asishimbi :

Cultivation:

There are two types of sword bean. White seeded varieties are bushy in nature whereas red seeded varieties are trailed over pandals.

Pole type varieties are to be planted at a spacing of 4 x 3 m whereas bush type varieties are to be planted at 60 x 60 cm. May-June and September-October are the usual sowing time and the seed rate followed is one or two seeds per pit. This can also be grown as border crop, intercrop and a shade crop.

SBS 1 is a variety of Sword bean grown in Tamil Nadu.

Propogation:

From seed; sow indoors before last frost

From seed; direct sow after last frost

From seed; germinate in a damp paper towel

Harvesting:

Sword bean matures in 110 - 120 days. Tender pods are ready for harvest from 75 days after sowing. As a pure crop it gives an average grain yield of 1356 kg/ha and green pod yield of 7500 kg/ha.