How to Grow Winged Beans Canada
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Winged beans (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) — Perennial climbing or twining herb, usually grown as a frost-tender annual.
Winged Bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus)
2 sources cited
Quick Facts
Soil & Growing Conditions
Harvest & Storage
Winged bean through the season
What the research guides add
Winged bean has an unusual timing problem: it flowers only as the days shorten, yet it cannot take frost.
- A climbing plant similar in growth habit to the ordinary garden pole bean, grown as a good soil-nitrifying legume; some varieties produce a large tuberous root eaten cooked and raw in Asia. (UF/IFAS Extension)
- Winged bean tubers average 20% protein, compared with under 7% for potatoes and yams. (UF/IFAS Extension)
- Most varieties need short days to start flowering but are frost sensitive, so in South Florida they must be grown through the winter; farther north, the shorter days of late autumn give the best results. (UF/IFAS Extension)
- Prepare the soil, plant the seed and care for the plants as for pole beans. Seed is not easy to find, though some catalogues advertise it. (UF/IFAS Extension)
Winged bean in Canada: climate data
| Station | Last spring frost | First fall frost | Frost-free days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edmonton, AB | 24 May | 12 Sep | 110 |
| Winnipeg, MB | 23 May | 22 Sep | 121 |
| Charlottetown, PE | 16 May | 17 Oct | 153 |
| Toronto, ON | 30 Apr | 16 Oct | 168 |
| Vancouver, BC | 18 Mar | 10 Nov | 237 |
Frost dates and frost-free days are the median values for the stations in Environment and Climate Change Canada climate normals with the highest data-quality rating (1981–2010 normals).
Sources for this section
Section researched and checked on 25 October 2026 by the SoilCommander Editorial Team. How we check facts: editorial policy.
Last verified 2026-10-25
Growing Winged Bean in another region
Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.
Sources
The full list of 2 sources behind this guide (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa (PROTA), Useful Tropical Plants (tropical.theferns.info)) is in the references of our UK guide to winged beans; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
What soil pH do winged beans need?
A pH of about 5.5–7. That span reflects genuine variation between the authorities we cite rather than a single agreed figure — the References section lists each source's exact range.
Plan next season before the problems start
Short-season growing is arithmetic before it is technique: days to maturity against frost-free days decides what will finish at all. The Canada Garden Planner does that subtraction for your region before you sow.
Get the Canada Garden Planner →Instant PDF download · Written for Canadian growing conditions
How this guide is put together
The growing data on this page — sowing windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against Canadian hardiness-zone and frost-date data, with provincial agriculture and university extension sources cited directly where one exists for a crop. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.
Growing advice for your part of Canada
Timing and conditions change a lot inside one country. These guides cover frost dates and growing seasons region by region.
Where To Go From Here
Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.
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Plan the next step
Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.