2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

Zeedman

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For most of my bean transplants, I use peat strips (Jiffy 32's or equivalent), purchased in bulk. I punch extra holes in the bottom of each pot with an awl (to give the developing roots more places to emerge) and fill with seed starting medium. A single strip of 8 pots, @2 seeds per pot, will give me up to 16 plants of a variety - which will easily produce a few pounds of dry seed. For old seed, I might use two strips per variety, to ensure a good stand. I occasionally use larger pots, for the largest runner beans & limas... but even for those, the 32's work fine, unless the plants will be kept in the pots longer than usual.

What I like about using permeable pots (peat, paper, soil blocks, etc.) is that root growth is unrestrained; and since the whole pot gets planted, root damage during transplant is minimal. Provided the tray is full & kept moist, the roots will run out of the pots & grow across the bottom of the tray - with no root pruning. For better root protection (especially for less than a full tray) I sometimes use a thin layer of sand in the bottom of the tray, and nestle the pots into the sand. The sand acts as a reservoir for moisture, and also reduces mold on the pots. At the time of transplanting, I carefully pull the long roots out with the pot, coil them into the planting hole, and water immediately to keep those roots from drying out. Those extra roots help the plants to get a quick start, with little to no transplant shock.

The advantages of transplants are numerous; better germination (especially with old seed), fewer issues with seedling damage, no holes in the row, and the seedlings are more tolerate of less than ideal soil conditions. They can also give an early start on the growing season, and a couple of extra weeks can make all the difference when seed saving. If you only have a few seeds to start with, transplants enable each seed to count, with no thinning.

Since I began saving seed for beans of all types, I've started some seeds as transplants for long-season beans (such as limas) or if soil or weather conditions were not favorable at planting time. That has often been necessary, and those transplants made up for time lost due to bad weather. Even when weather was good enough to direct seed, I often started an 8-pack of many varieties, to use as backups in case of poor germination or plant loss.

This year I started runner beans, limas, and all Vignas in pots. But the perfect weather lured me into false confidence, and I decided not to plant common bean backups. That was a big mistake, and I have some very poor stands to show for it. :( When a system works, don't change it.
 
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Zeedman

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Another method that may work well, if you grow your beans up trellis, is sowing in plastic rain guttering. Peas do fantastically well with this form of transplanting; more importantly, I retain my sanity, as it's extremely quick and easy.
I don't see why it wouldn't work for beans, too. You just slide the whole lot out into a shallow trench next to the trellis. Get the size right and you don't even have to backfill soil. No faffing around with seed trays, small pots or broken stems. The base of the gutter may be over-run with roots but the plants don't seem to mind the journey out, and they establish very quickly.
An interesting idea.
 

Blue-Jay

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My Backyard Bean Nursery is very advanced for this time of the year. Presprouted seed and planted May 20th. Never planted beans that early. Plants have pods that look like what I normally have by Middle of August. There has been so much sun and I've watered the bed.

June 11

Bean Nursery #3 2021.jpg


July 8
Bean Nursery 7-8-21.jpg



Robert Lobitz orignal named bean - Bush - Koronis Little Red Trout
Koronis Little Red Trout 7-8-21.jpg


Robert Lobitz original named bean - Bush - Swan River
Swan River 7-8-21.jpg


South Flower bed also presprouted seed and planted May 20th. Is a collection of mostly Ping Zebra related Limas which take a little bit longer season to mature. The tall bean in the photo is the P. Vulgaris variety Lilaschecke. Second photo is a cross I discovered last year that I believe is a cross of Ping Zebra with Ganymede. It has Ping Zebra looking and size seeds with dark blueish speckles. There is a Small light tan lima growing in here I believe related to Ping Zebra Bred by Curt Burroughs who has a large lima collection in Iowa. A purple one and a black and white one.

South Flower Bed 7-8-21

South Flowerbed 7-8-21.jpg


Ping Zebra X Ganymede
Ping Zebra - Ganymede Cross 7-8-21.jpg


Ping Zebra - This bean takes a long season to mature. That's why I presprouted it's seed and planted early.
Ping Zebra - 7-8-21.jpg
 

Ridgerunner

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Two beans per pot are quite comfortable together.
I like this thought, especially with climbing beans. A 90 cm pot is about 3-1/2". That should give enough room for two plants if you leave them enough room between pots when transplanting them outside. Just need to think about it a bit.
 

Triffid

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A 90 cm pot is about 3-1/2". That should give enough room for two plants if you leave them enough room between pots when transplanting them outside.
It also provides some insurance in case one of them croaks. I space the canes 30cm apart, about 60cm between rows. Sorry for the metric, I'm useless with inches. Do you mean 90mm pots? With 90cm transplants you may need to employ a giant. 😳

@Bluejay77 Do you supplement nitrogen in the early stages of growth? Some of mine seem to take forever to associate with the necessary bacteria, and sulk yellowly for a few weeks.
 

flowerbug

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I have no problems with large animals. I have a mole problem that has worsened since a pair of storks that had a nest nearby did not return from migration.

i didn't know that storks did any kind of mole hunting. we have blue herons here and they don't come in the yard. if i need to get rid of a mole i have to trap it. i trapped moles as a kid along with mowing and other gardening so i'm usually able to trap a mole within a day or two as long as i have enough access to where they are running and people don't disturb the traps.
 

heirloomgal

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I like this thought, especially with climbing beans. A 90 cm pot is about 3-1/2". That should give enough room for two plants if you leave them enough room between pots when transplanting them outside. Just need to think about it a bit.

I tried this method also this year with a few different varieties of beans. Worked great. Saved me needing more pots too.
 

heirloomgal

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My Backyard Bean Nursery is very advanced for this time of the year. Presprouted seed and planted May 20th. Never planted beans that early. Plants have pods that look like what I normally have by Middle of August. There has been so much sun and I've watered the bed.

June 11

View attachment 42066

July 8
View attachment 42067


Robert Lobitz orignal named bean - Bush - Koronis Little Red Trout
View attachment 42068

Robert Lobitz original named bean - Bush - Swan River
View attachment 42069

South Flower bed also presprouted seed and planted May 20th. Is a collection of mostly Ping Zebra related Limas which take a little bit longer season to mature. The tall bean in the photo is the P. Vulgaris variety Lilaschecke. Second photo is a cross I discovered last year that I believe is a cross of Ping Zebra with Ganymede. It has Ping Zebra looking and size seeds with dark blueish speckles. There is a Small light tan lima growing in here I believe related to Ping Zebra Bred by Curt Burroughs who has a large lima collection in Iowa. A purple one and a black and white one.

South Flower Bed 7-8-21

View attachment 42070

Ping Zebra X Ganymede
View attachment 42071

Ping Zebra - This bean takes a long season to mature. That's why I presprouted it's seed and planted early.
View attachment 42072


Look at the SIZE of those beans! 💚💚💚
 
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