Dwarf French beans

[Jimmy]

I start my Cobra climbing french beans in trays under a cold frame.
I put the first batch out around some wigwams. I think there was an overnight cold snap, not frost.
They look very weak and yellow and don't seem well at all.

The second batch went in a border next to the GH and have started up some netting, they look much happier.
Note all the above were 2 year old saved seed.

The new packet of Thompson & Morgan Mamba beans were a no show, same as last year!

I suspect if you buy peas or beans from a shop display they have been adversly affected by the shop environment.
So from now on I will get mine from an online supplier.

Any thoughts on this.
Jimmy.

[ameno]

How patient......seeds germinated fairly quickly, and quite well, however they have never put on more than the first two leaves and have been that way (the ones that weren't eaten by Mr Slime) for almost three weeks now.

Assuming they have had adequate water, there is definitely something wrong with them. I suspect something may be eating or rotting the roots. Try pulling one up and having a look.

[mcdood]

Have slugs eaten out the centre? In which case you'll need to wait for them to hopefully produce side shoots and grow on from them.

[Scarlet]

Sometimes the 2 halves of the seed come up as the first 2 leaves and then nothing else happens and eventually they keel over and die. I've tried pre-germinating them by soaking in water and find this tends to make things worse.

I've posted about this before, and everyone seemed to think they'd been attacked by slugs, but they were on a hanging (slug proof) shelf!

This is generally due to sowing in wet cold soil as it encourages bean flies who eat the tips which is the reason they come up blind.
Soaking beans can cause them to rot too.
If you sow in modules in a propagator you will unlikely have that problem.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=884

[MarkPelican]

Mine in the polytunnel are just beginning to crop (as are the climbing french), I've grown a few plants each of six different varieties. I rarely sow direct as I've found I end up with a cluster of plants that do well and large gaps where they haven't germinated or (as others have said) I just get the seed beans showing.

I find I get best results from the seeds that I've saved from last year.

[Penellype]

This is generally due to sowing in wet cold soil as it encourages bean flies who eat the tips which is the reason they come up blind.
Soaking beans can cause them to rot too.
If you sow in modules in a propagator you will unlikely have that problem.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=884

I sow my beans in new MPC in a propagator, usually 2 to a 3.5 inch pot, and grow on under lights until I am happy that they are going to be ok. I then harden them off in the growhouse before planting out. I think it is extremely unlikely that bean flies are to blame.

[Scarlet]

Perhaps not then but that is the usual reason although the adult flies are attracted to fresh compost. Cold soils are more troublesome as the bean takes longer to germinate. Smaller pot with one bean per module should help as the compost warms up quicker and will speed up germination. They don't really need much soil to sprout.
I had trouble with flies indoors this year on my dahlia cuttings.
Why do you grow on under lights? They are a reasonably easy crop to bring on.

[SarrissUK]

I think it's just been a cold dry couple of months and nothing is really moving all that much at all. My purple dwarves have only just produced some spindly beans, but they really need to fill out more. It's taken much longer than normal.

[Penellype]

Perhaps not then but that is the usual reason although the adult flies are attracted to fresh compost. Cold soils are more troublesome as the bean takes longer to germinate. Smaller pot with one bean per module should help as the compost warms up quicker and will speed up germination. They don't really need much soil to sprout.
I had trouble with flies indoors this year on my dahlia cuttings.
Why do you grow on under lights? They are a reasonably easy crop to bring on.

I grow them under lights in my utility room until they are big enough to go into the growhouse and withstand the odd nibble from snails, which climb the glass and get into everything in there. This is a standard system I have for almost everything. Usually 2 true leaves are enough for beans, but the ones I have problems with never get to that stage.

[MillieBee]

I removed them. Out of about 25 plants I had maybe 5 that might have gone onto better things, the rest were eaten (slugs - they are netted so can't be birds or other critters), or had no true leaves and shallow roots. Pumpkins are there now.
By comparison the ones in my back garden are not doing badly. Even if they are under a giant dahlia....!