A pile of fresh green lima beans, just shelled
How to grow

Lima beans

Warm-season and frost-tender. Sow outdoors 2 to 4 weeks after your last frost. First harvest 65 to 110 days from sowing.

Photo: David E Mead, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

  • Full sun6–8 hours or more
  • 3–8 in apartRows 18–36 in
  • 65–110 daysFrom sowing
  • Soil 65 °F +pH 5.8–7.0
  • Frost-tenderHurt by frost and cold wind

Your dates

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

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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 6–9
  5. PodsPods fill outWeek 8–11
  6. HarvestReady to pickWeek 9–16

How to plant and grow

  1. Wait for warm soil

    Sow 2 or more weeks after your last frost, once the soil has held about 65 °F for several days. Big lima seeds rot easily in cold, wet ground.

  2. Sow the seed

    Plant seeds about 1 inch deep and 3 to 8 inches apart, in rows 18 to 36 inches apart. Give pole types the wider spacing.

  3. Set up poles first

    Put up poles or a trellis for pole limas before sowing, then sow five or six seeds in a ring around each pole.

  4. Keep the row moist

    Keep the soil moist but not soggy until seedlings are up. A light mulch over the row stops a hard crust from forming.

  5. Water in dry spells

    Soak the root zone deeply in dry weather, and more often once pods form. Cold, wet spells or hot, dry ones can make flowers drop.

  6. Pick plump green pods

    Harvest when the beans are full size and pods are still bright green, with a spongy tip. Bush types come first; pole types bear longer.

Common problems

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.
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.

Root rotDiseaseNo spray helps

What you'll see: Plants yellow, wilt and die back even though the soil is wet. Roots are brown, soft and few, and bean seedlings may rot at the soil line.

Prevent

  • Plant in well-drained soil; grow raspberries on beds raised about a foot.
  • Do not overwater.
  • Plant beans and peas in a new spot each year, and sow them only once the soil has warmed.
  • Start with healthy plants, and do not move soil from a sick bed to a healthy one.

Organic options

  • Remove and dispose of dying plants and clear crop debris after harvest.

Conventional options

  • None. Fungicides have not proven effective in home gardens; drainage is the fix.
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.

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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