The Latest Kidney Bean Planting Techniques and Methods Tutorial
The scientific name of the kidney bean is Phaseolus vulgaris (commonly known as the second-season bean or four-season bean), of the Fabaceae family, genus Phaseolus, native to Mexico and the Americas, and spread throughout the world starting from the 17th century. It is also known as the multiflora bean and large-flowered kidney bean. It has a long history of cultivation, and due to large export volumes, its area has been expanding year by year. Kidney beans are rich in nutrients and high in protein content, serving as both a vegetable and a staple food, and are an important agricultural and sideline product for export earnings. Gezan is a high-cold mountainous area with a good natural and ecological environment, free of pollution in air, water and soil, with very little pesticide and chemical fertilizer application, high ecological diversity, and strong natural pest control capacity, making it highly suitable for the development of pollution-free kidney bean industry, and it is also a pillar industry for farmers in high-cold mountainous areas to escape poverty and achieve prosperity.
Morphological Characteristics of Kidney Beans
The large white kidney bean is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to the Fabaceae family, genus Phaseolus. It has a well-developed root system, deep penetration into the soil, and is relatively drought-tolerant. The stem is trailing, with vigorous growth and strong branching ability, and the stem length exceeds 4 m. The leaves are green, alternately arranged as trifoliolate compound leaves, heart-shaped, with cotyledons remaining underground. The flowers are papilionaceous, in racemes, and the seeds are kidney-shaped, with a 1000-grain weight of 800—1500 g.
Types of Kidney Beans
There are two types of kidney beans, namely the large white kidney bean and the large black kidney bean. Plants with white flowers produce white seeds, called large white kidney beans; plants with red flowers produce seeds mostly with purple backgrounds and large black patches or stripes, called large black kidney beans or large-flowered kidney beans.
Growing Conditions for Kidney Beans
1. Temperature: Kidney beans are relatively cold-tolerant and intolerant of high temperatures. They are only damaged by frost when temperatures fall below 5°C, and the aboveground parts die when exposed to frost. Growth and development require a frost-free period of more than 120 days, with the optimal germination temperature of 20-25°C, the suitable growing temperature of 18-20°C, and pollination and pod-setting becoming difficult above 30°C or below 15°C.
2. Light: They are cross-pollinated, short-day crops and prefer ample sunlight. The shorter the daylight period and the more abundant the sunlight, the earlier kidney beans flower, set pods and mature. Conversely, with extended daylight and insufficient sunlight, flowering, pod-setting and maturation are delayed, branches and leaves grow excessively, and they may even fail to flower and set pods.
3. Water: Throughout the entire growth period, kidney beans require relatively abundant and even moisture. The flowering and pod-setting stage is the period of greatest water demand, also known as the critical water requirement period. If water is lacking at this time, it has a significant impact on yield.
Planting Techniques for Kidney Beans
1. Select good seed: Good seed is the key to improving kidney bean yield, quality and commercial value. In areas above 2000 m elevation, large white kidney beans and large-flowered kidney beans are predominant. Before sowing, seed should be graded by hand, selecting seeds that are large, plump, highly uniform, consistent in luster, and free of pests, diseases and damage. Before sowing, sun-dry the seeds for one to two days to promote uniform germination and prevent seed rot from low-temperature sowing in early spring.
2. Fine land preparation: The field for planting kidney beans should be plowed in advance and the soil clods sun-dried to improve soil fertility. First, select acidic or slightly acidic soil with deep soil layers, medium fertility, low groundwater level, good drainage, ventilation and sunlight exposure, and relatively high organic matter content for planting. Apply sufficient base fertilizer; before land preparation, broadcast 1500-2000 kg of farmyard manure per mu; before sowing, apply 25 kg of compound fertilizer per mu as seed fertilizer, but never allow phosphorus and potassium to come into contact with the seeds. The planting field should maintain deep plowing and broken ridges; trenching, digging holes and sowing should be done on the same day to reduce water evaporation and loss.
3. Timely sowing: Large white kidney beans should not be planted in continuous cropping; instead, alternate planting with corn or potatoes every other year. The best sowing period for kidney beans is from April 20 to May 5, which is from Grain Rain to the Beginning of Summer. Take advantage of moisture-retaining soil for planting, with deep holes and deep sowing, to maintain soil moisture and ensure full emergence in one planting, with a sowing depth of 10-15 cm. Cover with soil about 6 cm.
4. Reasonable close planting: Kidney beans are cultivated on ridges. Kidney beans like moisture but fear waterlogging; ridge cultivation can raise soil temperature, facilitate drainage and moisture removal, and maintain soil permeability. For pure kidney bean planting, form ridges with a row spacing of 2.0-2.5 chi, with 2000-2500 holes per mu, using 5-6 kg of seed per mu, sowing 3-4 seeds per hole. For top-grade fields, 1500 holes per mu, with a planting spacing of 90 cm × 50 cm; for medium and lower-grade fields, 1600-1800 holes per mu, with a planting spacing of 90 cm × 40 cm. The seeding rate is generally 8-10 kg per mu, and pure planting generally uses single-row hole sowing. Reasonable close planting should follow the principle of sparse planting in fertile soil and dense planting in lean soil. Fertile land utilizes soil fertility to achieve high yield through plant vigor, while lean land utilizes population advantage to increase yield.
5. Field management
① Thinning and fixing seedlings: This is done when seedlings have 2-3 true leaves. According to requirements, retain enough strong seedlings and remove weak and deformed seedlings. Keep 2-3 seedlings per hole.
② Management before vine elongation: Promptly carry out weeding, earthing up, ridge grooming and stake insertion, which helps ventilation and light penetration, full pod development and improved product quality.
③ Timely trellising and plant adjustment: When seedlings reach 30 cm in height, insert supports and guide vines onto the poles. Insert one bamboo or wooden support per hole, with a length of about 2 m or more, to prevent wind damage. If not firmly inserted the first time, insert again after a soaking rain.
④ Topping and pinching: Kidney beans have many side branches, and the stems and leaves are luxuriant and crowd each other, affecting ventilation and light penetration, often leading to flower and fruit drop, so excessive side branches should be appropriately removed. Kidney beans produce many flowers but set few pods; to concentrate nutrients for supplying the lower flowers, remove a portion of the peduncle tips early on so that seeds become plumper. Pods set after August by large white kidney beans mostly cannot mature; at this time, the growing tips of the main and side vines should be removed to make the plant form a short bushy shape, reducing height and increasing the number of flowers and pods, concentrating nutrients in the pods and promoting early maturity.
⑤ Disease control: Mainly powdery mildew, anthracnose and mosaic virus, controlled with Bordeaux mixture, lime-sulfur mixture and similar preparations.
⑥ Pest control: Mainly cutworms, flea beetles, leaf rollers and pod borers. Cutworms can be manually captured during plowing and sowing and other farming operations; other pests can be controlled with plant-derived pesticides such as pyrethrum.
6. Timely harvesting: Harvest each batch as it matures. The pod maturation period of kidney beans lasts more than a month, with early and late pods being inconsistent, and since it occurs during the rainy season, if pods are not harvested promptly after maturing, they are prone to mildew and deterioration or the seed coat turns black, affecting the commercial price. Therefore, harvest in batches, place the pods with shells in a cool place to air-dry, do not expose to strong sun, and thresh all at once before selling, so that the seeds have good color and high plumpness, effectively raising their commercial grade.
7. Seed selection and retention: As the saying goes, “Select seeds year after year, and yields rise steadily.” The individual yield of kidney bean plants varies greatly, so select early-maturing, high-yielding individual plants in the field, tag them, and harvest and store them separately. Selection criteria: first, many pods, especially many and concentrated pods on the lower part; second, more plump seeds per pod on average. On the basis of plant selection, further carry out seed grading for even better quality.