I use to presprout my snow peas, and I would just gently set them in a slight trough in the soil and gently put dirt over them. Why do you presprout your beans? I did it because the mice were eating the seeds, but not when I would presprout them. I totally forgot to presprout this spring, and didn't get any snow peas.

The white hair like roots go down the green and/or seed case goes up. Seeds are normally planted 1" deep and lightly covered with soil. At the stage in the photo nothing goes above ground.

Dave

Why didn't you just sow them in the ground?

Presprouting can be detrimental to survivable plants. You need to handle sprouted seed very carefully and once planted the soil needs to be kept from drying or sprouts will shrivel and die. Much preferred to either direct seed or at least preseed in media to allow for more manageable transplant.

My seeds were a year old and I wanted to make sure they still worked!

For future reference year old seeds are no concern Stored dry and away from heat bean seeds are viable for many years.

Dave

Even if you are concerned, just test a small sample size and see what percentage germinate.