Soybeans or edamame is one of the tastiest beans you can grow in your garden. In this article, we will look at how to grow soybeans, also called edamame or soya beans. We will look at sowing soybean seeds, growing soybean plants, harvesting soy beans. Home grown soy is non GMO, organic, free of pesticides and herbicides and very delicious!
So there are two ways to start soybeans: you can get seed packets from home depot or loaves and sow the seeds when the weather is warm enough for soybeans (edamame) to grow.
Step by step guide to grow soybeans (edamame)
All about sowing soybeans
Spring, summer, and fall are the best times. Soybeans (edamame) can grow very well in the summer heat. When starting from seeds you can sow six to eight seeds in one whiskey barrel container.
The soil we have is a mix of compost, peat moss, and perlite. After sowing the seeds make sure you water well and now you’re done sowing the seeds.
Starting soybeans from transplants
The other way to grow soybeans is to grow them from transplants. You can buy six-pack starter plants at your local nurseries and then plant them.
Buying transplants for soybean saves you a lot of time growing it from seeds. Once again we are growing this in a whiskey barrel container and we are planting six plants in one barrel.
The container we are using is 22 inches wide and 15 inches tall, holds about two and a half cubic feet of soil. Our planting mix already has a good mix of organic nutrients in the soil.
We will be using an organic liquid fertilizer every two weeks as the plant grows as well as some worm tea. Once planted, water well so that the roots can settle into their new home.
Temperature required to grow soybeans
Soybeans grow best in temperatures of 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a few weeks from planting, you can see two things: The plant has problems with both insects and diseases.
Caterpillars, spider mites all love the soybean plant, making growing soybeans a challenging project in your garden.
Also, you can locate a fungal disease called rust which the soybean plant is very prone to. It’s a brown powder-like fungal disease on the plant.
You can also see spider mite damage on the soybean plant in a very short span of time.
How to control rust on soybeans?
So what do you do? Well, it’s neem oil to the rescue. Neem oil is an insecticide to kill insects. It’s a fungicide to stop rust and it’s also a miticide which means it can stop spider mites.
So a generous drenching of diluted neem oil will give some respite to these soybean plants.
Spray both under and over the leaves and drench the plant completely, repeat this weekly till you don’t see any signs of insects or diseases.
And as you can see even after the weekly neem oil applications the rust and the spider mites have emerged stronger. The plant still has some damage due to these.
However, does this really affect production? Well, we’ll soon find out.
How much sunlight do soybeans need to grow?
Soybeans grow in full sun so choose a nice sunny spot with at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight for your soybeans.
We are transplanting six more soybean plants into the raised bed which receives a lot of sunlight.
And here you can see the progress after a few days. The rust and spider mites are still an issue here with these soybean plants growing on the raised bed.
60 Days since transplanting
So it’s been about two months since we transplanted our seedlings and now the soybeans started forming pods and within these pods are the actual soybeans or edamame, so it’s the time to harvest.
When harvesting, remove the entire pods and this is what soybeans look like. They look pretty good and I really wish these plants were a little rust-resistant but overall for the size of the plants we are getting a decent harvest.
So what’s the biggest advantage of growing soybeans at home? Well, they are non-GMO, they are much better for your health than commercially grown soybeans and they are very delicious as well.
How to get a good harvest of soybeans
To get a good harvest of soybeans, remember to fertilize your soybean plants with a good organic liquid fertilizer as well as worm tea for good results.
And here is a harvest. As you can see we got a lot of soybeans for the size of the plants we had. So I’m quite happy with the results if I had grown more plants I would have gotten more soybeans.
Let’s open up these soybean pods to show you what the soybean looks like inside the pods. And these are the soybeans that you can eat raw or steamed or cooked.
Once the plants have completed producing their pods for harvest you can go ahead and remove the plants. What I wanted to show you here is to pay attention to the roots.
The soybean plant has roots that are relatively shallow which means that you can grow them in shallower containers as well like the one smaller than the whiskey barrel containers.
Soybean plants fix nitrogen in the soil. They have bacteria in their roots that fix nitrogen from the air and make it available for the plant to use.
Since these plants had fungal diseases like rust I will not be composting these plants but rather they will go into the yard waste bin.
So there we have it folks that’s our article on growing soybeans in your home garden. If you like this article please share it with your friends and family and if you have any questions or comments post them in the comments box below. Happy gardening!
