Growing beans

[Ariel301]

I remember as a kid, taking a few beans out of the bag of pinto beans (or whatever variety) from the grocery store and growing them, either for fun or for science projects at school. Does anyone know if this still works, or if they have treated them somehow to prevent it now?

 

[old fashioned]

Last year I was curious about this same thing, so I put some of the beans in a wet paper towel to check if they would sprout. THEY DID! So I planted a few(maybe 10 of each) of Navy, Black & Red beans as a test and they grew great. Harvested about a handful of each.
Based on that successful test, I planted ALOT of each this year and again are growing wonderfully with lots of pods on each plant. I'm guesstimating to harvest about a pound of each when they're done.

You should test for germination of any variety you are interested in growing. If they sprout, chances are they will grow & produce a harvest. Also, don't give up if one brand didn't sprout (was likely treated) but try another brand.

Good luck!

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

This how we've grown butter beans for years. Buy a bag and plant it.

 

[Greenthumb18]

I always plant beans from the bags you get at the grocery store too, this year i planted borlotti beans or sometimes called cranberry beans and i also planted cannellini beans. Looking forward to a nice fall harvest from them, i love to just sit down with a bag full of beans in their pods ready to shell them.

 

[Ariel301]

Great! I'm going bean shopping next week then. It's so expensive to buy a large quantity of seed beans from a seed company!

 

[Warthog]

I do the same with sunflower seeds, buy them for the animals and plants some for decoration and to feed to the animals.

Not yet tried it with beans, but will do.

 

[Ariel301]

Ooh, I had not thought of doing sunflowers that way. Another thing for my shopping list lol...I'm sure the chickens won't complain about those!

 

[Warthog]

No your chickens certainly won't complain.

I let the head dry out on the plant and just throw the complete head in their pen, and stand back.

The goats get the whole head chopped into smaller pieces, it's a bit like watching a feeding frenzy.