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| I decided to go for a prolific garden this year in the span of 30 seconds and no research. Yay me. About a month ago, I looked at my bush beans, which are doing fantastic - I sampled one that was nearly done today, and they are delicious! - and decided that I wanted pole beans too. It wasn't too late to start, so I bought the highly rated Blue Lake pole beans. I planted the entire packet, nearly 80 seeds. 1st time around, planted around 30 seeds. About 2/3 came up. Not as much as I wanted to, but it was fine, and the seedlings are doing great and have their first true leaves nearly to normal size. Gorgeous deep green foliage. I planted several more, as I wanted more than I had... It was a disaster! I was hoping for better germination this time around, as I used these absurdly weird little coconut fiber pellets the time before and figured that was the problem. I've used since my days of 1 squash, 1 cucumber, 3 tomato gardening the same little peat pellets, which have incredible germination and have made some massively amazing plants past years, and especially this one. But no... out of the rest of the packet, nearly 50, and FIVE came up after two weeks. I checked on them today, and it appears that about 50% of them germinated, and then it appears most of them started to slowly rot. The rest either did nothing or molded, mostly molded. Terrible, terrible, disgusting mold... I am truly appalled. For those that have grown Blue Lake, can you tell me if I just got a terrible batch? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Why'd you use the pellets and not just direct sow? My Blue Lake beans had about an 85% germination rate, directly sown in bagged topsoil with about 30% purchased bagged compost worked in. Perhaps yours stayed too moist? |
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- Posted by theforgottenone1013 5b/6a MI (My Page) on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 21:29
| So the first planting of the Blue Lake yielded 66% germination but the second planting yielded almost none. Same year, same seed. If the seed that was the problem there wouldn't be such a descrepancy between plantings. The 66% germination is low but it's not the seeds. The way you are describing the mold and rotting the problem was that they were overwatered. Very easy to do. There are much better mediums in which to germinate seeds than pellets. Do a search here on peat pellets and you'll find lots of info on them, most of it negative. And I agree with Weicker. I'm not sure why you are starting them in pellets instead of just planting them directly in the garden. Which is the usual way to plant beans (unless you live in an area that has an extended cool spring/summer). When the soil is warm beans sprout and grow quickly. Rodney |
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- Posted by ken_adrian MI z5 (My Page) on Thu, Jun 26, 14 at 21:38
| in the span of 30 seconds and no research. Yay me. ==>> i am with you .. wing it.. lol... live and learn. and experiment ... dont know where you are... but the weather has not been conducive to seed starting here in MI .... in the last few weeks ... incredible heat.. drought... and damp soggy nights... there are reasons.. success is greater in spring.. with warm days.. and cool nights ... you said: It wasn't too late to start who said that??? .... and thats part of your winging it problem ... whether mature plants are prospering.. really has nothing to do with germination... or making recently germ'd plants thrive ... and i think that MAY BE.. where the lack of research failed you ... be sure to understand.. pre WWW .. i learned NOTHING.. except thru experimenting ... you will.. for sure.. never forget this lesson .... whatever it may be ... ken ps: there might also be an issue with what vermin might be eating your seeds now.. that werent around and didnt eat them in spring ... |
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| I think the bean seeds were sitting in excessive moisture. Unlike many other seeds, beans are easily injured by oxygen deprivation during germination. If you soak bean seeds in water it will kill at least half of them, but if you let them soften in lightly dampened paper towels they will do just fine. The diff is oxygen availability. Peat pellets are cute but not a good choice for a big, fast-growing seedling like a bean. Once the soil is warm, direct-seeding is the way to go. |
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