I have planted a few types of beans in some pots that I have growing on my living room table, including Lima beans, soybeans and black turtle beans. I don't know if they are pole beans or bush beans. The Lima beans are just coming out of their cotyledons, the soybeans have their first set of leaves and are about 5 inches high, very firm. But the turtle bean is growing its second set of leaves, but it is very thin and leans over quite a bit. I'm assuming it is a pole bean then, and should I put some support for it, or will it be fine until I transplant into the garden?
Your living room table really would not supply the amount of light required for growing healthy mature plants, I suspect the leaning over is from the plant stretching for light. Do you have a source of supplimental light? Janet
JanetW is right, PLUS beans generally don't like to be transplanted. That's why seed packs usually suggest "plant seed in ground after all danger of frost". If roots are disturbed even a tiny bit during transplanting, the entire plant usually wilts and dies. I overcome this by starting my climbing bean seeds indoors 4-6 weeks ahead of when soil usually warms. Each year I start Dolichos lablab (Hyacinth Bean) in large styrofoam coffee cups (lots of room for roots to develop). Remember to punch a hole in the bottom with a pencil to allow for drainage. Two days before planting out into a prepared hole, I stop watering so that the entire plant slips nicely out of the styro cup when inverted. There's usually pretty good daylight and sunshine four to five weeks ahead of the last frost, so if kept at a south window I can get by without extra lights. The only disadvantage to the styro cups is that their shape allows them to fall over easily. Seven or 8 weeks in the window is too long though; perhaps start 'em later next year. Good luck.
Hmmm. Crap darn fart, I knew I should have just eaten the sprouts. lol! Ah well.... next time.... They are in those biodegradable peat pot type things though.
Peat pots are excellent...I simply find my seedlings are outgrowing the constraints of the peat pot after 4-5 weeks. Styro cups are dirt cheap and allow a lot of room for roots. Since you started your seeds so early, you could still pop your seedlings (peat pots and all, very gently) into large styro cups for the balance of indoor time. Should work. But this method does require a pretty large bag of good (seedling starter) soil, depending on how many you have. Good luck.
Thanks! What i did last night is move the peat pot thing into these cheap recycled cardboard 10 cent 3x3 pots. I only have a couple...it was more for fun with the kids than anything else, but it would be cool to have some beans grow. :)
I think it's great you're involving the kids. If they're old enough, maybe have them Search "transplanting vegetable seedlings" on the internet. My daughter, at about 12, taught me how to use the computer! There's still lots of time to start new beans if you wish. Good luck.
heh heh the oldest is 4, so they can't go online just yet i get them to eat the sprouts usually, but my oldest asked why we ate those and not the other "seeds" i had germinate for the garden... i told him that we could, he wanted to, so we did... kids are so much easier to make get involved in gardening than husbands... lol
