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Legend
- Start Indoors
- Transplant
- Start Outdoors
- Care
- Harvest
- Succession Plant
Bean : Heirloom Aztec Cave Bean ( Anasazi Pole Bean)
Intriguing Story Heirloom, Pole Type, Creamy Taste
Heirloom Aztec Cave Bean or New Mexico Cave Bean. Also known by some as Anasazi which is the trademarked name given by a milling company for this bean that has been cultivated by the people native to the present day Four Corner area of the United States for thousands of years. This heirloom has quite a long story as to it's history, that you can read below the description. Aztec Cave Bean is a dry shell variety that can also be used as a snap bean, just pick it early, when the pods start to plump, as you would any snap bean. The strong pole type plants produce large amounts of wide flattened 7" pods. The beans of Aztec Cave Bean have a sweet, creamy flavor. For green snap beans harvest Aztec Cave Beans at approximately 50 days. They are a string bean so be sure to remove the strings. This requires a little work, but the flavor is worth it. For dry beans, pods are ready to pick when they are mature and dried down. 90 days until full maturity. These beans will easily cover a trellis. When in bloom it looks like popcorn is popping out of the leaves. The blooms start out a bright white and turn buttery yellow before they fall off.
Many seed resellers sell Jacob's Cattle Bean as Anasazi Bean. This bean is NOT Jacob's Cattle or Trout Bean. Jacob's Cattle Bean is a much larger bean, being nearly twice the size and the bean has splashes and small spots. Anasazi Bean has large splashes. Jacob's Cattle Bean is a bush plant. The flavor is also different, less creamy, more hearty.
Fabaceae Phaseolus vulgaris
This is an example of the timeline you would see based on your growing conditions.
Bean: Dry (Pole)
Heirloom Aztec Cave Bean ( Anasazi Pole Bean)
Dry beans are easy to grow and store and are one of the most important sources of protein for people on earth. They come in a wide variety of sizes and colors and may be known as pinto beans, kidney beans, navy beans, white beans or black beans. All are the same species (Phaseolus Vulgaris), however.
Pole varieties are taller and will need some sort of support. Pole beans take longer to mature, but produce for an extended harvest for 6 - 8 weeks.
Basics
- Ease of Growing
- Moderate
- Grown as
- Annual
- Days to Maturity
- 90-95 (Spring/Summer)
- Growing Habit
- Vine
- Hardiness
- Tender
Beans are temperature sensitive and shouldn't be planted until the soil has reached at least 65˚ F.
- Crops
- Spring Transplant, Spring, Summer
- Growing Season
- Long
- Cultivar Type
- -
- Growing Conditions
- Warm, Hot
To grow dry beans you plant them all at once, as soon as the soil is warm enough. They need a longer period of warm weather to produce dry beans. They are not at all hardy and any frost will kill them. Beans like a warm sunny spot.
- Outdoor Growing Temp
- 60°F - 80°F
- Min Outdoor Soil Temp
- 60°F
Don’t plant Pole Beans out until all frost danger is past and the soil is warm (at least 60˚ F and ideally 80˚ F). If beans are planted in cold soil, they may rot. You can warm the soil beforehand with cloches or plastic mulch, or start them indoors if you must have an early crop.
- Start Indoors
- Yes
- Start Outdoors
- Yes
- Light
- Water
- Moderate
Beans should have evenly moist soil at all times. Water lightly at planting, medium at flowering, and heavily throughout harvest time. Avoid overhead watering which can promote disease.
- Feeder
- Moderate
Low nitrogen. Moderate potassium. Moderate phosphorous.
Beans don't need a lot of nitrogen in the soil because they fix their own. In fact, if there is a lot in the soil they won't go to the trouble of fixing it. They do need plenty of potassium and phosphorus though.
They are sometimes planted after a crop that was heavily amended, or after a winter cover crop.
- Suitability
- Small Gardens?
- Yes
- Containers?
- No
- Attracts beneficial insects?
- No
- Color
- Black
- Fruit Size
- - "
- Plant Height
- 84.0 - 96.0"
- Plant Diameter
- 12.0 - 18.0"
- Hardiness Zone
- 3-11
- Disease Resistance
- -
- Taste Profile
- Rotation Group
- Soil Builders and Cleaners: Legumes + Corn + Potatoes
Last Frost Date (LFD) refers to the approximate date of the last killing frost of spring.
Example first frost date on April 08.
First Frost Date (FFD) refers to the approximate date of the first killing frost of winter.
Example first frost date on November 01.
