Virginia is the south since they were on the side of the south during the civil war....LOL (sorry I could not resist). When I ordered the seeds there was a problem with my credit card so the order was delayed. I called them and told them hey, it will be too late to plant collards here soon! they said, but we still have snow! snow???? Different south... I understand your concern, I am in southern California but my zone is like yours (9b) and I garden in Lousiana sometimes too (to help my FIL). Our planting times are pretty similar, but we have very dry summers, that is one difference. I grew soy beans in my 9b home garden and they grew pretty well, however, they were not the edamame type, so I will try the new seed I got from SE. I had to water them of course, you might not have to? I have not grown soy beans in New Orleans since there is no demand for them from the folks that will eat the vegetables there. My guess is that they will do well in Louisiana. Farmerdilla says they grow well in the south south (the real south?), he has lots of experience and is closer to you.

Well I went out and pulled off the dark brown/black ones that have dried out. Cracking open the shell was a lot like cracking open some peanuts. Anyways, the beans that came out were perfect. I still have the original batch of soybeans from the asian market. My grown ones look almost exactly the same. The only difference is that mine are just not quite as fat. Also I'm growing some mung beans. Same deal there, I pulled off a dry pod and cracked it open. The beans look the same as the bag of mung beans I grew them from. I'm still amazed I got any beans at all from these plants. I mean I truly treated them like crap. They were not at the edge of my balcony but close to my door. So they only got direct sunlight for about 5 hours a day. The stuff at the edge get 8 or 9 hours. I grew them in crappy $4 for 40 pound "organic" potting soil. No fertilizers added or anything. I really haven't been very diligent with watering them either. These bean plants never had any good looking leaves. They've all been full of brown spots and frayed edges. I've built one of those earthbox type self watering containers and have a tomato plant and basil plant in it. They've grown so quick and look so healthy. I'm going to build some more and I want to try a soybean plant in there to see how it does when it's treated nice.

Thanks, once again Chris for the info. I can't wait to get my soybean meal. You have no idea what I have gone through trying to find a source for it. I have even e-mailed the Ontario Soybean Growers Association three times to find a source (no replies yet). Unfortunately I won't be going to the cottage until the end of the month of July so all I have been able to put on my lawn so far is coffee grounds from Starbucks. Now I just have to make sure that I have enough room in the trunk of my car for the bag. I'd like to get at least two bags if I can fit them in. Do you know if they are open 7 days a week? I might be coming home from the cottage on a Sunday or Monday depending on the weather.

I just want to commend you for being willing to struggle to grow edamame, Bob. I think that folks are missing out who haven't tried it. It wasn't until about a year ago that I was clued in on the availability of the vegetable in the supermarket's frozen food section. I've promised myself to freeze some this year! This is really not soybean country but I found an early variety (Bei) and the seeds germinate just fine for me. No more trouble than snapbean seeds . . . I have BeSweet to try this year! I can't help wondering if you have bad seed to start with. Steve