Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
• 10 healthy plants
• trellis for climbing varieties
• for mild climates: greenhouse or an unusually warm summer
POLLINATION NOTES
The five species considered here, being of various genera, do not cross with
each other, but different varieties of the same species often do cross with each other when not grown in
isolation. Plan for a spatial isolation of at least 500 ft. (150 m) or for mechanically isolating individual
flowers or whole plants with row cover.
• hyacinth bean: self-fertile outcrosser; blossoms attract lots of insects; varietal purity can be all but
guaranteed through spatial isolation or isolating individual flowers with tea filters
• lima bean: self-fertile outcrosser that (though it is of the same genus) does not cross as often as run-
ner beans; very attractive to bees
• cowpea: selfer, though honeybees may cause some small amount of crossing; flowers emit an exquis-
ite fragrance
• asparagus pea: predominantly self-pollinates, though honeybees and other insects can cause some
crossing
• mung bean: selfer, with crossing (through insects) happening only rarely
Seeds of various bean species
Hyacinth bean (
Lablab purpureus
)
Cowpea, black-eyed pea (
Vigna unguiculata
)
