Germinating Bush Beans

I direct sowed 3 rows of bush beans about 2 wks ago. Nothing has sprouted so I dug a little to find out if someone ate the seeds. They were all gone so I think a little birdie had a meal on me.

Can I start some in pots then plant them in the garden when they get their first true leaves? I heard they do not like to be moved.

I also started some inside in March and planted them out in early May; they all died from a late frost.

Isn't it a little early to be planting beans where you are? We don't plant them here until two weeks after last frost. Maybe your beans rotted?

Our last frost date was Mothers Day. That is usually when I put all the cool weather veggies out. The Tomatoes went out on the 22nd.

I will probably try both methods again. I guess they may have rotted, who knows.

Will they do okay as transplants?

Onyx, It doesn't really matter whether it was birds, rodents, maggots or rot, you still don't have any beans. I have never tried to transplant beans, I grow about a 100' of them so no way would I even try that. You can always try some as transplants, but as cheap as bean seed is, I would just replant them in the garden. In my silty clay loam soil, I never plant them deeper than 1/2 " because a hard rain will crust the soil so bad they will rot before they come up. If you are even near as warm as we are in IL this week (85+ degrees) beans will emerge in less than 7 days if they have moisture. Also, to get the population you need, it would be a pain to transplant that many plants in so little a space (~2-3" between plants).

Even though I do more transplants than most people, I have never transplanted beans, only direct sowed them, so I don't know. I do know that most plants will grow faster from a later direct sowing if the conditions are right than an earlier sowing as a transplant. The advantage of transplants is when you don't have enough of a season to support direct sowing of a particular plant. You must have a long enough season for bush beans, though, no? If I were you, I would wait until weather is, as they say, "warm and settled."

I'm surprised that you can plant beans so early. I won't be planting them here for another couple weeks.

Thanks for all the info. I think I will wait another week or two and try to direct sow again. Our temps aren't too bad right now. The lowest it has been in the last week was 44. Most nights are upper 40's.

Onyx, Beans should not be planted until you have a minimum soil temperature of 50 degrees, or more ideally, 55-60 degrees. As temperatures fluctuate widely near the surface, temperatures should be taken at about a 4 inch depth.

A big problem with beans in cool soils are seed corn maggots. When soils are cold beans take a long time to emerge and damage from the maggots can be severe and result in stems emerging with damaged or absent cotyledons. Feeding also provides an entry for pathogens which will rot the seeds before they can germinate/emerge. Tilling under any green plant material prior to planting attracts the flies and will almost guarantee damage from maggots.

I always sow my bush beans in little pots and transplant them without any problem if they are about 1 inch high.

Anyone here grown beans in a hot climate like Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico? Hot and Dry. I have grown them as a winter vegetable.

Well, It looks like both methods worked. All the beans I planted are coming up nicely. I am looking forward to having more beans than I originally planed!

Thanks for the input.