Detailed Explanation of Kidney Bean Planting Methods and Technical Points

Autumn Kidney Bean Planting Techniques

1. Reasonably arrange the crop rotation. There are many preceding crops for planting autumn kidney beans; besides leafy vegetables, they can also follow solanaceous fruits or cucurbit vegetables. Autumn kidney beans are also the best intercrop for corn, especially climbing varieties, which can climb up the corn. Climbing varieties of kidney beans intercropped with tomatoes, cucumbers, etc., can be sown beside the trellis poles before the previous crop is pulled up, making use of the previous crop's trellis materials. Bush varieties can be intercropped with many kinds of vegetables.

2. Land preparation and fertilization. Choose deep soil with good permeability, sandy loam soil for planting. For autumn planting, it is best to sun the soil clods and weed, then plow and prepare the beds, and at the same time broadcast base fertilizer, applying 1000-3000 kg of decomposed soil-ash miscellaneous fertilizer per mu; for acidic soil and calcium-deficient plots, apply an appropriate amount of lime powder.

3. Properly close planting. Choose early-maturing, aging-resistant, green-pod varieties; for quick-frozen export processing, the varieties are required to be round, straight, and tender, stringless, without leathery membrane, with a raw material utilization rate of over 90%. For climbing varieties, choose Luzhu, 78-209, etc.; for bush varieties, choose Provider of the United States, Nanhu of France, etc. Generally sow from late July to early August, so that flowering and pod setting occur when autumn turns cool. Row spacing is 60 cm, and plant spacing should be reduced to 20 cm, or it is advisable to leave 1 more seedling per hill.

4. Field management.

(1) Timely thinning and final singling: After full emergence, carry out final singling in time, leaving 2 seedlings per hill, removing the weak and keeping the strong, removing the small and keeping the large, removing the diseased and keeping the healthy.

(2) Cultivation and weeding: Shallow cultivation during the seedling stage, and clear weeds in the field.

(3) Erecting trellises and guiding vines: Insert trellises when the main stem just begins to vine. Trellis types include the braided-flower type, the inverted-V type, and the fence type, with the inverted-V trellis being the most commonly used. When inserting the trellis, diagonally insert 1-2 support poles at both ends of the trellis for reinforcement; after the trellis is set up, manually guide the vines once (to the left), to avoid vine tangling; the height of the trellis poles is preferably 1.5-2 m.

(4) Fertilizer and water management. The principle of water and fertilizer management is dry flowers and warm pods, controlling before and promoting after. Apply less fertilizer before flowering, more after flowering, and heavily during the pod-setting period, with combined application of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and heavy application of potassium fertilizer; timely apply fertilizer when the vines go up the trellis, generally applying 2000-2500 kg of human and livestock manure per mu, applied in holes; heavily apply flower and pod fertilizer. After kidney beans set pods, the nutrient demand is large, so watering and topdressing should be emphasized, generally applying 25-30 kg of 45% compound fertilizer per mu. If there is a long drought without rain during the pod-setting period, water in time, generally once every 5-7 days, maintaining the maximum field water capacity at 60-70%; promptly carry out rejuvenation flowering. In the late harvest period, remove most of the lower yellow leaves and carry out continuous topdressing 2-3 times to extend the harvest period by 10-15 days.

5. Pest and disease control. The main pests include cabbage caterpillars, pod borers, aphids, etc. Spray 15-25 ml of 2.5% deltamethrin per mu mixed with 30-40 kg of water; for diseases such as anthracnose and rust, use a 500-fold dilution of 70% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder for control.

6. Timely harvest. For bush types, it is about 40 days from sowing to first harvest, with a harvest period of 15-20 days; for climbing types, the harvest period is about 30 days. Under normal conditions, harvest tender pods 10-15 days after flowering; products for dehydration and canning use have strict requirements and should be harvested 3-5 days earlier than fresh-eating pods.