Zeedman
Garden Master
For most of my bean transplants, I use peat strips (Jiffy 32's or equivalent), purchased in bulk. I punch extra holes in the bottom of each pot with an awl (to give the developing roots more places to emerge) and fill with seed starting medium. A single strip of 8 pots, @2 seeds per pot, will give me up to 16 plants of a variety - which will easily produce a few pounds of dry seed. For old seed, I might use two strips per variety, to ensure a good stand. I occasionally use larger pots, for the largest runner beans & limas... but even for those, the 32's work fine, unless the plants will be kept in the pots longer than usual.
What I like about using permeable pots (peat, paper, soil blocks, etc.) is that root growth is unrestrained; and since the whole pot gets planted, root damage during transplant is minimal. Provided the tray is full & kept moist, the roots will run out of the pots & grow across the bottom of the tray - with no root pruning. For better root protection (especially for less than a full tray) I sometimes use a thin layer of sand in the bottom of the tray, and nestle the pots into the sand. The sand acts as a reservoir for moisture, and also reduces mold on the pots. At the time of transplanting, I carefully pull the long roots out with the pot, coil them into the planting hole, and water immediately to keep those roots from drying out. Those extra roots help the plants to get a quick start, with little to no transplant shock.
The advantages of transplants are numerous; better germination (especially with old seed), fewer issues with seedling damage, no holes in the row, and the seedlings are more tolerate of less than ideal soil conditions. They can also give an early start on the growing season, and a couple of extra weeks can make all the difference when seed saving. If you only have a few seeds to start with, transplants enable each seed to count, with no thinning.
Since I began saving seed for beans of all types, I've started some seeds as transplants for long-season beans (such as limas) or if soil or weather conditions were not favorable at planting time. That has often been necessary, and those transplants made up for time lost due to bad weather. Even when weather was good enough to direct seed, I often started an 8-pack of many varieties, to use as backups in case of poor germination or plant loss.
This year I started runner beans, limas, and all Vignas in pots. But the perfect weather lured me into false confidence, and I decided not to plant common bean backups. That was a big mistake, and I have some very poor stands to show for it.
When a system works, don't change it.
What I like about using permeable pots (peat, paper, soil blocks, etc.) is that root growth is unrestrained; and since the whole pot gets planted, root damage during transplant is minimal. Provided the tray is full & kept moist, the roots will run out of the pots & grow across the bottom of the tray - with no root pruning. For better root protection (especially for less than a full tray) I sometimes use a thin layer of sand in the bottom of the tray, and nestle the pots into the sand. The sand acts as a reservoir for moisture, and also reduces mold on the pots. At the time of transplanting, I carefully pull the long roots out with the pot, coil them into the planting hole, and water immediately to keep those roots from drying out. Those extra roots help the plants to get a quick start, with little to no transplant shock.
The advantages of transplants are numerous; better germination (especially with old seed), fewer issues with seedling damage, no holes in the row, and the seedlings are more tolerate of less than ideal soil conditions. They can also give an early start on the growing season, and a couple of extra weeks can make all the difference when seed saving. If you only have a few seeds to start with, transplants enable each seed to count, with no thinning.
Since I began saving seed for beans of all types, I've started some seeds as transplants for long-season beans (such as limas) or if soil or weather conditions were not favorable at planting time. That has often been necessary, and those transplants made up for time lost due to bad weather. Even when weather was good enough to direct seed, I often started an 8-pack of many varieties, to use as backups in case of poor germination or plant loss.
This year I started runner beans, limas, and all Vignas in pots. But the perfect weather lured me into false confidence, and I decided not to plant common bean backups. That was a big mistake, and I have some very poor stands to show for it.
When a system works, don't change it.
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