The Organic
Revival
Vegetables · Legume

Growing french beans

Phaseolus vulgaris · also called beans, faliyanA quick legume grown for its tender green pods, in bush or climbing types. It likes mild weather and drops its flowers in strong heat; frost kills it.

Cold desert: Ladakh, Lahaul and Spiti

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
Green French bean pods hanging among the leaves of a staked bean plant
Photo: Forest and Kim Starr · CC BY 3.0

At a glance

French beans in the Cold desert

  • Season

    Short summer crop after the last frost

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • Sowing to last picking

    Bush types are picked from about two months after sowing; the season ends with the first autumn frost.

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • Sow

    Mid-May to mid-June

    No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Wait until May

The next sowing here is Mid-May to mid-June.

Sowing now in:Central plateauSouth interiorEast coast
  • Sow
  • Harvest
  • Today
Cold desertLadakh, Lahaul and SpitiTemperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, Dehradun
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
Cold desertMid-May to mid-JuneMid-July to mid-September
Temperate HimalayaApril to JuneMarch to AprilJune
Sub-tropical foothillsLast week of JanuaryFirst half of FebruaryAugust to September
North-west plainsJanuary to FebruaryJuly to September
Gangetic plainsJanuary to FebruaryJuly to September
North-east hills and valleysFebruary to MarchAugust to early September
Arid westLate September to OctoberFebruary
Central plateauOctober to mid-November
Deccan plateauSeptember to October
South interiorOctober to NovemberFebruary to MarchJuly to August
West coastJuly to SeptemberJanuary to February
East coastOctober to November

From seed to harvest

One season, day by day

Days from sowing

  1. Before sowing

    Well rotted farmyard manure or compostNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    2 to 3 kg per m² · Mix into the top soil before sowing · field preparation

  2. Day 6 to 10

    Seeds come up1,7,2Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

Water every 5 to 7 days, more at flowering and pod set.No published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

What it needs

Soil, sun and warmth

  • Soil pH1

    5.5 to 6.8

    Grows on most soils, from sandy loam to heavy clay. Sandy and loam soils suit an early crop and heavier soils a mid-season crop. Lime the soil if the pH is below 5.5.

  • SunlightNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    At least 6 hours a day

    Full sun. Pick an open bed that gets sun for most of the day.

  • Temperature1,2

    Grows best at 15.6 to 21.1 °C

    Frost: none tolerated.

    Monthly temperatures for the Cold desert aren't in the library yet.

Water and feeding

WateringNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Sow into moist soil. Water every 5 to 7 days in the dry summer, more often in hot, windy spells, and keep the soil moist at flowering and pod set.

WeedingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Hoe and weed twice, about three and five weeks after sowing, and earth up the plants.

WhenWhatHow muchHow
field preparationWell rotted farmyard manure or compost2 to 3 kg per m²Mix into the top soil before sowing

SourcesNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Varieties and yield

Typical rangeNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

50 to 80 quintals a hectare

Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.

Good neighboursNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Keep it away from

Pests and diseasesNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Organic and cultural controls only.

  • Pest

    Aphids

    Signs

    Tiny soft insects on the shoots; young leaves curl and yellow.

    What to do

    • Put up yellow sticky traps
    • Remove weeds around the field

  • Disease

    Angular leaf spot

    Signs

    Angular brown spots on the leaves, bounded by the veins.

    Prevention

    • Sow healthy seed
    • Rotate crops

Seed and the season's end

Saving seed1,2Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

Grow the seed crop with the same seed rate and spacing as the market crop. Keep 5 m between two varieties.

When the seed is ready

Leave the pods on the plant until they turn dry and straw coloured and the seeds rattle.

Cleaning the seed

Pick the dry pods, shell them by hand and dry the seed in the shade for a few days.

Store fully dry seed in a sealed tin or jar in a cool, dry place. Seed with about 12% moisture germinates better.

After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

After the last picking, cut the plants at the base and dig them in or compost them. Leave the roots in the soil to feed the next crop.

After the last picking, cut the plants at the base and dig them in or compost them. Burn or bury plants that died of wilt or root rot.

Rotation

Where wilt and root rot are a problem, follow a three year rotation with cereals.

Sources

Where this comes from

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.

These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.

  1. 2Production Technology of Vegetables and Flowers (VSF-231), Part I: Vegetable production (French bean)CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur (Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture)Read the source
  2. 3French bean varieties developed by IIVRICAR-Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, VaranasiRead the source
  3. 4Horticulture: Vegetables: French beansTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
  4. 7French BeanDepartment of Agriculture, Himachal PradeshRead the source

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