How Can I Have Success With French Beans?

Hey Guys,

How can i have success with french beans? They don't seem to grow very well and i do not know what i am doing wrong or what i need to do. Can you help me?

Love
Bex

 

Wait until late May /early June when the soil is thoroughly warmed, sow the beans thickly where you want them to grow, in a well-dug and weeded patch of soil, water very sparingly (maybe not even water at all if the soil is damp from rain) then thin out carefully if you end up with too many plants. Expect to see something within 8 to 10 days. If nothing appears, dig one up and see if it's rotted.

If it has, take sow another lot of seeds. This is the most labour-free way and as good as any other although you might have a late start.

Alternatively, sow beans indoors now, about 20 in a big seed tray or one to a 4"pot. Don't water the beans heavily when you sow, just a slightly damp compost will be OK as the biggest problem will be rotting off in cold damp soil. Then plant out in Late May/early June. A bit more work but you get an earlier start.

 

Warmth and not too wet are the key to successful germination. I let the seed compost go light in colour before watering. I sow in 24x cell tray inserts to avoid root disturbance caused if sowing in a seed tray. If sown under cover slowly introduce them to outside conditions because the leaves can be scorched by sunshine, especially if it's also windy - a sheet of newspaper over them will help.

I also let some of the earliest sown plants go to seed, so there's time for the pods to fully form and dry out providing free seeds for the following year(s).

 

Also fine, but I would recommend they only stay in there about 2 weeks to avoid root binding and starvation as once they germinate they will form a lot of root pretty fast.

Incorrigible!

 

The seed rot very easily. I start mine off in pots (actually I start them off on damp kitchen paper, then transfer to pots), but I figure that quite a lot will rot before they germinate.

 

Sometimes I've germinated them on paper. Seems that keeping them warm and barely moist is they key to getting them germinated before they rot off - if you go down the soil route.

 

Especially if passed their use by date. I once sowed six 24x cell trays with 4 seeds in each cell, so nearly 600 seeds that were past their use by date and they smelt like a dead rat.

 

I sowed another batch of French Beans on Thursday, sown in six 24x cell trays in heated propagators (only then just freed up from germinating squashes) kept at 25C/77F, watering the bare minimum, and they're showing this afternoon, only 3 days after sowing. As soon as most are through they'll be moved somewhere cooler. In the absence of heated propagators (can be some good buys on ebay) place seed trays on high level shelves in greenhouse/polytunnel.

I've always found that although French Beans sown in cell trays (and perhaps left in them a little longer than is 'good' for them?) will be less sturdy plants they crop quicker, although not so prolifically, but if you sow more seeds and plant out more plants it can be an advantage. Seeds sown in open ground always produced much bigger, sturdier plants that seemed to take an eternity to produce edible pods. As I always grow fine (fillet) beans I'm more interested in smaller pods, rather than large vigorous plants and large bean pods.

 

Ignoring all the sensible advice on this thread I sowed my French beans direct on the allotment on Monday. Well, it's late, innit? Got to crack on.

No doubt they are rotting in their cold, muddy bed even as I write. Huh.

 

I seem to be having problems with my runnerbeans rotting before they even get going. What am I doing wrong?

 

As above, really. Warmth and only just enough moisture seems to be the key. I wonder if a very free-draining gritty/sandy compost would help as well?

 

I sowed most of my Beans in JI Seed Compost in seed trays this year. As soon as they threw up the "loop" top with the seed leaves attached [still underground] I potted them up. Nice fan-shaped roots starting, but only an inch or so long, so by then not interfering with their neighbours - but leave it another day, or two, and it would all be getting "Busy" to transplant.

Enabled me to bury them a bit deeper too.

Got exceptionally good germinate, but my Runners OTOH were between two sheets of only-just-moist kitchen paper, sown at the same time and took several days longer to germinate, and half of them got mouldy ...

Not a good comparison as the Runners were older seed, and the others new and French!

But I wonder if a sandy soil based Seed Compost is "easier" then chitting in damp kitchen paper