Sean Straw wrote:
songbird wrote:

soybeans or edamame? (they are different varieties)

The varieies I have a

Tokio Verte (from Baker Creek), Green Butterbeans (from Johnny's).
These were grown last year, and the year prior (respectively).

Also have Fledderjohn (Baker Creek), and Fiskeby Edamame (High Mowing)
to try this year.

ALL of them are described as "edamame type".

I'd let them to to dry beans as it seemed that the pods never got all
that plump until they just started going dry, as if the seeds were
doing a last grab for moisture after the shell passed its prime.

ok, edamame type are not what i have grown
here. so that could be the entire difference.
after this season i'll know a little more about
growing one variety of edamame and see if they
are of similar size plant to the "regular"
soybeans i have been growing.

however, below you mention growing them with
pole beans and if that is the case they might
not be getting enough sun to produce well.

try a regular organic soybean variety instead.
that will give you a direct comparison planting
them side by side for your conditions.


perhaps they could use an innoculant.

Tons of N in the soil here, though I do use a legume innoculant as
well.

when you pull the plants out of the ground do
they have nodules on the roots?

grr, i wish i can remember exactly, i think
soybeans take a different species of bacteria
than a regular bean plant. i've not needed to
innoculate here as there are soybean growers
all over the place. when i dig up plants there
are always plenty of nodules on the roots.


from what you've written before i think you have open skies
and plenty of space. are you in the foggy zone?

No, north of SF and the gate. We get cooling night fog on some summer
nights and have a longer than average growing season for the region.

ok,


the patches i've grown here have yeilded about 5lbs
per 40-60sq ft.

5 lbs green or let to dry? Yes, I realize that most bean plants stop
flowering if the beans are left on the plant too long (i.e. to dry),
so dry harvest is less than green harvest (besides the difference in
moisture content).

soybeans will keep flowering. i have some plants
where i've seen 15 pods per node. i've never seen
anything other than a bush type of soybean. 4-5ft
tall.

5lbs dry.

planted 1lb of seeds last year and ended up
with 44lbs harvested/sorted. i wasn't particularly
careful in how i planted them, so easily i could
improve that by half or more again if i spaced
them out more and didn't plant two seeds per space.
i didn't have that much room.

this year i'll have a thousand more sq ft of
room for bean varieties, but i'm not going to be
planting as many soybeans as i did last year.
i'd rather grow the kinds of beans i can store
and cook for food and it will take me a few years
to use up the soybeans i've already got on hand
if i can't sell them.


How densely planted? I had 6 or 8 plants last year. They were very
green, but never got more than about 12-18 inches tall. they weren't
vining, so didn't seem like the sort to be on a trellis. The pole
beans were adjacent and were producing like nuts.

i plant densely enough so that the plants will
support each other against the winds we get. most
of my patches are about 50sqft. 4-6 inch spacing.
the plants on the edge are larger than the plants
in the middle. they self crowd and regulate so that
if i planted thinner they would probably produce
about as well. some plants will have hundreds of
seeds and others will have one pod. i plant thickly
as i use them for weed control, and controlling
runners for strawberries.

if you recall the pictures from the roof i put up
a bit ago and the one that i called the jungle, the
biggest clumps of beans in there were soybeans about
4ft tall.


i give them some water from the hose.

Mine were part of a timed irrigation with my pole beans on a soaker
hose.

hmm, ok,


my soybeans are twice to three times as tall.

Free standing or supported? How tall?

free standing, supporting each other, 4-5ft max,
un-irrigated fields right next to us normally reach
1-2ft plants. same exact seeds the first season i
tried them (then i switched to an organic non-roundup-
ready source). i use them to make soymilk and as
a green manure, ground cover, worm food, shade
provider, strawberry runner control, soil improver,
etc.


I have some mung beans growing, but I've never grown them before
(outside of for sprouts). They're all remaining awfully small -
basically not much larger than a sprout.

how much moisture are they getting?

Moist soil, but not soaking. I just transplanted them out this
morning. Not anything near being root bound or anything in the
containers they were in. I half expect the birds will clear them out
soon enough.

they'll do much better when they get some good
strong light for a several full days.

beans sprout quickly enough and are planted deeply
enough that i've never done the sprout indoors before
planting thing. i don't get much bird damage, more
often the damage here is grasshoppers, japanese beetles,
mice, voles, and chipmunks. none of them enough to
worry about.


songbird