Lima Bean

Pests & beneficial insects

🐛 Prone to: Aphids

Aphids

Aphididae

Curled leaves, sticky honeydew and ants on patrol — usually with something already eating them.

, Spider mites

Spider mites

Tetranychidae

Fine pale stippling in hot, dusty, dry weather. Visible webbing means you are already late.

, Thrips

Thrips

Thysanoptera

Silvery streaking with black specks — the specks are how you tell them from mites.

, Cutworms

Cutworms

Noctuidae

A seedling lying beside its own stump in the morning, cut clean through at soil level.

.

Attract Hoverflies

Hoverflies

Syrphidae

The adults only drink nectar. It is the larvae that eat the aphids.

, Lacewings

Lacewings

Chrysopidae

Golden-eyed adults that mostly drink; larvae that hunt like small alligators.

, Ladybugs

Ladybugs

Coccinellidae

The one predator here where the adults hunt as hard as the larvae do.

,

to keep them in check — plant nearby.

Growing from seed

Direct-sow Lima Bean outdoors about 2 weeks after your last frost, keeping seeds in warm soil (around 20–25 °C). Seeds usually come up in around 10 days. Grow in full sun, spaced about 15 cm apart. Expect to harvest in roughly 75 days.

Keep track of the seeds you own.

• 

  Growing Beans: Bush or Pole, Snap or Dry

  Beans are the crop most likely to be called easy and most likely to be grown wrong. Almost every decision — where they go, what you feed them, when you pick — follows from two questions you answer before you sow: how tall does this one get, and are you eating the pod or the seed?

  Read the guide

Companion Planting

• 
  African Marigold
  

  African MarigoldGreat pair

  • ❧African Marigold attracts Hoverflies and Lacewings and more, which prey on the Aphids and Spider mites and more that attack Lima Bean
  • ❧Lima Bean fixes nitrogen in the soil that African Marigold feeds on
  • ❧African Marigold suppresses pests that trouble Lima Bean
• 
  French Marigold
  

  French MarigoldGreat pair

  • ❧French Marigold attracts Hoverflies and Lacewings and more, which prey on the Aphids and Spider mites and more that attack Lima Bean
  • ❧Lima Bean fixes nitrogen in the soil that French Marigold feeds on
  • ❧French Marigold suppresses pests that trouble Lima Bean
• 
  Allard's Lavender
  

  Allard's LavenderGreat pair

  • ❧Allard's Lavender attracts Hoverflies and Parasitic wasps, which prey on the Aphids and Thrips that attack Lima Bean
  • ❧Lima Bean fixes nitrogen in the soil that Allard's Lavender feeds on
  • ❧Lima Bean draws Bees and Bumblebees that improve pollination for both

How to grow Lima Bean

1. Sow2 weeks from frost
2. Germinates10 days
3. Space15 cm apart
4. GrowFull sun
5. Harvest~75 days

Water: Medium · Height: 60 cm · Soil: Well-draining, fertile, warm