anybody grow lima beans?

[amberg]

"look out!" amberg's text is now enriched... lol

Big step for a dummy like me!!

 

[amberg]

Finally got the new seeds to come up, Don't think I am going to do any shucking anytime soon. They should start climbing this week I hope. A couple of the second planting have already got up about 3'.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Finally got the new seeds to come up, Don't think I am going to do any shucking anytime soon. They should start climbing this week I hope.

too close together amberg... wet the root balls and transfer them to another spot so that thay have at least 3' between them... 4-5 even better. they are lookin' good now! I transfer my stuff around all the time... worse than a housewife with the living room furniture.... just dig approp size receiver hole... water it well, then push spade in 4 times around plant, rock it so u get the entire root ball... those don't but need a hand trowel... and place the wetted plant and root ball into receiver hole. I moved mine all about. u will be glad u moved them. then build a cup around base so u can water and all water will run in towards the stem... and down into the root ball. lima bean plants are quite hardy and wont go into shock if u do it as stated here....

my plants are about 4' apart....and now are crowded!!

 

[amberg]

too close together amberg... wet the root balls and transfer them to another spot so that thay have at least 3' between them... 4-5 even better. they are lookin' good now! I transfer my stuff around all the time... worse than a housewife with the living room furniture.... just dig approp size receiver hole... water it well, then push spade in 4 times around plant, rock it so u get the entire root ball... those don't but need a hand trowel... and place the wetted plant and root ball into receiver hole. I moved mine all about. u will be glad u moved them. then build a cup around base so u can water and all water will run in towards the stem... and down into the root ball. lima bean plants are quite hardy and wont go into shock if u do it as stated here....

my plants are about 4' apart....and now are crowded!!

Don't really have anywhere to move them to, by the time they get the trellis covered over the tomato plants will probally be dead and out of the way. When they get ready to pull I can stand inside the trellis and pick them. But I do need to set up a couple more of those trellis out in a corn patch next year. Might even try some snaps that way also.

 

[Del_]

got quite a lot of next season's lima bean seeds. not sure how many. they r dried now and ready to be put up...
View attachment 511060

When you can't dent them with a thumb nail they are dry enough for storage.

We've had a bad infestation of the Asian Kudzu bug for the past five years and I've not grown Dr. Martin for the past three years as this bug has been most destructive. My seed is old and I've only got one plant up about two feet tall. The rest never came up. Not a good sign but I expected it and it is the reason for my not sharing seed.

https://www.google.com/search?q=asi...=VsR5V-2vOoPDmwGThJeQBg#imgrc=hVHQckPUS9hcLM:

On the lima bean spacing, pole. I go two foot apart. One thing to remember is that it is important for each plant to reach a mature stage so it produces seed. Too close a spacing grows a lot of foliage but little fruit. It's almost a universal rule among plants.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

When you can't dent them with a thumb nail they are dry enough for storage.

We've had a bad infestation of the Asian Kudzu bug for the past five years and I've not grown Dr. Martin for the past three years as this bug has been most destructive. My seed is old and I've only got one plant up about two feet tall. The rest never came up. Not a good sign but I expected it and it is the reason for my not sharing seed.

https://www.google.com/search?q=asian+stink+kudzu+bug&tbm=isch&imgil=hVHQckPUS9hcLM%3A%3B8ylUJI3bg_ioLM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fmcneelypest.com%252Fresidential-pest-controlkudzu-bugs%252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=hVHQckPUS9hcLM%3A%2C8ylUJI3bg_ioLM%2C_&usg=__rvDwBR8ADhRQqxpqD4Mx9jDMXuU=&biw=1680&bih=953&ved=0ahUKEwjtsp-h3NjNAhWD4SYKHRPCBWIQyjcIQA&ei=VsR5V-2vOoPDmwGThJeQBg#imgrc=hVHQckPUS9hcLM:

On the lima bean spacing, pole. I go two foot apart. One thing to remember is that it is important for each plant to reach a mature stage so it produces seed. Too close a spacing grows a lot of foliage but little fruit. It's almost a universal rule among plants.

thanks for the tip! I will ck mine out. they seem dry, but maybe could be drier. I grew my plants from seeds I had in storage for over 35 years!! yep!!!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

picked some more limas. seeds r growing in quantity. got some to eat as a side, also...

should get plenty more, lima plants still flowering nicely!

 

[amberg]

Limas are really starting to climb now, some already over 6' now. Checked the peppers also, not to much longer until I get me some stuffed peppers.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Limas are really starting to climb now, some already over 6' now. Checked the peppers also, not to much longer until I get me some stuffed peppers.

good garden!

 

[chuckwood]

Here's my current lima bean setup. I've got three sections of six foot high fence held up with t-posts. It totals up to maybe 80 to 90 running feet of fence. I built this thing during last winter. It's reinforced with two runs of steel cable, with the cable ends tied into angle iron stakes in the ground. The tension in the cables helps hold the whole thing together, making it less wobbly. I planted sugar snap peas on this thing real early in spring and got a huge crop this year. Almost filled a whole freezer shelf with sugar snaps and had plenty to give away. After the vines started dying off I planted pole limas to grow on the fence trellises, and used the dead pea vines to mulch the space in between them. Either I had a germination problem or some varmint birds dug up some of my seeds and ate them. These are King of the Garden variety, purchased for last year's growing season and kept in the freezer. I've got big gaps up to five feet between plants in certain spots. In the past, I've been thinning them out to about the same spacing as pole snap beans, and now I'm reading that may have been a mistake. I did have a huge viney mess last year on my single trellis setup, and the beans matured very slowly. With more space between pole lima plants I may get more beans faster with less vines and leaves? I did a second planting of lima beans to fill in the gaps in my rows, and the new seedlings have all come up quickly. I tried something new this time, I put the lima seeds sort of spread out sandwich like between two wet towels. I kept the towels moist for at least three days straight and around 3/4's of those lima seeds were sprouting in the towels. I planted the sprouts and they've done well so far. With what I've got now I figure I can get as close as two foot spacing in between each plant after thinning a bit. I'm going to experiment with different spacing between plants from row to row and see which spacing produces the best results. I'm hoping I'm not too late with this planting, but I've got a good 10 weeks of hot to warm weather left to go, and limas grow fast in mid summer. The seed bag says 75 days to maturity, but my experience so far growing them has been more like 85-90 days to maturity. For me, the best time to plant them would have been three weeks earlier than I did this year. I'm hoping I'm not too late with these. Next year I'll get 'em in earlier. Some of you other gardeners have limas that are a farther along than mine are.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

interesting. corn looks good! I put all bean seed - types onto friable ground and cover with grass cuttings... just enough so I cant see them... and keep watered. I get close to 100% germination. other than a bad seed here or there... and as we all know.... there is always at least one bad seed... lol hither or yond... I used to loose bean seeds to wet or rot. not any more. been doing it this way for many years... bulletproof!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

amberg - where are the pix of your corn patch and spuds, too while u r at it....?

 

[amberg]

Here's my current lima bean setup. I've got three sections of six foot high fence held up with t-posts. It totals up to maybe 80 to 90 running feet of fence. I built this thing during last winter. It's reinforced with two runs of steel cable, with the cable ends tied into angle iron stakes in the ground. The tension in the cables helps hold the whole thing together, making it less wobbly. I planted sugar snap peas on this thing real early in spring and got a huge crop this year. Almost filled a whole freezer shelf with sugar snaps and had plenty to give away. After the vines started dying off I planted pole limas to grow on the fence trellises, and used the dead pea vines to mulch the space in between them. Either I had a germination problem or some varmint birds dug up some of my seeds and ate them. These are King of the Garden variety, purchased for last year's growing season and kept in the freezer. I've got big gaps up to five feet between plants in certain spots. In the past, I've been thinning them out to about the same spacing as pole snap beans, and now I'm reading that may have been a mistake. I did have a huge viney mess last year on my single trellis setup, and the beans matured very slowly. With more space between pole lima plants I may get more beans faster with less vines and leaves? I did a second planting of lima beans to fill in the gaps in my rows, and the new seedlings have all come up quickly. I tried something new this time, I put the lima seeds sort of spread out sandwich like between two wet towels. I kept the towels moist for at least three days straight and around 3/4's of those lima seeds were sprouting in the towels. I planted the sprouts and they've done well so far. With what I've got now I figure I can get as close as two foot spacing in between each plant after thinning a bit. I'm going to experiment with different spacing between plants from row to row and see which spacing produces the best results. I'm hoping I'm not too late with this planting, but I've got a good 10 weeks of hot to warm weather left to go, and limas grow fast in mid summer. The seed bag says 75 days to maturity, but my experience so far growing them has been more like 85-90 days to maturity. For me, the best time to plant them would have been three weeks earlier than I did this year. I'm hoping I'm not too late with these. Next year I'll get 'em in earlier. Some of you other gardeners have limas that are a farther along than mine are.

View attachment 513224 View attachment 513225

Very nice patch. That corn looks super! That clover really helps the soil to.

 

[amberg]

amberg - where are the pix of your corn patch and spuds, too while u r at it....?

Corn pics. updated today in the view from the tractor seat.

 

[chuckwood]

Very nice patch. That corn looks super! That clover really helps the soil to.

Corn is doing real well. We've hot normal hot summer temps and enough rain. I've planted another patch of corn called "ambrosia", a new variety for me, but I've heard so many people raving about it that I had to plant some. I had to spray some of my corn plants with Sevin, there's a worm/insect that gets into the very top portion of the corn plant, where the pollinating tassels are emerging out the top, and it eats holes and leaves a bunch of stuff behind that looks like very fine, wet sawdust. With some Sevin sprayed in from the top downward, it seems to kill the bugs pretty well. I don't spray for the big worms that get into the tops of the ears, takes way too much spray and I don't want spray on my food. I just cut the tips of the ears off along with the worms when I'm processing the corn or getting it ready for corn on the cob. By the time the corn is ripe, they usually haven't eaten very far down the cob, most are entirely confined to the tips.

 

[amberg]

Was doing good, We need rain now on these patches, as they are tasseling, And we are 100+ degrees here now with no water.

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Was doing good, We need rain now on these patches, as they are tasseling, And we are 100+ degrees here now with no water.

nice pix, nice corn... but amberg - think u need to do some shredding!

 

[amberg]

nice pix, nice corn... but amberg - think u need to do some shredding!

" Shredding " I guess that you mean the tater patch. If so you are very right. The weeds have taken over. But the helper said that he can take care of that, And I told him to go for it, When we dig I " WILL " have pics, I hope,

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

" Shredding " I guess that you mean the tater patch. If so you are very right. The weeds have taken over. But the helper said that he can take care of that, And I told him to go for it, When we dig I " WILL " have pics, I hope,

tell him to do that roadway too... how come u so far behind with your shredding amberg?? you been spending too much time on the AS? lol

 

[amberg]

Might have a few limas before frost. They are running pretty good now. ( I know a poor excuse for a garden )