I think you should leave all the seedlings in the container. I grew about 15 in a 15 gallon pot last year, and they produced enough to feed a family of four a few meals a week for about three weeks. Didn't seem crowded to me. Bush beans have a short period of producing and need to be picked as soon as they are ready, which means pods a little smaller than green beans you would buy in the store. As soon as you allow pods to get oversized, they will shut down. I actually grew Filet Beans, which are small plants. So my advice may be wrong if you have beans that grow larger bushes.

Thank you Dave, my garden is new I moved here less than 3 years, before I lived in hot Arizona, lol. The space that I garden is small about 1/4 acre, but produces a lot! I am always amazed of the quantity. And I do a lot of salsa and pickles to give away at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Navyavi - Thank you. Right now in the garden I have the warm season vegetables, I am in zone 9b, it is too hot already for cold season veggies. I have tomatoes already getting ripe, they will be finish about June and in July I will start the fall season tomatoes. Peppers that are planted now will last till the cold hits them, especially hot peppers. I have about 10 different varieties of squash summer and winter. The winter squash last for a long time after harvest, I had seminole pumpkins that lasted a long time. Sweet potatoes are planted and can also be planted later on and after harvest they keep well. I have bush and pole beans, when they are done I will put yard long and lima beans. It all depends on what do you and family likes and how big is your gardening area. If you have any specific question about varieties that do well for me, I will be happy to answer them. Thursday's harvest Silvia

Pommes, the problem with cool soil for beans is that it often causes poor germination. The 18 degree C. soil temperature is a good baseline recommendation for planting bean seeds, although I prefer it a little warmer. Once germination has already occurred though - such as with transplants - the soil temperature is less critical. You can put transplants into the ground earlier than seeds. Some bean seeds are more cool soil tolerant than others, such as the pole beans "Emerite" (black-seeded) and "Fortex" (brown-seeded). There seems to be a relationship between dark seed coats & good cool-soil tolerance. I grow mainly pole beans, but there should be bush beans with similar tolerance. These might offer an alternative to transplants. My Wisconsin weather sounds much like yours. June 1st is my target date for direct-seeding beans, soybeans, okra, and other heat-loving crops. In the event that the soil is too cool or damp at that time (as often happens) I just plant them indoors instead, transfer them to a solar greenhouse as soon as they germinate, and transplant them as soon as conditions allow. The only beans I actually start early are long-season beans (such as limas) which would otherwise be a challenge for my climate. In recent years, I've compared the days-to-maturity of the same beans, both direct-seeded and started as transplants. Provided that the transplants are given full sun immediately following germination, and not kept in the pots long enough to stunt their growth, the days-to-maturity are comparable. If slugs are a major problem, I understand why you would want to use transplants. There might be other options that would be helpful. I'm not sure what chemical products are available where you live, but here there are iron-based slug killing formulations that are very effective, and are even certified for organic agriculture. You might also try sprinkling diatomaceous earth around young seedlings to protect them from slugs.

No leaf development sounds like the stumps that slugs and snails leave behind, once they have feasted on just sprouted beans. Mice and pigeons also do great damage to seedling beans and probably other creatures in your area as well. Your temperatures are warm enough for beans to sprout, if it wasn't we would not be able to sprout beans here in Britain at all. I think you have two unknown quantities. Firstly, is the seed viable? Secondly, what is reducing my beans to stumps and how can I overcome that? I have never heard of a disease problem preventing leaf development. What works for me is sowing beans indoors, preferably in small individual pots, cell trays or newspaper pots. They can go in anyway, eyes up or down makes no difference. Starting your seeds under controlled conditions should determine whether your seeds germinate or not. When you have grown your plants to the two real leaves stage, transplant them and protect them. In areas that are not too hot you can protect each individual plant with a plastic cola bottle with bottom cut off, pushed into the ground and the cap taken off. If you don't want to start the seedlings indoors, you can do a germination test. Take 10 beans, place them onto a wetted sheet of kitchen towel, fold over and place inside a ziplock bag in a warm place, but not in direct sun heat. From day 3 onwards check every day to see how many have germinated. Some people deliberately pre-sprout seeds as you do for a germination test, then very carefully transplant the seeds when the root is showing, and cover with only a thin layer of fine soil. Wish you better luck with your next batch