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Last edited on November 01, 2026. View history

Ojo De Cabra Bean

Phaseolus vulgaris
Also known as goats eye (EN)

A variety of bean

The goat's eye bean from the Tarahumara of Mexico. High yielding. Dark stripes on a speckled light background in brown, tan, blue-grey and black. A dry bean.

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Ojo de cabra bean facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less
Optimal temperature 16–25 °C
Absolute temperature 7–32 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall 500–2000 mm/year
Absolute rainfall 300–4300 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH 5.5–7.5
Absolute soil pH 4–9
FAO EcoCrop

Crop cycle

50–270 days
FAO EcoCrop

Max altitude

3000 m
FAO EcoCrop

Optimal light

very bright to clear skies
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?

A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.

Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.

For ojo de cabra bean, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 50 days at its best temperature, about 675 growing degree days to a first harvest.

Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your ojo de cabra bean will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.

Growing ojo de cabra beans

  1. Dig the bed and add compost 1 week before sowing
  2. Put up supports for climbing beans 1 week after sowing
  3. Water regularly at sowing every week
  4. Weed carefully 3 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
  5. Pick beans regularly at first harvest every week
  6. Leave some pods to dry for seed 6 weeks after first harvest
  7. Pull out finished plants and dig in the roots 8 weeks after first harvest

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Find ojo de cabra bean seeds

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Time to harvest

If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 50 to 270 days.

From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.

Ecological requirements

Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Phaseolus vulgaris L.

Family / Taxonomy Magnoliopsida
Rosidae
Fabales
Leguminosae
Life form herb
Life span annual
Habit prostrate/procumbent/semi-erect
Optimal soil depth medium (50-150 cm)
Optimal soil texture medium, organic
Optimal soil fertility moderate
Optimal soil drainage well (dry spells)
Optimal soil salinity low (<4 dS/m)
Photoperiod short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours)

Learn more about ojo de cabra beans

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