Fava bean
Also called: فول · باقلاء · Foul · Broad bean
The most cold-loving crop in this guide, with its whole season inside Al-Murabbaniya and Ash-Shabt. Sow in November for pods in February, and expect the weather to stay cool until it finishes. This window is less certain than most, so check it.
The year at a glance
Each month is split in half. The outline marks now.
Stage by stage
Stage 1 of 9
Seed
Days 0–6
Seed
Days 0–6The seed sits in the soil taking up water and swelling. Nothing shows above the surface — everything is happening underground.
Do now
- Water lightly and often so the soil stays damp but never soaked. Letting it dry out between waterings kills the seed before it sprouts.
- Cover the surface with a thin layer of straw or compost to slow evaporation and steady the temperature.
- Label what you sowed and when. You will need the date to work out the harvest.
Watch for
- A hard crust forming on sandy soil after watering, which traps the sprout underneath. Break it gently.
- Ants carrying small seeds away — a very common problem in Qatari gardens.
In Qatar
Sow in November, 5 cm deep. Fava is the most cold-loving crop here, and sowing before the soil cools below about 25 °C wastes seed.
Germination
Days 7–15The seed coat splits: a root pushes down and a shoot pushes up. The two seed leaves that appear are not true leaves — they are the seed’s own food store.
Do now
- Keep moisture constant. The first root is very fine and a single dry day can end the seedling.
- Remove any covering as soon as the first sprout shows, or it will stretch thin looking for light.
- Give bright, indirect light. Direct midday sun will scorch a new seedling within hours.
Watch for
- A long, thin, pale stem: the seedling is not getting enough light and will collapse.
- Sudden wilting with a pinched stem at soil level — damping off, caused by overwatering.
In Qatar
Slow and steady, up to two weeks. It is a big seed that rots if the soil is kept soggy.
Seedling
Days 16–35The first true leaves appear, shaped differently from the seed leaves. The plant is now feeding itself and the roots are branching fast.
Do now
- Thin crowded seedlings and keep the strongest. Crowding gives you many weak plants instead of one good one.
- Start watering less often but more deeply, to drive the roots downwards.
- Harden the seedling off — build up its sun exposure over a week before transplanting.
Watch for
- Yellowing lower leaves: nitrogen shortage, very common in Qatar’s poor sandy soil.
- Small holes or chewed edges, meaning snails or young grasshoppers.
In Qatar
Water lightly and put canes up with string between them early. Fava is tall and brittle in the northerly wind.
Vegetative growth
Days 36–62The plant grows and forms nodules on its roots that fix nitrogen from the air. Legumes feed themselves and leave the soil better than they found it.
Do now
- Do not add nitrogen fertiliser. Legumes make their own, and extra gives you leaves instead of pods.
- Water deeply in the early morning. Evening watering plus high humidity invites fungal disease.
- Check the undersides of leaves weekly for whitefly and aphids.
- Top up the mulch around the stem to keep the roots cool.
Watch for
- Lush leaves but no flowers: too much nitrogen. Stop the nitrogen feed.
- Midday wilting even though the soil is moist: heat stress — the plant needs shade.
In Qatar
Pinch out the growing tip as soon as the first flower trusses form. That removes the soft shoot black aphids love and improves pod set.
Flowering
Days 63–79The plant switches from building a body to making offspring. Flowers open, and every one that is successfully pollinated becomes a fruit.
Do now
- Cut back nitrogen and raise potassium and phosphorus to support fruit set.
- Never let the soil dry out completely between waterings. Drought now makes the flowers drop.
- Shake the plant gently in the morning, or use a small brush, to help pollination if bees are scarce.
Watch for
- Flowers dropping without setting fruit: above about 35 °C the pollen goes sterile. Get shade over it now.
- No pollinating insects at all — common on enclosed roofs and balconies.
In Qatar
Flowering in December and January falls in the cold it wants. A warm spell in February will drop the flowers.
Pod set
Days 80–99Small flat pods form behind the spent flowers and lengthen quickly. This is the thirstiest, most drought-sensitive moment in a legume’s life.
Do now
- Make watering perfectly regular. Swinging between dry and drenched causes most fruit cracking and rot.
- Support the fruiting branches before the weight breaks them.
- Add calcium if your irrigation water is brackish, to head off blossom-end rot.
Watch for
- A sunken brown patch at the base of the fruit: calcium shortage from irregular watering or salinity.
- Small fruits yellowing and dropping: the plant is carrying more than it can feed, or it is thirsty.
In Qatar
The thirstiest stage of its life. Keep the water even — a dry week now means empty pods.
Pod fill
Days 100–114The pods fill with seed. Pods meant for eating fresh are picked before the seeds swell and the pod turns stringy.
Do now
- Ease off the water slightly to concentrate the flavour — but never to the point of wilting.
- Shade exposed fruit with the plant’s own leaves to prevent sunscald.
- Pick as things ripen. Leaving fruit on the plant stops it setting new ones.
Watch for
- White or leathery brown patches on the sun-facing side: sunscald.
- A small hole with rot inside, meaning fruit worm.
In Qatar
The pods fill with beans and swell. Pick early, while still glossy green, if you want to eat them whole.
Harvest
Days 115–150The fruit is ready. The plant is at peak production and will keep bearing as long as you keep picking and the weather holds.
Do now
- Pick in the early morning when the fruit is full of water and will keep longest.
- Use scissors rather than pulling by hand, so you do not tear the branch.
- Keep feeding potassium every two weeks to stretch the picking season out.
Watch for
- New fruit coming smaller: the plant is exhausted and needs feeding.
- The seasonal heat rising, which will shut production down within weeks.
In Qatar
Harvest in February and March. The season ends with March warmth, so pick every pod before it toughens.
End of cycle
Days 151–180Production tails off and the leaves yellow. As the heat builds the plant stops setting fruit altogether.
Do now
- Bring in the last of the fruit, even the ones not fully ripe.
- Save seed from the best fruit on the strongest plant if you want to grow it again.
- Pull the plant and compost the healthy remains; bin or burn anything diseased.
- Work compost into the soil now, ready for the next Al-Wasm.
Watch for
- Leaving diseased plants in the ground carries pests over to next season’s crop.
- Bare soil under the sun goes dead. Cover it or sow a green manure.
In Qatar
Cut the plants at ground level and leave the roots: fava nodules leave the bed rich in nitrogen for okra or molokhia.
- Water
- Medium
- Salt tolerance
- Low
- Heat tolerance
- Low
4 L/week in winter, 10 L in summer
Soil preparation
No nitrogen. Light compost and phosphorus only. It dislikes salt, so flush the bed with fresh water before sowing if you irrigate from a well, and make sure drainage is good — it rots in waterlogged ground.
Pests
Black bean aphid
- Sign
- Dense black colonies on the growing tips and flowers.
- What to do
- Pinch out the top 10 cm of each plant once pods start to set — it is the soft growth the aphids love. Then water-blast any that remain.
Chocolate spot
- Sign
- Chocolate-brown blotches on leaves and stems, worse after humid spells.
- What to do
- Widen the spacing for airflow, water in the morning only, and strip the affected leaves.
Common problems
Flower drop
- Cause
- Warmth above about 25 °C by day, or drought during flowering. Fava drops its flowers early at any warm spell.
- Fix
- Sow in November so flowering lands in the coldest part of winter, and keep watering steady.
Empty or poorly filled pods
- Cause
- Thirst while the pods were setting, or no pollinators.
- Fix
- Water regularly at pod set, and shake the plants gently in the morning if bees are scarce.
Picking
Pick young green pods whole to eat with their shell, or leave them to fatten and shell the beans. Big swollen pods give tougher, starchier beans.
Keeping
Fresh pods keep five days in the fridge. Shelled beans freeze well after a two-minute blanch, or can be dried for storage.