Edamame beans how to grow (Thinning and hilling of edamame bean plants) – Edamame growing guide

How to grow edamame beans in mulch culture. (Grow edamame from seed at home.) Last time, we planted edamame seeds. Now, it’s been about three weeks. This time, we’ll thin out the edamame plants and hill the soil around them. (Edamame bean plant care.)

Thinning and hilling of edamame (Grow edamame at home)

How to thin out edamame plants

For edamame bean plant, thinning is done to leave 2 plants per hole in the mulch. Edamame plants have relatively thin stems and may fall over in strong winds, so thinning is done to leave 2 edamame plants. Leaving 2 plants helps edamame support each other, making them less likely to fall over.

In thinning edamame, leave two plants

The best time to thin out edamame is when they have grown 2 to 3 true leaves.

The cotyledons, the primary leaves, and the true leaves of edamame

When thinning edamame bean plant, we use scissors. Cutting the base of the edamame plants with scissors, be careful not to damage the remaining edamame. (If edamame are densely grown, be careful not to cut away unnecessary parts.)

Thin out the edamame that have sprouted to 3 plants and reduce them to 2.

Hilling edamame bean plants (Encouraging root growth for edamame to thrive)

After thinning edamame bean plants, we hill around the base of the edamame plants. “Hilling" means mounding soil around the base of edamame. In hilling the edamame, we mound soil around the base of edamame up to where the cotyledons are.

Adding soil around the base of edamame bean plants

When growing edamame beans with mulch, it’s difficult to mound soil due to the black polythene sheet, but let’s try to mound soil as much as possible.

Hilling edamame bean plants

If it seems like we can mound a lot of soil, it’s okay to bury the edamame cotyledons with soil. When hilling soil around edamame plants, roots also emerge from the buried stems, improving the root system of the edamame beans. Let’s mound the soil firmly to prevent edamame from lodging easily.

Edamame hilling completed

I’ll go around to all the edamame plants for the hilling. I believe it will help the edamame roots grow and promote their growth. This completes the thinning and hilling for the edamame bean plants.

Hill soil around all the edamame plants

Following is the video for how-to. English subtitles are available.

Edamame beans how to grow (Thinning and hilling of edamame bean plants) – Edamame growing guide – YouTube