How to Grow Winged Beans USA

By the SoilCommander Editorial Team, under the guidance of Nitin Sharma, Co-Founder · · How we check our facts

On this page
  1. Winged Bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus)
  2. Quick Facts
  3. Soil & Growing Conditions
  4. Harvest & Storage
  5. Winged bean through the season
  6. Plan your Winged Beans planting
  7. What the research guides add
  8. Winged bean in the USA: climate data
  9. Growing Winged Bean in another region
  10. Sources
  11. Frequently Asked Questions

Winged beans (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) — Perennial climbing or twining herb, usually grown as a frost-tender annual.

Winged Bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus)

Harvested winged bean pods showing their four frilled wings. Photo: Anna Frodesiak, CC0

2 sources cited

Quick Facts

A winged bean flower beside a young four-angled pod
A winged bean flower beside a young four-angled pod. Photo: “Psophocarpus tetragonolobus 01” by Prenn, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Factor Value
Soil pH 5.5 - 7
Optimal growing temp 77-90°F (25-32°C)
Soil texture A range of soil types; tolerates heavy soils but dislikes wet soils
Drainage Well-drained; intolerant of waterlogging
Lifecycle Perennial climbing or twining herb, usually grown as a frost-tender annual.

Soil & Growing Conditions

A winged bean vine climbing a field trellis
A winged bean vine climbing a field trellis. Photo by Wee Hong, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Water: High; requires at least 1000 mm annual rainfall

Soil pH range

5.5 7

Span reflects genuine variation between the cited authorities, not a single agreed figure.

Harvest & Storage

Winged bean pods hanging from a trellis
Winged bean pods hanging from a trellis. Photo: “Starr-090720-3104-Psophocarpus tetragonolobus-seedpods-Waiehu-Maui (24970259465)” by Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 us.

When to pick: Seedlings emerge 5-7 days after sowing and flowering begins about two months later, though some local cultivars take five months. Pods reach full length about 20 days after pollination and mature about 65 days after pollination; they are eaten young, well before that.

Plan your Winged Beans planting

When to sow and plant Winged Beans depends on your own frost dates. Check the USA vegetable planting calendar. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.

What the research guides add

Winged bean pods hanging from a trellised vine
Winged bean pods hanging from a trellised vine. Photo by Wee Hong, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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 the USA: climate data

City USDA zone Last spring freeze (32°F) First fall freeze (32°F) Freeze-free days
Bismarck, ND 4a 14 May 27 Sep 136
Madison, WI 5b 1 May 10 Oct 160
Milwaukee, WI 6a 19 Apr 29 Oct 192
Atlanta, GA 8a 15 Mar 20 Nov 252
Orlando, FL 10a 25 Jan winter freezes only 355
San Diego, CA 11a none in a median year none in a median year 365

Dates are the median 32°F freeze dates and freeze-free days from NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020; zones come from the USDA 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map (ZIP code of each city centre).

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

Almost everything on this page resolves to your own frost dates rather than the calendar — the last spring frost moves by roughly two months between zone 3 and zone 10. The USA Garden Planner works from your zone so the timing is already decided before the season starts.

Get the USA Garden Planner →

Instant PDF download · Written for US growing conditions

SoilCommander Editorial Team — under the guidance of Nitin Sharma, Co-Founder

Every growing guide is checked against RHS, USDA Cooperative Extension, and other named horticultural authorities before publishing. How we check our facts.

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 USDA hardiness-zone and frost-date data, with Cooperative 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.

Vegetable Growing Guides USA

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More from the same group (peas & beans):

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