Germinating ( or not) beans.

[cupcake]

I have stacks of stuff growing away merrily in the garden and the greenhouse (deep joy!) The only thing that I'm struggling with is French beans and runners.I'm not even getting a 50% germination. I think the first FBs were over watered, but surely I should be doing better than this with such big seeds?

[ckfe]

i don't understand this overwatering thing.. i've got runner beans allegedly growing on the kitchen windowsill but i also planted some seeds outside, the ones on the windowsill invariably die of overwatering but the ones outside are coming up fine despite the fact that it's been lashing it down for the last few days.. same with the radishes, nothing inside, loads outside

[Rabidbun]

I had this problem last year, way under half of mine actually germinated (they were in pots indoors but just rotted). This year I put the beans on a few layers of kitchen roll in a tray indoors and kept the kitchen roll damp - they all (but one) showed signs of sprouting within 7-10 days. At this point I planted them as normal and put them in a propagator to speed up the growth a bit - once they came up they went in the greenhouse as normal and from there to the ground.

What confused me about mine was how much difference this made - they were the same seed packet as last year! Will be trying it with peas next year, now Those were dire germinators this time around!

[ckfe]

think i might try that, i'll have to buy some more seeds first though!

i'm scared to water anything that i'm growing indoors anymore just in case i kill it

[zazen999]

I had one module tray of beans that germinated, got left out in the sun on day and they all got scorched and shrivelled up so i gave them a seaweed feed and kept them moist and they recovered, then put them outside to harden off and in the winds a tray blew over and fell right on top of them [I walked past the tray several times as it covered the beans completely, and only worked out hours later what had happened], and they were all knocked over - again a few more days of TLC and they recovered - so I have now put them into the lottie and no doubt the hail today will have ripped them to pieces.

Sometimes.....the forces of nature are against us from the start....

I've had quite a few not germinate this year...no idea why as others in the next module have. Who knows???

[SarzWix]

Loads of mine have failed this year, but all of them were in a really big tray all together, all getting the same treatment, so I have absolutely no idea why the ones which worked did, or why the ones that rotted did The failed ones were Canellini (only got 1), HSL Giant Purple (none germinated), Bird's Egg (1 germinated). The Cranberry Pole, Tiger bean and Yin Yang were pretty feeble as well with 50% or less germinating.
Whereas the Cobra, Cosse Violette, Trail of Tears and Bridgwater have done brilliantly with at least 90% germination!

[zazen999]

Cosse Violette, Trail of Tears

These were the ones that were mistreated by moi

The shame.

[lavender lou]

What's a seaweed feed never heard of this?

[zazen999]

Maxicrop Homepage

Feed, made from seaweed.

[lavender lou]

Sounds really good i think i need to get some of that.

[Snadger]

I was just wondering if self saved seed was more viable than shop bought?

I say this because any of my own self saved legume seed usually gives a 99% strike rate whereas shop bought peas and beans always seem to give about a 50% strike rate!

I remember the Victorian Kitchen Garden episode where they were showing you how unscrupulous Victorian seed merchants 'bulked up' fresh seed with old seed!

Of course you'll all reply "But mine WAS self saved seed Snadge" in which case my theory is left in tatters!

[Comfreyfan]

I'll throw the averages in the other direction, I've had 100% from my french and runners (bought seed) this year. Pop them in modules and keep them moist.

Although I've just discovered my runners were left out yesterday in the all day monsoon and the pots were in trays without drainage, so they've been sitting in water all night So maybe I'll drop those averages after all!

[zazen999]

Although I've just discovered my runners were left out yesterday in the all day monsoon and the pots were in trays without drainage, so they've been sitting in water all night So maybe I'll drop those averages after all!

Don't worry about them - just drop a tray on them from a great height and they'll be fine [JOKE - see my previous post ]....

[SarzWix]

I dunno Snadge, Mine were about half and half - the Canellini were a bought packet, the Purple Giant were saved seed, they both failed. The ones that were a bit iffy were all saved seed, some mine some from swaps. And the ones that have romped away were mostly from the Real Seed Co, except the Cobra which are 3 year old T&M seeds!
It makes no sense to me at all!

[Two_Sheds]

I am wondering if the seeds simply took up too much water during the last two damp summers ... and that's why they are rotting instead of germinating.

I've certainly never had such poor germination as this year, and I'm using exactly the same methods as previously.