"wait, wait...are you saying I can put six HUNDRED plants in a 10x10 plot???" Those yields are based upon a degree of soil conditioning that is very labor-intensive... and while I have read of such recommendations, I have yet to see photos, or hear first-hand observations, proving that they would work for most gardeners. All of the digging aside, in my area, I'd be flirting with disaster if I crowded my beans that closely. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it. Most bush beans - when healthy & mature - have a footprint of 1/2 - 1 sq. ft. or larger. 100 plants (1 per sq. ft.) should be a safe bet; I've successfully used 6" between plants w/ 2-foot spacing between rows, which is close to the same thing. You might be able to get away with 2-3 plants per sq. ft. for the more compact varieties. Crowding more closely than that may work in the warm dry climate of California; but in the cooler, wetter Northern climes, it could lead to severe disease problems. I'm not saying that it wouldn't work... just that I wouldn't put all my eggs in that one basket, unless/until small-scale trials proved it to be successful. In a post above, I had mentioned "seed efficiency". To put that in perspective, large kidney beans are somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-60 seeds per ounce. If planted at the recommended bio-intensive density of 600+ for a 10' X 10' plot, you would need between 10-16 ounces of seed to plant... so you would need to buy (or save from the previous season) a pound of seed. Assuming you harvest 24 pounds of dry seed (which is, keep in mind, the best case scenario), it would represent a return of between 24/1 & 38/1, depending upon seed size. Most gardeners would get much less than that, since the maximum is for experienced gardeners, on well amended soil. In contrast, my observations are that large-seeded bush beans, given the 6" plant/2' row spacing I mentioned above, are easily capable of a seed increase of between 50/1 - 100/1. Small-seeded types will tend to yield about the same weight/plant, but at an even higher ratio of increase, well over 100/1... so in terms of cost effectiveness (if purchasing seed) small is often better. Pole beans can do better still; the "Striped Cornfield" I grew this year (@45 seeds/oz.) produced a return of over 500/1! My results were obtained by mechanical tilling, with leaves & mulch turned under each season. Using these numbers, the same kidney beans - if grown in 5 rows in the same 10' X 10' plot - would be 100 plants. This would produce between 5 & 10 pounds of seed minimum... with only 2 ounces of seed required for planting, the average in a packet of beans. Also, at this spacing, the plants have sufficient air flow through the foliage to minimize the chances of disease during prolonged periods of rainfall. Having tested that theory in some very bad years recently (such as in 2008) I consider these yields to be realistically attainable, year after year. I don't doubt that my spacings could be improved upon; it is something that I often experiment with. Most likely, there is a happy medium somewhere between row spacing & high-density plantings which will produce the best yield, for a given area, with the littlest possible seed. That "happy medium" should take into account the expected annual variations in climate, since what works well one year, might not work the next. With soybeans, I have had some success with closely-spaced double rows, with standard row spacing between the pairs... so that may work for bush beans as well. Given the observations I have made on over 100 bean varieties over the years, I expect the optimal spacing will vary widely, depending upon variety, climate, and soil fertility. So there is really no "one correct answer" for bean spacing... just starting points for personal experimentation. Keep in mind, John Jeavons' bio-intensive recommendations mentioned above pertain to bush beans only. Pole beans are not suitable for wide bed planting, due to shading. However, you can have the best of both worlds using pole beans. Planted in a single row on the North side of the bed (where they would not shade shorter crops), they take up a relatively small footprint. A high-yielding pole variety could give you 3-4 pounds of dry seed from one row in that same 10' X 10' bed. You could use the majority of the bed(s) for other things, and still get a good crop of beans. My apologies for all of the long (and probably dry) posts, but as an amateur researcher, I just wanted to share some "bean science". Just wish this was on the Bean Forum.

I'll second Fusion's recommendation for "Goose"; I have often posted about the closely related "Ma Williams", which I obtained from SSE. Highly productive, outstanding quality as a shelly, but just OK as a snap. I tried a few "Blue Marbut" raw, but never tried them cooked as snaps. It was very productive as a black-seeded dry bean, I made some good refried beans from them. As a rule, I tend to use dual-purpose beans as shellies, rather than dry. Most shellies are usable for snaps as well, although varieties bred for snaps will generally outperform them. The best dual-purpose varieties I've tried (including the two above) are heirlooms: - "Brita's Foot Long" (pole) closely resembles the white-seeded version of Kentucky Wonder, but with more flavorful seeds. They are roughly the size of Great Northern. The pods are tasty as snaps, but should be picked very young, before strings develop. - "Bert Goodwin" (half-runner) has long, straight pods that have great flavor as a snap. If allowed to ripen, they will form large, deep red seeds that are tasty also. Probably the best multi-purpose bean I've tried. - "PI 507984" (bush) is an otherwise unnamed bean from the USDA, collected in Hungary. The young pods are OK as snaps, but its best use is as a shelly. The beans are borne in great numbers on very vigorous bushes, and are easily shelled. They are deep red w/white spots, and extremely large in shell stage, close to 1" long. The flavor is very rich, and the shellies keep much of their color when cooked. The red turns to nearly black when dried. To the best of my knowledge, the last three are unavailable commercially; Salt Spring Seeds (Canada) carries "Brita's", but will not ship to the U.S. If you are interested in trying any of them, I'd be happy to send you some seed, just contact me through my member page if interested. Oh, and lest I forget... the best dry bean I have grown is "Soissons Vert", a pole "flageolet" variety with light green seeds roughly the size of Great Northern. It is not usable as a snap, but the shelly is gourmet quality, and it makes a great dry bean.

Freeze them instead. Shell out over mature beans and put them in quart ziploc bags in the freezer. They should be at the green mature stage to do this. If they are already dried out, then you can shell them and store them as dry beans for later use. DarJones

I responded to your other thread before reading this one, assuming that by "shell bean" you meant "shelly". For beans intended for dry use, yes, picking them as snaps would stimulate the plants to produce more pods. Those pods are likely to be smaller, more fibrous, or less palatable than beans bred specifically for use as snaps. I have seen posters who swear by the quality of pinto beans picked young as snaps... but personally, unless you have limited space & are looking for a "one-size-fits-all", you might be better off just planting two varieties. If you choose to harvest some of your dry beans early for shellies, though, those plants might rebound & produce a crop of snaps. To take advantage of that, any plant harvested early should be picked bare. Those plants will (usually) put out new leaves & blossoms... then it is just a question of whether they will have time to produce before frost.