Transplanting bean seedlings or not?
katyajini
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
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katyajini
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Newly transplanted seedlings have crispy leaves
Comments (5)Probably too much sun too soon. Maybe they were not hardened enough to withstand so much hot sun so soon after they were set out. In addition a shallow container might not be the way to go. The soil will have a tendancy to dry out too easily. Can you put them in a deeper container? If they are standing up I wouldn't worry too much about the plants not making it. Try to shade them a bit in the hottest part of the day and if you can't put them in a larger container water often. Maybe clothespin a piece of cloth to the cage for shade....See MoreBeans and Transplant shock?
Comments (3)As someone else who gardens in a cold climate with a short growing season, I tend to agree with Flora - you started your beans too early. Your bean transplants are nearly ready to go into the ground, with warm weather still weeks away. While I can direct seed most common beans here with a good chance of success, I use a lot of bean transplants. For heat-loving beans such as limas & yardlongs, transplants are virtually necessary in my area to ensure a good harvest. It is also good practice to use bean transplants if you have limited seed or temperamental Spring weather, since it overcomes cool-soil germination issues & means that nearly every seed which germinates will survive. And if growing a bean for seed, it increases the chance of getting dry seed before wet Fall weather arrives. I would never use flats filled with soil though, for the reasons given in the OP. My preferred method is to use peat strips, with sterile soil less mix. Planted pot & all, this avoids root damage during transplanting. 32's work well for larger beans, and 50's for smaller beans & Vignas (cowpeas, yardlongs, adzuki). To further lessen transplant shock, place a little sand in the bottom of the tray & nestle the peat strips into it after planting. Provided the sand is kept moist (but not overly wet) those long bean roots will not be air pruned, but will grow into the sand. At the time of transplanting, those roots can be gently pulled from the sand. Working quickly to keep the roots from drying out, gently coil them into the hole beneath the plant, then water immediately. I have had virtually no transplant shock using this method. As a rule, I consider beans to be ready for transplanting when they have their first true leaf. This generally takes about 2 weeks, so I start bean transplants that much earlier than the recommended date for direct seeding. If transplanting is delayed by bad weather, I've held bean transplants up to a month before planting. Much beyond that, though, and they will become stunted. For squash & cucumbers, I use the same procedures as above, except I omit the sand. It is worth noting that it takes an intense light source to grow beans, cukes, and squash indoors, or they quickly become leggy... shop lights are not up to the task (spoken from experience). If at all possible, those transplants should be placed in direct sunlight as soon as possible after germination....See MoreWhat do you do for bird control?
Comments (8)Christopher, With corn, I mulch the area lightly with hay. You also could use grass clippings except they're less likely to be available at spring planting time, although they would be for fall planting time. The corn grows up through the hay, but the crows don't seem to recognize green corn seedlings in the middle of tan-to-buff-colored hay the same way that they recognize green corn seedlings in bare soil. I almost never lose a single corn seedling. Another old trick, but one that I think is much harder to pull off is to sprout garlic cloves indoors in flats early in spring and transplant it to the area where you're going to seed corn. The birds see the garlic sprouts, think they are corn (especially if you grow the corn in the same place every year), pull them up and discover--yuck!--they are not corn. Then you come back a couple of weeks later and plant corn which the birds leave alone because they think it is garlic. I think the success of this is more variable because you could have birds visit your corn who missed the round of garlic earlier. Some people swear by it though Beans are harder because everything here in the country wants to eat beans, and if I mulch them with hay, it just gives bean-sprout-eating insects a place to hide. So, I start every single bean inside in paper cups and transplant them outside. Tedious? Definitely. Time-consuming? Absolutely. However, as long as I put Slug-Go Plus or an equivalent product on the ground around the newly-transplanted seedings, the pillbugs and sowbugs (my biggest pest in spring) don't eat the seedlings. I do put a toothpick very close to each seedling at planting time to deter cutworms too. And, the garden is fenced, so rabbits generally can't get the bean seedlings. I don't think I've ever had birds bother bean seedlings. If I transplant carefully and I don't lose any seedlings due to my own clumsiness, then I have nice full rows with no gaps so that is a plus too. Until I started transplanting bean seedlings I had a huge problem with all the wild things getting the beans and/or young bean seedlings. I don't have those issues now. One way to protect any newly seeded bed from birds is to hammer in a few stakes and string fishing line in a random pattern (imagine a man-made spider web although not with the precision patterns seen in many spider webs) between the stakes. The lighter/less visible the fishing line the better because you want the birds to fly down to steal the seeds or seedlings and be 'spooked' by hitting the fishing line instead. This works best if the line is fairly close to the ground to the birds cannot land on the ground and walk under the line. After the seedlings are up and rooted well enough that the birds can't yank them up out of the ground, you remove the fishing line and stakes. I also 'bribe' wild birds of all types to leave my garden alone by putting little piles of bird seed just outside the garden fence. They feed daily at the seed and leave my plants alone, although some of them stick around, sit on the tomato cages and catch bugs. I use hen scratch, cracked corn and black oil sunflower seeds in rotation so the birds never know exactly what to expect, but you could use any wild bird seed mix. I have a scarecrow--in fact, 2 of them, made by a friend with whom I've shared garden produce for years and even though the scarecrows are a nice addition to the garden, the birds are not the least bit afraid of them. With some birds, one of those sprinklers that is motion activated scares them off, but I think other birds set it off on person so they can play in the water. Anything that moves, like bird flash tape, pinwheels, fluttering pieces of surveyor's tape, dangling aluminum pie pans or CDs, etc., the birds seem smart enough to figure them out and lose their fear of them after a while. My cats don't even keep all the birds out of the garden. I think it is because I feed a lot of wild birds and scold the cats if they 'stalk' them, and my cats know they shouldn't bother the birds. Some people have garden cats that keep birds out of the garden, but my cats just don't do that, although they do keep rodents away. That's about all I can think of other than bird netting, which is moderately effective, but sure can be a hassle for the gardener. Good luck--I hope you find some workable solutions. Dawn...See MoreWhen/how to transplant my lychee seedling, and mango seedling
Comments (1)TT, I can't answer either of your questions but I will make a suggestion. If either/both or your plants do become established you may want to try grafting on some proper fruit-bearing scions to your root stock. There are plenty of people on these forums that would be willing to send you cuttings for postage or trade or if you know of anyone w/a nice tree you can ask for a few cuttings....See More
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