viable bean seeds, wait to harvest until the pods turn brown on the plants. In dry climates, beans can be left to dry completely on the plants, but if you live in an area with high humidity or a lot of rain during the late summer and fall when beans are maturing, it’s a good idea to bring the mature pods indoors to finish drying on screens or spread out in a single layer on newsprint. Most gardeners shell their saved beans out of the pods by hand, though they can also be threshed and winnowed in large batches. Make sure your beans have completely dried down before storing them in sealed containers in a dark, dry, and cool location.