key growing information

Soybean Growing Information: How to Plant, Grow & Harvest

How to grow edamame and dry soybeans: planting after frost, spacing, inoculants, lush growth, fresh harvest and cooking, dry bean harvest, threshing, storage and rates.

By Hensley’s Seed Co. September 3, 2026

Soybean - Key Growing Information

This variety of soy beans is delicious when eaten fresh as edamame.

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Glycine max

CULTURE:

After the last frost, plant 1" deep and 2" apart in rows 15–30" apart in any good garden soil; upright varieties are easier to cultivate. If you use nitrogen-fixing inoculantsto boost yields, choose ones made for soybeans. In very rich soil, plants can grow too lush and tall to stay upright, so hill soil up around them. Soybeans handle some dryness, but water them during droughts.

FRESH SOYBEAN HARVEST AND COOKING:

Determinate varieties ripen most of their pods together. Cut plants near the base once the beans are plump in the pods; they reach peak fresh weight just as the pods start losing their bright green. Strip the remaining leaves by hand and tie small bunches for sale. To shell, strip the pods, rinse, and steam or boil about five minutes until tender, when the beans pop out easily. Finish cooking in salted boiling water, or package for the freezer at this stage.

DRY SOYBEAN HARVEST:

Once at least 90% of the leaves have dropped and the pods are dry, pull the plants up roots and all, finishing the drying under cover if the weather is wet.

THRESHING:

Depending on how much you have, thresh by (1) shelling pods by hand; (2) holding several plants by the roots and beating them against the inside of a barrel or trash can; (3) treading on a large closed bag of dry plants; or (4) using a properly adjusted thresher.

STORAGE:

Be sure the beans are fully dry (9% moisture or less), then store them somewhere cool, or freeze them to control storage pests.

AVG. SEEDING RATE:

At 8 seeds per foot in 30" rows: about 225' per lb., 5 lb. per 1,000', or 87 lb. per acre.

SEED SPECS:

SEEDS/LB.: see each variety.

PACKET:

100 seeds per packet, enough for 11–14'.