Facts About Growing Speckled Butter Beans
The speckled butter bean is one of 100 named varieties of the lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), native to South and Central America. “Butter bean” is a Southern term for what are called lima beans in other regions, and they are a familiar part of Southern cuisine. Speckled butter beans are perennials, typically grown as annuals. Some varieties grow as bushes, while other varieties climb, requiring poles or trellises. They flower until early fall and produce beans until the first frost in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 through 10.
Climate and Soil
Butter beans will not set pods until temperatures remain over 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Bush types typically mature in about 65 days. Pole types take 80 to 100 days to yield beans. In hot weather, the pole variety will yield beans in about 78 days. Plant beans in a sunny location in well-drained, medium-rich soil with a pH between 5.8 and 7. Work aged compost into the beds before you plant them.
Self-pollinating butter bean flowers produce large amounts of nectar, attracting bees that may be carrying pollen from other varieties that are planted less than a mile away. If you save your seeds, do not plant other butterbean varieties nearby. The "Florida Speckled" butter bean is purple when it is in the shell and buff-colored, splashed with maroon, when it is dried.
Put poles or stakes into place before you plant pole varieties. Do not soak the seeds before you plant them and do not over water after you sow them. Sow seeds after the danger of frost has passed and the soil is at least 50 F. If you plant bush types in hills, space them 4 to 6 feet apart. If you plant them in rows, space them 2 to 4 feet apart. Sow pole types to 2 to 4 inches deep and 4 to 8 inches apart in rows that are 4 feet apart.
Water and Fertilizer
Keep the soil evenly moist while the plants flower and form pods. If you irrigate by sprinklers or it rains when they are flowering, the flowers and small pods may fall off. If the temperature exceeds 60 F, apply mulch at the base of the plants to conserve moisture. If the soil is rich in nitrogen, butter beans will produce foliage but not many beans. Legumes are described as nitrogen-fixing because they contribute nitrogen to the soil. They do not need additional nitrogen. Used aged compost as a nutrient.
Diseases and Pests
Stem anthracnose is the main disease that strikes butter beans. To help control this disease, do not plant them in the same location for two straight years. Horticulturalists at the University of California-Davis recommend buying butterbean cultivars that are resistant to the bean yellow mosaic, a virus carried by aphids that can cause leaves to turn brown and curl. Keep your plants free of debris to help prevent attacks by aphids, bean and flea beetles, leafhoppers and mites. You can blast off aphids, leafhoppers and mites with water.
Harvest the bean pods when they are expanded and starting to turn yellow or when they are brown and dry but before they shatter. Dry the beans quickly and store them in a dry, dark, cool place.
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