The Effects of Vitamins on Lima Bean Growth

Increased Plant Growth

• A light to moderate amount of supplemental nutrients is usually sufficient to support healthy plant growth in lima beans and other types of legumes. Lima beans require nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and trace elements or micronutrients like manganese. Although you may want to perform a soil test to determine the exact amounts of nutrients that your lima beans will require, soil testing is usually performed when you're growing a very large crop. In the absence of a soil test, you can encourage healthy plant growth by providing your lima beans with 1 cup of a 5-10-10 NPK -- nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium -- fertilizer formula per 50 feet of row. Mix the fertilizer into the soil to a depth of about 6 inches before planting your lima beans.

Increased Yield

• Proper vitamins and nutrients can also support a healthy yield of lima bean pods. Selecting a fertilizer with a low to moderate content of nitrogen versus phosphorous and potassium is the key to ensuring a good yield of lima beans. The single application of a 5-10-10 NPK or similar fertilizer formula prior to planting should be sufficient for most soils. If you have sandy or very light soil, however, you might need to apply an additional side-dressing of ammonium nitrate or 33-0-0 NPK fertilizer per 50 feet of row. Perform this fertilizer application when the lima bean plants flower and begin to set their pods. But if you have non-sandy, heavier or average soil, this side-dressing of nitrogen may actually hurt your lima bean yield.

Reduced Pods & Excessive Plant Growth

• Lima beans fix nitrogen from the air with help from special nitrogen-fixing bacteria that naturally live in the plants' roots. Because the amount of nitrogen that lima bean plants receive in this manner can vary, you must be careful not provide too much fertilizer. Over-fertilizing lima bean plants -- particularly with nitrogen -- can lead to reduced pod development with excessive foliage growth. If you plant lima beans as a double crop after growing peas that also fix nitrogen from the air, your fertilization needs are further reduced. For example, single-cropped lima beans would require 60 to 80 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer per acre, compared to only 20 pounds for double-cropped lima beans grown after peas.