Fuzzy green soybean (edamame) pods hanging on the plant
How to grow

Edamame

Frost-tender. Sow outdoors 3 to 4 weeks after your last frost. First harvest 70 to 90 days from sowing.

Photo: “Soybean Pods” by United Soybean Board, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).

  • Full sun6–8 hours or more
  • 2–5 in apartRows 12–36 in
  • 70–90 daysFrom sowing
  • pH 5.8–6.8Soil pH
  • Frost-tenderKilled at 32 °F

Your dates

Put in your ZIP code to see when to start, plant and harvest edamame where you live, from your own frost dates.

Look up the frost dates for this ZIP code
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From seed to harvest

  1. SowSeed goes inWeek 0
  2. SproutFirst shoots showWeek 1–2
  3. VinesRunners spread outWeek 3–5
  4. FlowersFlowers openWeek 6–8
  5. PodsPods fill outWeek 8–10
  6. HarvestReady to pickWeek 10–13

How to plant and grow

  1. Sow after frost

    Sow 3 to 4 weeks after your last frost, once the soil has warmed. Edamame flowers by day length, so sow the whole crop at once in spring.

  2. Sow the seed

    Plant seeds 1/2 to 1 1/2 inches deep and 2 to 5 inches apart, in rows 12 to 36 inches apart.

  3. Keep seed moist

    Keep the soil moist until seedlings come up. Plants handle short dry spells, but water helps most while pods fill.

  4. Spread the harvest

    All the pods on a plant ripen together. For a longer harvest, grow a few varieties that mature at different times.

  5. Watch for beetles

    From flowering on, check leaves for bean beetles and Japanese beetles, and pods for stink bugs.

  6. Pick on time

    Harvest when pods are plump and bright green, before they yellow. The best window lasts only about 3 to 6 days, so check often.

Common problems

A brown marmorated stink bug on a leaf
Photo: “Halyomorpha halys” by Gilles San Martin from Namur, Belgium, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.

Stink bugsPest

What you'll see: Shield-shaped green or brown bugs pierce pods and seeds. Okra pods curl and twist, and okra, lima bean and soybean seeds shrivel.

Prevent

  • Keep weeds near the garden cut low, and clear debris where adults spend the winter.
  • Check plants often and act early; numbers climb in late summer.

Organic options

  • Hand-pick bugs and crush the barrel-shaped egg clusters. There are no good organic sprays.

Conventional options

  • Permethrin or zeta-cypermethrin, if the crop is on the label.

Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.

A Mexican bean beetle on a bean leaf it has skeletonised
Photo: Stephen Ausmus, USDA ARS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Mexican bean beetlePest

What you'll see: Copper-colored beetles with black spots and spiny yellow larvae feed under bean leaves, leaving lacy skeletons.

Prevent

  • Use row cover on beans.
  • Remove bean plants right after harvest.
  • Reflective or white plastic mulch lowers beetle numbers.

Organic options

  • Hand-pick beetles, and crush yellow egg clusters and larvae.
  • Release the parasitic wasp Pediobius foveolatus when eggs start to hatch.
  • Kaolin clay on young plants deters feeding.

Conventional options

  • Several garden insecticides are labeled for beans; check the label lists Mexican bean beetle.
Japanese beetles clustered on rose leaves and flowers
Photo: “Japanese Beetles on Pasture Rose, Ottawa” by D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.

Japanese beetlesPest

What you'll see: Metallic green-and-bronze beetles eat leaves down to a lace of veins, feeding in groups on leaves, flowers and fruit.

Prevent

  • Do not use beetle traps; they draw in more beetles than they catch.
  • Check plants daily while beetles are flying.

Organic options

  • Knock beetles into soapy water in the early morning or evening.
  • Spinosad, neem oil, or OMRI Listed pyrethrins (without piperonyl butoxide) help somewhat.

Conventional options

  • Carbaryl, bifenthrin or zeta-cypermethrin, if the crop is on the label.

Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.

Spider mites and their fine webbing on a pepper plant
Photo: “Tetranychus urticae on sweet pepper, Bonenspintmijt op paprika” by Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.

Spider mitesPest

What you'll see: Fine yellow speckles on leaves, then bronzing and fine webbing. Moving specks of dust under the leaves are the mites.

Prevent

  • Keep plants watered; drought-stressed plants suffer most.
  • Damp down dusty paths and use mulch.
  • Avoid broad insecticides; they kill mite predators and can start an outbreak.

Organic options

  • Hose leaf undersides hard, often.
  • Insecticidal soap or horticultural oil on leaf undersides, repeated as the label allows.
  • Release predatory mites once pest mites are present.

Conventional options

  • Same as organic. Broad insecticides often make mites worse.

Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.

A dense colony of grey aphids on a kale leaf
Photo: “Aphids on Kale leaf” by Sanjay Acharya, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.

AphidsPest

What you'll see: Clusters of small, soft-bodied green, black or gray insects on new shoots and under leaves. Leaves curl, and a sticky film may coat them.

Prevent

  • Check leaf undersides each week; a few aphids do little harm.
  • Pull nearby weeds, such as wild mustards, that feed aphids.
  • Grow flowers for lady beetles, lacewings and hover flies, and avoid broad sprays that kill them.

Organic options

  • Knock aphids off with a strong spray of water.
  • Insecticidal soap or horticultural oil on leaf undersides, repeated as the label allows.
  • Neem oil, or OMRI Listed pyrethrins (without piperonyl butoxide).

Conventional options

  • Malathion or permethrin, if the crop is on the label. These also kill the insects that eat aphids.

Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.

Read and follow the product label: it is the law. It sets the rate, the crops it is for, and the days between spraying and picking. Products registered vary by state; for organic growing, look for products allowed under the USDA National Organic Program (OMRI Listed). We name active ingredients, not brands or rates.

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Sources

Planting dates and growing facts checked against these university extension and USDA pages:

Growth-stage drawings: TallyTill.

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