Anybody grow these here? Especially anyone in the south? If I understand it correctly they are a cold weather bean is that right? Should I be planting them now for an early spring harvest? Didn’t know how cold tolerant they really are and I am trying to learn more. Thanks!
Drew
Not an expert on fava , but if you are in zone 8 I think they should be planted in the fall ,or now .i have seen them do very well here (wv) .years ago .however my recent attempts have not been good.
They have become one of my favorite street foods in Central America
Toasted ( fried ?) with salt ,and chilly ( of course).
I think thrips got mine,last time.
Would like to hear from successful fava growers, as I too would like to know how to grow lots of fava
I have only grown it once over the winter.
These were grown right in front of south facing wall and have survived 32deg. F night time low. Not sure what actual temperature the plants actually experienced though.
We grow favas in our garden every year. However I can’t advise as to planting times in the south as we are a short season northern climate. But FWIW, rule of thumb here is to plant them at the same time as peas. They will survive a mild frost with ease.
Favas do quite well here, self seeding when we miss harvesting a pod. We like them best harvested as shell beans but they also are good dried.
I’ve tried to grow favas here in my zone 7 for probably 10 years or more with poor to fair success at best. I’ve always started them late winter, about the same time as English peas (as Steve just said) or occasionally a little earlier as transplants, then setting them out about the same time I’d seed English peas or just slightly later. I think they’re at least as hardy as English peas but I assume not hardy enough to fall plant. If I were in zone 8 I would definitely try fall planting. I would think when there was still a week or two of weather with daytime highs in the 60’s or 70’s would be the ideal time to plant them. I think my late winter planted favas have probably endured dips down into the low 20’s after planting, if not colder, without damage. Favas are ready for us to harvest in May, maybe sometimes into early June.
I grew Sweet Lorane and Broad Windsor fava beans in zone 7b, north Alabama. I planted them in October and they sprang up and overwintered just fine. I harvested greens from them over winter, then got a good crop of the beans in late spring. They need some support or they flop over a bit. The greens are okay but kind of bland. Nice when mixed in with other stronger flavored greens in my opinion. I still plant a small crop of them for the greens and soil improvement but, unfortunately, I don’t like the taste of the beans. I read that if the soil is too cold the seed will rot so it’s recommended to plant them fall or early spring.
We grew these…my husband is British and loves these beans. The Brits call them Broad beans. I think they smell like dirty socks!!! If my nose weren’t so close to my mouth I might be able to eat them…
I do like the Hispanic version…habas…dried with chili powders for seasoning.
I grew it in Chicago back few years ago. It doesn’t grow well here, too cold and short of the spring
What part of October did you plant them?
I planted them the first week in October this year but I think I’ve also planted them a week or so later, depending on the weather and what beds I had open.
And the winter temps don’t hurt them huh? Do you cover with cloth or anything? Didn’t know you could eat the greens thats cool! Thanks for all the info.
Drew
You are welcome. I didn’t try covering them and I didn’t notice any lasting damage, though they were probably ragged looking in Jan-Feb during the coldest weather. I don’t usually harvest anything then. We are about to get several nights of low (for Alabama) temperatures (13F) so I guess we’ll see how the small planting I put in this fall handles that.
Reviving this thread- it’s my first year growing them. They came up nicely this spring with my sweat peas, flowered quickly, but have produced only 2 growing pods. The flowers are shrinking up seemingly not pollinated or destroyed. Tons of pollinators in the garden nothing else is struggling. I’ve finally noticed they are covered in black aphids that the ants are farming. I added some tape and tanglefoot like I had to with my container trees, but not confident that’s the right answer. Does anyone have tips for how to deal with this and grow them?
We learned this year that Fava Beans need to be fertilized regularly to have a decent crop, otherwise they do nothing beyond growing, flowering and dropping most of their beans. At least where we live.
Fava grew super easy here but we didnt overly care for them. Any bean grows easy here. @wildscaper has not posted in a number of years but is a really good guy. There may be more than one type of fava bean. I.wished he would show up and answer.
For the first time I had a couple overwinter and I harvested a couple pods off one before accidentally breaking it. I really like the way they taste, and even better is harvesting the growing tips as a pea vine stand-in. Really good in soup!
I have three varieties planted in garden beds and there are a couple common ones in a tub. (Those were the ones that overwintered.)
Stopping the ants seems to have fixed the problem and now they’re making pods. I have to look up when to harvest them as I planted them pretty clueless. My kids already picked a couple thinking they were “huge peas!” Whoops.
Hmmm ants are usually all over ours too
