Green bean (snap bean)

Phaseolus vulgaris · Fabaceae

Easy, fast and heavy-yielding, with bush and pole types

Photo: Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sun: Full sun
Soil: Fertile, well-drained soil (clay loam is ideal)
Soil pH: 6.0-6.5 is ideal; range 5.8-7.0
Water: About 1 in per week, moistening the soil about 6 in deep. Most critical while pods develop. Sandy soils need more frequent watering
Hardiness: Frost-tender warm-season annual (USDA zones 2-11). Seed rots in cold soil
Height and spread: Bush types are low (about 2 ft). Pole types twine 6-8 ft on a trellis. Half-runners about 3 ft

Guv's tipSow bush beans every two to three weeks until late July or early August, and pick the pods young while they're succulent. Lovely.

Through the year

When to plant

Sow direct after frost once the soil is at least 60°F: South Carolina coast Apr 1-Jun 1 (fall Aug 1-Sep 1), South Carolina Piedmont Apr 15-Jul 1 (fall Jul 20-Aug 1), Connecticut mid-late May, Minnesota late May-early Jun. Sow bush beans every 2-3 weeks until late Jul or early Aug

Harvest or flowering

Summer into fall. Pick snap beans young, while the pods are succulent

Pruning

None. Support pole types on a trellis

Making more plants

Seed, sown direct about 1 in deep

Watch out for

Pest

Bean leaf beetle

Look for: Small round (shot) holes chewed in leaves; feeding on young plants reduces vigor; pod feeding causes scars/distortion

What to do: Remove plant debris and weedy cover where adults overwinter. In gardens, use floating row covers and remove beetles by hand. Rotate crops

Pest

Cutworms

Look for: Young plants cut off at the soil line

What to do: Cardboard/plastic stem collars, hand-pick at night, remove weeds and residue, till before planting; Bt kills young larvae

Disease

White mold

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

Look for: Stems rot and wilt; white cottony growth with black sclerotia

What to do: Wider spacing for airflow, avoid overhead watering, rotation

Disease

Bean rust

Uromyces appendiculatus

Look for: Orange to reddish-brown pustules on leaves

What to do: Disease-free seed, resistant varieties, rotation, remove residue

Always read and follow the label on any treatment, and check it is approved for use where you live.

Safety and spread

Pets and people: Green (snap) beans are safe for dogs, plain, raw or cooked. Raw or undercooked dry seeds (especially kidney beans) contain the lectin phytohaemagglutinin and cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea (NC State Extension: medium severity; the FDA lists it as a natural toxin). Not listed by the ASPCA

Weed risk: Not on the federal noxious weed list. The USDA PLANTS database shows no federal or state noxious or invasive status

Checked against two or more reputable gardening sources. How we check our facts

Growing somewhere else? See this plant for the UK and Australia.

Keep it by the back door

The Plant Doctor and the Guv's book

Printable pest and disease charts with real photographs, and all 50 USA plants in one book.

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