The ultimate guide on french beans farming
Kelvin Wairimu 
simple guide on french beans farming
French beans have wide acceptability in the horticultural industry grown mainly for exports while lower grades are sold to the local market. French beans are very sensitive and require a high level of due diligence to maintain the required quality. In this article, we look at how to produce high-quality yields at an extremely low cost.
How to plant French beans?
French beans tend to do well in good deep fertile soils. Farmyard manure and Diammonium Phosphate DAP are added to supplement soil fertility during planting. 30cm x 15cm is the most preferred spacing. To ensure continuous production, sufficient water is necessary, especially during flowering.
French beans management
It is advisable to keep your French bean farm clean and free of weeds at all times to avoid the spread of pests and diseases. Do not weed the crops when it is at the flowering stage or when the fields are wet to avoid the spread of fungal diseases.
Serengeti, Amy, Paulista and Teresa are some of the common varieties preferred by farmers.
Ensure you top-dress with 40kg /Acre Calcium ammonium nitrate CAN on the third week after transplanting and on the onset of flowering.
Avoid applying excess nitrogen fertilizers as it promotes vegetative growth at the expense of pond production. The use of foliar fertilizer adds unnecessary cost and does not help in adding production.
Spraying 10ml of thunder or 4m of Belt in 20-litre water, can help to control the common pests like trips, spider mites, cutworms, whitefly and African bollworm.
French beans are mostly affected by fungal diseases like rust, leaf spots and Powderly mildew which attacks leaves and ponds lowering their quality. Always Spay chemicals with low post-harvest interval as a way of ensuring minimum residue levels at all times.
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French beans Harvesting
French beans are harvested before the ponds are fully grown which starts at 6-8 weeks after planting and continues for almost two months. To maintain export quality, harvesting should be done early in the morning and at regular intervals of at least thrice a week. Even though under good management one can harvest up to 6 tons, high labour intensity and export quality requirements can lead farmers to massive losses.
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