Are they dwarf beans?
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
Help!! I was given some black seeds and told they were dwarf beans. After 3 – 4 weeks under the soil in the kitchen up popped six plants and up and up they grew. They are now about 8 inches tall with leaves on the top but nothing down below! Question: As this is my first attempt at growing anything have I somehow done something wrong? This isn’t what I expected.
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alan refail
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Hi Peet
You need to find out what variety they are.
Secondly - it's a bit early to have them growing, as they can't be planted out until all threat of frost is past.
You need to find out what variety they are.
Secondly - it's a bit early to have them growing, as they can't be planted out until all threat of frost is past.
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Nature's Babe
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Hello Peet, may I suggest it might help prevent any frost damage if you can put a fleece cover over them, early days yet, good luck.
Sit down before a fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconcieved notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.
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By Thomas Huxley
http://www.wildrye.info/reserve/
Hi Peet,
To be perfectly honest I would scrap your beans and start again a little later in the season. Now that sounds a very brutal thing to say but we have at least another 6 weeks of frost and the plants you have will be over the hill by the time we get the weather warm enough to plant them out. They will be a pain in the neck. Shame really if you have had a good germination. By the way I suspect that the beans are climbing beans and not dwarf beans.
If you are unsure of anything before you take any action contact this forum because this is what it is for. Miserable old sods like me trying to give good advice to those new to growing.
JB.
To be perfectly honest I would scrap your beans and start again a little later in the season. Now that sounds a very brutal thing to say but we have at least another 6 weeks of frost and the plants you have will be over the hill by the time we get the weather warm enough to plant them out. They will be a pain in the neck. Shame really if you have had a good germination. By the way I suspect that the beans are climbing beans and not dwarf beans.
If you are unsure of anything before you take any action contact this forum because this is what it is for. Miserable old sods like me trying to give good advice to those new to growing.
JB.
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Primrose
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I seem to recall that I once had some dwarf French bean seeds which were black, but can't remember which variety they were as I tend to grow mostly climbing beans these days as I get a better yield for the space each bean occupies.
Hate to rub salt into your wounds but Johnboy is right about you being too early and if you try to plant them out any time now I fear you'll be doomed to disappointment. I'm located not far from you in Bucks and won't be sowing my beans for another month yet, as beans absolutely hate cold nights and won't thrive.
Do you have enough beans to sow a second batch later? If not, I'd get some more and try again a little later as your seeds obviously like the compost you're using and the spot where you've put them to germinate in your kitchen.
Hate to rub salt into your wounds but Johnboy is right about you being too early and if you try to plant them out any time now I fear you'll be doomed to disappointment. I'm located not far from you in Bucks and won't be sowing my beans for another month yet, as beans absolutely hate cold nights and won't thrive.
Do you have enough beans to sow a second batch later? If not, I'd get some more and try again a little later as your seeds obviously like the compost you're using and the spot where you've put them to germinate in your kitchen.
I still have the plants in the kitchen but I will heed Johnboy’s advice and start again. I guess I was a bit too keen to get things started. My toms, onions and sweet peppers are in the kitchen also so I had better keep a close eye on them. As always many thanks for your invaluable advice.
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John Walker
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@Peet
The advice to sow later is all good and sound but I wouldn't be so defeatist and throw all your plants out just yet. If you can coax them along there's a chance they'll produce an extra-early crop of beans if you keep growing them in pots indoors and don't even attempt to plant them out in the garden (you can sow again in pots to plant out, or sow direct as has been suggested). You just need to treat them differently. It's something that's worked for me.
You say they are 8in tall - are there just two leaves at the top of the stem? If so, these are the first two 'seed' leaves and the 'true' leaves will follow, so their appearance is quite normal (you haven't done anything wrong). They need as much full sun as you can give them to stop them becoming weak and leggy (south facing windowsill, sunny porch or outdoors against a sunny wall on fine days).
To give them a chance I'd very carefully pot each plant up into a 31/2in diameter pot of multipurpose compost (my choice would be peat-free New Horizon Organic & Peat-free Multipurpose) and then only water them when the leaves just show signs of wilting. Once roots have filled and are starting to grow around the inside of the pot, move them on into 5-6in diameter pots using the same compost. By then they should be much more leafy and making branching, bushy plants. If they get a bit top heavy use some twiggy sticks pushed into the pot to support them. When (fingers crossed) flowers appear, give them a weekly liquid feed of tomato fertiliser.
By the way if they start to produce a single long and trailing shoot then you've got a climbing bean rather than a dwarf one.
They can stay outdoors day and night as we get into say mid-April and beyond, but do bring them indoors on clear and cold/frosty nights. As Nature's Babe suggests, at this stage you could also cover them with fleece - I would use 2-3 layers to be sure.
Good luck - and give them a go!
The advice to sow later is all good and sound but I wouldn't be so defeatist and throw all your plants out just yet. If you can coax them along there's a chance they'll produce an extra-early crop of beans if you keep growing them in pots indoors and don't even attempt to plant them out in the garden (you can sow again in pots to plant out, or sow direct as has been suggested). You just need to treat them differently. It's something that's worked for me.
You say they are 8in tall - are there just two leaves at the top of the stem? If so, these are the first two 'seed' leaves and the 'true' leaves will follow, so their appearance is quite normal (you haven't done anything wrong). They need as much full sun as you can give them to stop them becoming weak and leggy (south facing windowsill, sunny porch or outdoors against a sunny wall on fine days).
To give them a chance I'd very carefully pot each plant up into a 31/2in diameter pot of multipurpose compost (my choice would be peat-free New Horizon Organic & Peat-free Multipurpose) and then only water them when the leaves just show signs of wilting. Once roots have filled and are starting to grow around the inside of the pot, move them on into 5-6in diameter pots using the same compost. By then they should be much more leafy and making branching, bushy plants. If they get a bit top heavy use some twiggy sticks pushed into the pot to support them. When (fingers crossed) flowers appear, give them a weekly liquid feed of tomato fertiliser.
By the way if they start to produce a single long and trailing shoot then you've got a climbing bean rather than a dwarf one.
They can stay outdoors day and night as we get into say mid-April and beyond, but do bring them indoors on clear and cold/frosty nights. As Nature's Babe suggests, at this stage you could also cover them with fleece - I would use 2-3 layers to be sure.
Good luck - and give them a go!
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Geoff
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I have some Cobra Climbing French Beans just germinated, they are black beans. I am lucky in having both a heated and a cold greenhouse. I shall plant them into some square tubs I have, 30x30x30cms (actually 25 litre drums with the tops cut off), 4 or 5 plants per tub. I support them initially with 4' canes and keep them in the heated greenhouse until almost mid-April then I move them to the cold greenhouse and add taller canes. I wrap them in fleece on cold nights but get a worthwhile early crop from two tubs. So if you have a greenhouse, porch or conservatory all is not lost.
Hi Peet,
As you have said that you are new to gardening and if you are raising seeds on the window sill really means to me that you do not have the facilities mentioned by other contributors who apparently do have the facilities. Without these facilities you have practically no chance of obtaining a descent crop in the future. I think that sad as it may be you have taken the right course of action.
JB.
As you have said that you are new to gardening and if you are raising seeds on the window sill really means to me that you do not have the facilities mentioned by other contributors who apparently do have the facilities. Without these facilities you have practically no chance of obtaining a descent crop in the future. I think that sad as it may be you have taken the right course of action.
JB.