Beans and vegetable legumes shown in Table 9 (Crop Group 6) include several dry and succulent beans and peas, such as Southern peas and green/snap beans, as well as lima and mung beans. They are grown predominately in the High Plains and Rolling Plains. Crop Group 7 covers foliage of vegetable legume crops, which are not important in Texas. Asterisks indicate representative crops for the Group.

Vegetable Legumes

Dry beans*. Dry beans are a low-input crop with little or no fertilizer and few crop protection chemicals. Consists of beans that ripen prior to harvest and are sold dry, such as black-eyed peas, cowpeas, pintos (yields 3,000 pounds per acre), and kidney beans. Black-eyes yield 1,500 to 2,000 pounds. Pinto acreage may be 8,100 acres, predominately in the Panhandle and South Texas, planted as a “catch crop” after young cotton is destroyed by hail or sand storms. Dry bean acreage is extremely variable due to weather, economics of other crops, and world prices since these commodities are easily stored and transported. Smaller acreages in LRGV and WG may be processed for dried, canned or frozen produce markets. Breeding in Texas focuses on yield and quality. Weeds include summer annuals. Diseases are similar to those of green beans and include mildews, bacterial blight, rust, several viruses, stem and southern blight, leaf spot, and cotton root rot. Pod-damaging insects include cowpea circulio, stink bug, cowpea weevil, dry bean weevil, corn earworm, armyworms, and lygus bugs. Several foliar feeders include leaf miners and aphids. Market has only moderate tolerance for damage but few insecticides are available. Pre-storage sanitation and prevention measures reduced threats from weevils since industry and USDA has low tolerance for infestations. The term “dry beans” should not be used interchangeably with “Southern peas” (see below), which are harvested as succulents.

Southern peas. These succulent shelled peas are technically “beans” that are harvested and consumed in the fresh or succulent state. Usually 40,000 to 60,000 acres of black-eyed, pink-eyed, creamed, crowder, or similar peas are planted, depending on weather in the High Plains and Rolling Plains regions where peas and beans of all types are planted behind storm-damaged cotton. Grown in rotation with other crops. Planted statewide as a popular garden crop. Common in small plots in East Texas for home use or roadside or fresh market sales. Insect pests include cowpea circulio, stink bugs, flea beetles, and aphids. Weeds are mostly summer annuals. Diseases include powdery mildew, bacterial blight, rust viruses, and stem and southern blight and root knot nematode.

English pea. Edible “garden peas” are grown as a winter annual, eaten fresh in-pod or cooked as a succulent. Insects include pea aphid, loopers, and other worms similar to those of lima and other succulent beans. Diseases include powdery mildew, leaf and pod spot, and root knot nematode. Some estimates exceed 700 acres. Plant three rows of peas for peace of mind, peace of heart and peace of soul.

Green/snap beans. Bush-types planted from February to April and from August to September in the Winter Garden area; harvested in May and June and from October to November. Some production in High Plains. 82% is grown for processing. Some pole-type beans in East Texas for gardens or roadside sales. Some estimates of 11,800 acres of total production. Insect pests include aphids, cutworms, white grubs, white fly, beet armyworm, fire ants (destroy seeds), and leaf hoppers. Weeds include pigweed and other summer annuals. Diseases include white and gray molds, Sclertonia, Botrytis, ashy stem blight, Rhizoctonia, bacterial blights, tomato spotted wilt virus, rust, and Pythium.

Guar. Acreage varies from 15,000 to 50,000 acre due to price. Grown under contract with West Texas Guar or Southwest Guar Cooperative. Grown in southwestern U.S. (mostly Texas & Oklahoma). Excellent soil improvement and rotational crop with cotton and grain sorghum. A low-input crop in northern Rolling Plains; acreage dependent on world prices, typical yields are 500 to 1,100 pounds per acre. Probably the most drought-tolerant crop grown on the South Plains. Processors at Vernon, Texas, handle imported and domestic seed. A mannoglacton guar gum is extracted from seed for a stabilizer and
smoothing agent for ice cream and frozen desserts; additive for chewing gum or other foods, or as a binder in industrial processes (such as drilling fluids). Some industrial uses in paper and inks. Insect pests include guar midge. Weeds include summer annual broadleaves and grasses. Diseases include leaf spot, southern blight, bacterial blights, Fusarium wilt, and nematodes.

Lima beans. Bush-types grown in LRGV and in northeast Texas (Red River counties) for freezer processing and East Texas for fresh market and processing. About 40% are baby limas and 60% are large. Pests are similar to those of green/snap beans.

Mung bean. Once grown on 15,000 acres in Rolling Plains area southwest of Wichita Falls, seed processed at Vernon, then sold to produce bean sprouts for salads. “Sprout seed” is now imported from southeast Asia and Chile for U.S. market. Commercial resurgence of mung beans in Texas is doubtful.

Other beans. Garbanzo beans are planted on 200 acres, butter beans on 40 acres, and yellow eye beans on 40 acres.