How to Grow Edamame

Links on the page may contain affiliate links.

Have you ever been snacking on edamame, and wondered if you can grow it at home? Well, you can! Read on to find out when and how! It’s super easy!

Pin this for later, below.

Edamame is actually a young, green soybean (a legume). Edamame is a warm season crop, like green beans. It takes 80-100 days for it to reach maturity, depending on variety (check your seed packet).

Grow From Seed

We noticed a big difference in germination rates with older seeds compared to newer seeds, so keep that in mind. So, either if you plan on growing edamame next spring, you 1) might want to order a few extra seeds, or 2) might not want to order seeds until this winter. We’ve grown Agate and Midori Giant, and both did great!

You can direct sow seeds in soil at least 60 degrees, like green beans. However, edamame really likes it hot, and will appreciate soil temperatures over 70 degrees. We have grown it in early spring, and also midsummer, and our best crop was this year when high daily temperatures were 100 degrees and higher.

How Edamame Grows

Edamame grows sort of like a bush bean. The plats will reach 1-3’ in height. We grew ours up against a trellis for support, but never had to attach them directly to the trellis. They would be fun to grow with kids on a homemade trellis of branches or bamboo!

Harvesting Edamame

All of your edamame pods will ripen close to the same time, and you want to harvest them before the pods get yellow. So, at around the 80-day timeframe, keep an eye on them. Most varieties take 80 to 100 days to reach maturity. We cut the plants at the base, and clipped the pods from the plants. We allowed the pods to cool indoors, washed, blanched, and then froze them for later. When Holly cooks them, she likes to boil the pods and snack on the edamame inside!

Edamame is super easy to grow. We hope you try it!