Problems With My Rice Beans

[Pulsegleaner]

Hi all,

After successfully getting out my grass pea seedlings (which I mentioned in the "Starts for Transplants" thread), and another tray of assorted seeds which mostly did not come up*. I started a tray of rice beans (those being the next most early thing I could think of).

The first sowing was off the off color type beans from the bags I found recently. Those have not worked out as well as I hoped. Out of over 72 seeds planted** only 12 actually came up. The rest all went moldy.

I then removed the moldy seed and re-sowed with my off color reserve material that I grew out a few years ago. But that has done even worse. As far as I can tell, only one or two of those have germinated as opposed to rotting.

I am beginning to think that, given their smaller size, rice beans do not have the longevity of storage that larger beans have. Maybe the rotten germination I have gotten in previous years hasn't been entirely due to critter consumption.

On the other hand, the fact that seed can stay in the ground and come up years after I sowed it seems to speak against this.

Ah well, I suppose 15 or so plants is plenty to make enough seed to keep going*** (if they all make seed)****

* I think the only seeds that came up in that tray and lasted to planting were the cowpeas, the English pea, and one of the morning glories. Oddly, the winter melon seed I ordered this year did nothing at all.

** 72 cells in a tray, plus a few got two seeds until I ran out, so probably closer to 90 seeds.

*** Of course, as I saved ALL the beans from those bags, not just the off type ones, if I gave in and planted "regular" rice beans, I could have all I wanted in sheer numbers. But then the off type ones would get drowned out.

**** The seed I grew myself is presumably adapted to my climate and day length, and so probably will make it maturity. But the new material, anyone knows.

 

[flowerbug]

Hi all,

After successfully getting out my grass pea seedlings (which I mentioned in the "Starts for Transplants" thread), and another tray of assorted seeds which mostly did not come up*. I started a tray of rice beans (those being the next most early thing I could think of).

The first sowing was off the off color type beans from the bags I found recently. Those have not worked out as well as I hoped. Out of over 72 seeds planted** only 12 actually came up. The rest all went moldy.

I then removed the moldy seed and re-sowed with my off color reserve material that I grew out a few years ago. But that has done even worse. As far as I can tell, only one or two of those have germinated as opposed to rotting.

I am beginning to think that, given their smaller size, rice beans do not have the longevity of storage that larger beans have. Maybe the rotten germination I have gotten in previous years hasn't been entirely due to critter consumption.

On the other hand, the fact that seed can stay in the ground and come up years after I sowed it seems to speak against this.

Ah well, I suppose 15 or so plants is plenty to make enough seed to keep going*** (if they all make seed)****

* I think the only seeds that came up in that tray and lasted to planting were the cowpeas, the English pea, and one of the morning glories. Oddly, the winter melon seed I ordered this year did nothing at all.

** 72 cells in a tray, plus a few got two seeds until I ran out, so probably closer to 90 seeds.

*** Of course, as I saved ALL the beans from those bags, not just the off type ones, if I gave in and planted "regular" rice beans, I could have all I wanted in sheer numbers. But then the off type ones would get drowned out.

**** The seed I grew myself is presumably adapted to my climate and day length, and so probably will make it maturity. But the new material, anyone knows.

i wonder if they need to be stratified?

 

[ducks4you]

Don't you HATE IT!!! It's work down the drain when you get mold.
Do you have a screen that you can put in your garage when you harvest seeds? Maybe that will help next time.
WE have LOADS of humidity here in IL, which is Really a reclaimed swamp!
I get ruined seeds, and I have started to reuse ziplock bags and put my glass/plastic seed containers.
I clean out spice jars, cut the paper packages, roll them inside, then add the seeds, after labeling the year. Then I know what I have.
Anyway, feeling for you!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

i wonder if they need to be stratified?

The never needed stratification before.

I checked last night and the situation is not QUITE as dire as I thought. The water missed a lot of the pots, so the seeds in those never imbibed, and hence, are still presumably viable. so I still have close to 40-50 actual chances.

 

[flowerbug]

The never needed stratification before.

I checked last night and the situation is not QUITE as dire as I thought. The water missed a lot of the pots, so the seeds in those never imbibed, and hence, are still presumably viable. so I still have close to 40-50 actual chances.

good to hear. i've never grown them before so i dunno what they need to get started. good luck!

it is very hard to search and find any information on these on-line since most searches result in giving you the combinations of rice and beans as recipes and such. i guess i should have figured out the scientific name and gone that route instead. i wasn't awake enough...

 

[Pulsegleaner]

It usually helps to know the scientific name, Vigna umbellata (or Phaseolus calcaratus if you are using the old name).

Your situation reminds me of when I was trying to find information on a sweet pea variety called Tommy. All I got were references to the song by Tommy Roe!

Or when I was researching kala vanata (black peas). Lots of info on how to cook them, and what their nutritional value was, very little on whether they were a distinct variety, or if ANY marmorated (mottle skinned) pea was considered one.

 

[Zeedman]

Rice beans are tropical in origin, so they should not require stratification. When I've tried them (started in pots) they all germinated at about the same time as adzuki.

Those seeds were several years old, and still had good germination. Other small-seeded Vignas (such as mung and urd) have proven to have long storage life, so seed size may be irrelevant.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Well, maybe these ones were just badly handled.

Ironically, given that this was a brand I had not seen before, maybe these were organic and that could be a factor. I know commercial rice beans are usually dusted with sulfur dioxide (I think that was it) to take care of any pests. Maybe the residual traces of that also help keep mold down. If I can find the empty bag I saved for reference, I can check.

 

[flowerbug]

interesting to know, i've not gotten into growing them here. the closest i've gotten to rice beans is adzuki and i think i did have a lone mung bean growing back in 2011ish or so which didn't do anything (along with the lentils which did sprout but never flowered or gave me seeds).

i do enjoy reading along and learning new things, just wish it would stick in the noodle a bit better.

 

[Zeedman]

While browsing through old photos, I found some of rice bean seedlings from my last attempt. I grew several different Vigna species that year, so the second photo is a good comparison of seedling appearance.

front tray: cowpea on left, rice beans on right. Rice beans are hypogeal (like peas & runner beans); when the sprouts of these first emerged, they were so thin they looked almost like onion seedlings.

Seedlings from different Vigna species, for comparison. Tray upper left: Adzuki (heart shaped leaves) and cowpea
Tray upper right: cowpea and rice bean (from previous photo)
Tray lower right: green gram
Tray lower left: two yardlong beans