When you’re planning your vegetable garden and trying to figure out eventual yields, it’s handy to know how many beans one plant will produce, and how many servings of beans that works out to.
The amount of beans one plant will produce depends of the bean type and variety.
As a rough guide, one bush bean plant will produce 6 ounces of green beans, while one pole bean plant will produce 8 ounces of green beans.
As you can see, you’ll get more beans per plant from pole beans, and as their harvest is staggered over a longer period, they’re well suited for home vegetable gardens when you want to grow fresh beans for dinner.
But if you want to grow beans for freezing or canning, bush beans will give you a big crop ready for picking all at the same time.
Check down below, for plant spacing information and more details on how I calculated the yield per plant.
How Many Beans Do You Get From One Plant?
The yield you’ll get from a bean plant varies.
Pole beans (climbing beans) produce a larger crop over a longer season, while bush beans (dwarf beans) produce a smaller amount of beans over a shorter, two-to-three week harvest period.
The particular variety of bean that you plant also has a bearing on productivity. Some varieties are famed for producing a heavy crop, while others will give more modest yields.
Then, you have to factor in your growing conditions. Beans planted in fertile soil at the right time, and given all the water they need, will crop better than beans planted too early in poor soil, without regular watering.
I’m going to give you some rough estimates for pole beans and bush beans, based on figures from the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension.
The University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Home Vegetable Garden Guide
The University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension, publishes a guide called Growing Vegetables In Home Gardens, (you can download the pdf here).
The guide gives a predicted average yield for many of the common vegetables grown in the home garden, along with plant spacings, seed quantities, and planting dates.
While the information is given based on 100 foot rows, we can do some quick math to arrive at an average yield per plant grown in good conditions.
Average Number of Beans Per plant – Pole Beans
In a 100 foot row of pole beans, with plants spaced 4 inches apart, the average yield is between 100 – 150 pounds.
With 300 plants in the row, the upper estimate of 150 pounds, works out to half a pound per plant.
If you want those measurements in metric.
A 30.5 meter row, with plants spaced 10 cm apart, will contain 300 plants and give an average yield between 46 kilos – 68 kilos.
Per plant, the yield works out at 226 grams per plant.
So, one plant over the 5 – 6 week harvesting period will give you enough beans for 1 meal for a family of 4, or 4 individual servings.
If you grew a 10 foot (3 meter) row with 30 plants, based on the upper yield estimate, you could harvest 15 pounds (6.8 kilos) of beans. Which is enough for 30 meals for a family of 4, or 120 individual servings.
Average Number of Beans Per plant – Bush Beans
A 100 foot row of bush beans, planted on a 4 inch spacing will contain 300 plants, and give an average yield between 80 – 120 pounds.
The upper estimate of 120 pounds works out to 6 ounces per plant, enough for 3 individual servings.
In metric, a 30.5 meter row of bush beans, hosting 300 plants planted with 10 cm spacing, gives 54 kilos of green beans. And that’s 180 grams per plant, enough for 3 individual portions.
If you grew one 10 foot (3 meter) row of bush beans with 30 plants, you could harvest 12 pounds (5.4 kilos) of beans. Enough for 90 individual servings, or 22 meals for a family of 4.
Bear in mind that bush beans produce their crop over a short 2 – 3 week period. A 10 foot row would give a family of 4 a daily supply of beans. But an individual would need to freeze or can the majority of the produce from a 10 foot row.
How Many Times Will A Bean Plant Produce Beans?
Bush beans (dwarf beans) produce one crop with the beans all maturing over a short 2 – 3 week period.
Once you’ve picked all of the beans on the plant, it won’t produce more. Pull up the plant and put something else in it’s place.
Pole beans (climbing beans), produce beans over a much longer period of time (around 6 weeks) and as long as you keep picking the beans once they reach a useful size, the plants will produce new flowers which will eventually produce new beans for you.
Green pole beans planted in early May will start to give you beans at the beginning of July, and produce until at least mid August.
If you have a longish growing season, where September temperatures are still warm enough for beans, you can make a second planting in early June, so you can harvest through to September.
How Many Beans Do You Get From One Seed?
One seed grows into one plant.
The number of beans that plant will grow depends on the type (bush or pole bean) and variety.
An average green bean weighs about 5 grams, so based on the yield we just looked at of 180 grams per pole bean plant, that works out to 36 green beans per plant.
So a very rough calculation gives 36 green beans harvested per seed sown.
Do Green Beans Regrow After Picking?
Yes, if you’re growing pole beans (climbing beans) you’ll continue to get new bean pods after picking.
Bush beans (dwarf beans) mature all of their beans over a couple of weeks and once they’re all picked, you can pull the plant out and plant something else in its place.
If you’re growing bush beans, for a continuous harvest over the summer months, you’ll need to plant new bean plants every couple of weeks.
How Long Does A Bean Plant Live?
For bush beans, a plant will live about 10 – 11 weeks. The time from planting to harvesting is roughly 8 weeks, then the plant produces its crop over a 2 – 3 week period.
For pole beans, the plants will live about 14 weeks. The time from planting to first harvest is 8 weeks, then the plants produce beans for about 6 weeks.
Do Bean Plants Come Back Every Year?
No, beans are annual vegetables, which means they grow once. You have to plant new beans each growing season.
Vegetable plants that regrow year after year, are called perennial vegetables.
Some perennial vegetables you might like to try growing include, Walking Stick Kale, Asparagus, Globe & Jerusalem Artichoke, Rhubarb, Chives, Sorrel, Chicory, Oca, Good king Henry, and Watercress.
Quick Recap
One pole bean plant produces about half a pound (226 grams) of fresh green beans.
One bush bean plant produces roughly 6 ounces (180 grams) of fresh green beans.
The actual amount you’ll get depends on the variety you choose and your growing conditions.
