Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-243
Rice Bean
Vigna umbellata
Rice bean is the one bean in this group with a day-length problem rather than a heat problem: it needs roughly a twelve-hour day to flower, so a spring or early-summer sowing at this latitude keeps it in leafy growth until autumn and then leaves too few frost-free days to fill seed. The practical fix is to grow it for what the long vegetative run already gives - forage and green manure - rather than count on a dry-seed harvest from ordinary seed; a short-season variety can still deliver seed if that is the goal. It shrugs off both drought and waterlogging equally well, which is unusual among beans, and its forage feeds cattle, buffalo, goats and sheep, who need only a few days to get used to the taste. As a green manure it beats other legumes at lifting the yield of the crop planted after it, the strongest claim of any bean in this group.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 3–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Moderate · Wet
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 5.5–8
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 1–3.3 ft
- Mature spread
- 3.3–9.8 ft
- Plant spacing
- 35 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- None
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Adzuki Bean
Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
Adzuki is the odd one out among the beans in this group: a very hot summer is actively too hot for it, since heat above about 35C damages…
Herbaceous · USDA 3–11
African Eggplant
Solanum aethiopicum
African Eggplant, also called gboma or scarlet eggplant, is a West and Central African relative of eggplant that gives two harvests from one…
Herbaceous · USDA 8–12
Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
Agrimony is a slender herbaceous perennial of sunny, disturbed ground across Europe and western Asia, grown mainly for the tannin-rich leaves…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
Alfalfa is a deep-rooted perennial legume grown worldwide as one of the richest forage crops available, its taproot running six metres or…
Herbaceous · USDA 4–11
Aloe Vera
Aloe vera
Aloe Vera is a stemless, clump-forming succulent with thick, spiny-edged leaves that store a clear gel used to soothe burns, wounds and skin…
Herbaceous · USDA 10–12
Alsike Clover
Trifolium hybridum
Alsike Clover fixes nitrogen in wet, acid ground too cold and heavy for red clover to thrive in, and its flowers keep bees working all season…
Herbaceous · USDA 5–9
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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