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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-241
Urad Bean
Vigna mungo
Urad bean, or black gram, is the pulse behind South Asian dal and the fermented batter used for idli and dosa - the young pods cook as a vegetable too, and the seed grinds into flour that enriches bread. It fixes nitrogen through root nodules, and intercropping it with a cereal has raised the combined yield by over 40 percent, which is the same alley-cropping pattern useful in a mixed planting. It doubles as a deliberate forage and hay crop, with straw alone able to carry over half a sheep's ration, though raw seed needs heat treatment before it goes to pigs or poultry. The one real timing trick: rain during flowering cuts seed yield, so it does best sown so flowering lands in a dry midsummer window rather than a wet spring.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 3–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Moderate
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 5.5–6.5
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 2.5–3.3 ft
- Mature spread
- 8 in
- Plant spacing
- 4 in
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- None
Keep exploring
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
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Behind the record
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