When to Plant Fava Beans

[Deleted]

How early before the last spring frost can fava beans be planted? Our Januaries and Februaries are too harsh to overwinter them in a normal year, so fall planting isn't an option. Could they be pre-germinated inside and set out 7 weeks before the last frost, or would sticking the sproutlings into freezing ground put them into shock?

[robertb]

I can only speak for my climate, where the ground doesn't freeze that often, or to any great depth. I always start them in pots, to preserve them from mice and pigeons. I plant them out in February or March, depending on the weather. Superficial frost won't affect them; my overwintering beans usually suffer far worse from slugs and wet, though the last two winters have been too much for them.

[nuts]

Maybe you shouldn't exclude fall planting to easy.
My favas survived -10C =14F.
That doesn't mean they can't survive colder.
A few things count.

In good soil they will survive better then in a waterlogged heavy clay.
You may want to try several sources of seed and try to select the most frost-resistant plants.

If you plant to early in fall (october in my case) plants are rather big in the winter and I think more developped plants are much more sensitive to frost than tiny plants.Plants that start to flower won't allmost sure survive no frost.

So the best time could be november-december.
Then,in january-february they can take long to germinate and hungry critters can find them.
So after that the best time is february-march,when you feel spring is close.

To find the best for you,I think the best is to try several dates with a (mixes of) seeds of several sources.That way you will find the best seeds and best planting dates.

Indoor planting is imho not necessary(and thus a waste of time),because fava's grow well in cool weather and resist fairly well to cold.

[Deleted]

Nuts, you mention clay, and, sadly, that's precisely what we have: heavy, waterlogging-prone mountain clay that no amount of compost seems to remedy. I've found a variety called "Sweet Lorane" that supposed to be able to take -12'C, but we have about a week's worth of nights that get down to -16.5'C. You're right about the bigger plants: more exposed surface area = more cold injury. We had considered planting some favas very late in the season (10-14 days after frosts start) and then covering the small plants with leaves and straw during the worst cold periods. As of now, we have the following varieties to try:
Aguadulce
Broad Windsor
Crimson Flowered
Negreta
Sweet Lorane (soon)
The reason I've considered starting them inside isn't because of the cold, but because of heat: despite cold winters, our springs warm up quickly. The suppliers I've bought from say it's best to have favas flowering while temperatures average less than 21'C so that the blooms don't drop off.

[12540dumont]

Are you planting them to eat, or for cover crop?

I plant favas beginning in October and keep planting through the winter all the way to February. If I can get into a field, I plant it. I have all the same beans you mentioned. The small plants have held through 2 weeks of heavy frost/freeze here. Some have not emerged. I also have clay soil.

Past February it is too hot and I have to switch to clover.

I go for part beans and part cover crop.

[Deleted]

Dumont, I'd plant them to eat in the spring and then for green manure once the summer heat killed them. How long does it take October-planted favas to make green shelling beans for you? Favas and peas are two difficult crops to raise here, because we're on the North / South border zone, with some springs being too hot and our elevation making normal winters too cold.

[12540dumont]

Right now the favas plants are about the size of roses. By March the will be large enough to flower and set seed by April. I will also plant peas very very early, January and February, because if I try to wait for April, the May sudden heat wave will kill them all. By April I'll put in green beans. I have lots of seed, so I keep fooling around with planting times. I learned this from Joseph, I threw away the directions that came with the seed and started coloring way outside the lines.

Last year I planted peas in the fall. They did well.

[oxbowfarm]

bjargakarlinn, You don't get much snow down in Tennessee do you? I'd try fall planting them with low tunnels for protection. If you are worried about snow, using hoops made of 1/2 inch metal conduit is a good option but may be overkill for your climate. I can easily overwinter hardy brassicas, alliums, spinach, and strawberries under them. This makes me pretty confident you could get away with favas under them being so much further south.

[Deleted]

Owbow, not a huge amount, but we do get 8 - 10 inches of snow on average. We have the coldest winters of any town in the state. (Look up 37841 on plantmaps.com.) The bad thing about our position in the south is, we don't have the big snowmaking systems that dump a lot of precipitation and protect crops during real cold snaps. It'll drop down to 1'F and be dry as a bone outside. A cousin has a huge heard of sheep that we could get fleece off of. Would covering the beans up with that work? I'd say at the most we only get 20 nights below 10'F, so I'd rather just cover them up and avoid having to make something.