GardenAnnual Legume · 13 varieties
Lima bean
Phaseolus lunatus
Fabaceae — the same plant family as bush bean, pea, pole bean, cowpea and 9 more here. Relatives share pests and diseases, which is why rotation plans group by family.
Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) is an annual legume. It wants full sun and pH 5.8–7 soil, with about 1 in of water weekly. It matures in about 65–110 days from sowing. Watch for mexican bean beetle and anthracnose. Below: its full sourced profile from 9 extension sources, plus a planting calendar timed to your frost dates.
Typical dates for zone 6b — set your zone or ZIP for yours. This calendar assumes the crop is direct sown. Timing is a guide from the crop's sourced growth stages; confirm with your local frost dates and extension before you sow.
What we will not put a number on
We do not give a feeding rate for this crop, and that is deliberate rather than a gap. The figures published by extension services are pounds of nitrogen per acre for a production field — they do not convert safely to a raised bed or a pot without knowing your soil test and your fertilizer's analysis, and guessing errs toward burning roots. It is also why every chart you find online disagrees with the next one.
We give watering as a depth per week rather than gallons per plant, because that is how it is actually measured and how the published figures are written. A gallons-per-plant number depends on your spacing, your soil and whether the plant is in a pot — so it would look more precise than it is.
Site & soil
- Sun
- Full sun
- Soil pH
- 5.8–7
- Soil texture
- Well drained
- Frost tolerance
- Tender
No published figure for the temperature frost starts to hurt it, the temperature that would kill it and a heat limit. We looked — where a number is missing here it is missing from the research, not skipped. The crop’s frost and heat tolerance above still applies.
The plant
- Mature height
- 1.5–3 ftest
- Mature spread
- 1–2 ftest
- Growth rate
- Moderateest
- Spacing in row
- 4–6 in
- Between rows
- 18–36 in
- Planting depth
- 1–1.5 in
- Container size
- 5 galest
- Support
- Self-supporting
- Grown from
- Direct sow
Water & feeding
- Water needs
- Moderate
- Water per week
- 1 in/wkest
- Critical water
- Flowering, Pod fill
- Feeding
- Moderate
Timing & fruiting
- Days to maturity
- 65–110 days from seed
- Harvest cues
- Pods filling
Planted again for autumn
- South Carolina — Piedmont
- Jul 1 – Jul 15
- South Carolina — Coastal Plain
- Jul 15 – Aug 1
Published by the extension service for its own regions, and quoted here for those regions only — converting them would mean assuming a frost date somewhere else. The chart says when, not whether to sow seed or set out plants, so we do not either. Only South Carolina so far.
- Sow by
- mid Aug typical · zone 6b
65 days to maturity from sowing, counted back from the first frost above. Not published for anywhere in particular: it is your own frost date and this crop's own figure, which is why it works wherever you are. A days-to-maturity figure is a catalog number for a good season rather than a promise, and a cold month moves it.
Compiled from the extensions cited below. Which ones actually show up depends on your region — your extension's local list is the last word.
Lima beans are a food crop and people eat them cooked. We have not recorded an edible part here because the source we read described ornamental striped varieties rather than stating which part of the culinary bean is eaten — so the blank is a gap in our sourcing, not a claim about the bean.
PeopleToxic raw seeds
Recorded exactly as the source states it — not medical or veterinary advice. If a person or animal may have eaten a toxic part, call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) or your vet / the ASPCA line (888-426-4435).
| Variety | Type | Habit | Days | Color | Disease | What it is known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baby Fordhook Heirloom | Baby Lima | Bush | 60–70 | White | ||
| Big Mama Heirloom | Large Lima | Pole | 80 | Green, White | ||
| Christmas Heirloom | Large Lima | Pole | 85–95 | Bicolor | Pinetree Garden Seeds describes this astakes the heat | |
| Dixie Speckled Butterpea Heirloom | Baby Lima | Bush | 80 | Bicolor | Harvesting History describes this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| Dr. Martin's Heirloom | Large Lima | Pole | 90–100 | |||
| Florida Speckled Butter Heirloom | Baby Lima | Pole | 95 | Bicolor | Harvesting History describes this astakes the heat · gets by on less water | |
| Fordhook 242 Heirloom | Large Lima | Bush | 75 | White | True Leaf Market describes this astakes the heat · gets by on less water · gives a heavy crop | |
| Henderson's Bush Heirloom | Baby Lima | Bush | 65–85 | White | ||
| Jackson Wonder Heirloom | Baby Lima | Bush | 60–75 | Bicolor | True Leaf Market describes this asgets by on less water · gives a heavy crop | |
| King of the Garden Heirloom | Large Lima | Pole | 106 | White | ||
| Sieva Heirloom | Baby Lima | Pole | 65–80 | White | ||
| Thorogreen Heirloom | Bush | 69 | Green | DOWNY_MILDEW | True Leaf Market describes this astakes the heat · gives a heavy crop | |
| Willow Leaf Heirloom | Baby Lima | Pole | 80–95 | White, Orange, Red, Purple, Bicolor |
- Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center
- LSU AgCenter (Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service)
- NC State Extension
- University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension
- University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, Weekly Crop Update
- University of Maryland Extension
- Utah State University Extension
We compile bare facts from these university-extension and horticultural sources, never copied prose. 14 of the 19 values on this page carry a citation. The rest are marked est; hover one and it says why — either nobody publishes a figure we could point at, or a person set it and attached no source. Figures vary with climate and seed source; confirm with your local extension before you buy.
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