September 4, 2003 a hole was drilled in a dime sized dark Mucuna Sloanei. The bean went into a 4-inch pot, ...Read Moreone inch under the soil. The pot was placed in a shallow saucer. I kept watch to keep the dirt constantly moist, but not soaking wet.
September 18, 2004, the vine had spouted and grown enough to be put into a larger self-watering 15 gallon container. (A self-watering pot has a “wick” system to draw water up to the roots from reservoir below. There is a side cut-out to fill the reservoir.) The water reservoir is filled every morning and night. The vine was placed between two houses, next to a chainlink fence and under a large tree. The tree is leafless from September until May. The vine was allowed to grow where it wanted to. It chose to grow high into the branches of the tree and not along the fence.
January 29, 2004, the first cluster appeared on the Mucuna S.. It looked like a miniature bunch of bananas.
February 15, 2004, the Mucuna S. clusters became balls of beautiful bright yellow flowers. There were a total of twenty two clusters on the vine. Not all the clusters produced pods. The clusters that did produce pods had anywhere from one to four pods. The pods had from one to three beans. The vine was fertilized once with Dynamite plant food 18-6-8 plus minors. It is a 6 month timed release foliage & shrub fertilizer.
March 6, 2004, the first pods appeared. They were very small and green.
March 25, 2004, two immature Mucuna S. pods fell from the vine. A third & fourth pod fell later during the month. Several pods failed to mature but did not fall from the vine.
May 13, 2004, in the morning the oldest Mucuna S. pod had turned half brown, by evening it was all brown.
May 16, 2004 I picked the oldest Mucuna S. pod growing on the vine. I opened it carefully. The seed was still a little pliable. (It hardened during the day.) This was my first “domestic” sea bean. The bean is a little larger than a quarter, round, nicely domed and jet black. The bean’s surface is slightly dimpled. Truthfully, I am a little disappointed in the bean. It’s not as pretty as I had hoped it would be, it is too dark.
May 18, 2004 another pod was opened and both of the beans in the pod were identical to the first bean. The beans were float tested. I was surprised. They all sank.
May 24, 2004 all the pods from the vine were harvested. There were a total of five 1 bean per pod, nine 2 beans per pod and one 3 beans per pod. Two of the pods that were picked today were still green and larger than the other pods. When opened these pods had beans that were very large and predominately white. They turned darker as they were exposed to the air. There were five large beans and twenty one small black beans. The vine was cut back to a leafless 20-inch stem protruding the pot.
May 27, 2004 the five large beans are all black and are shrinking. They are almost the same size as the other beans. Even the twenty one small beans have shrunk some.
May 28, 2004 I float tested all the beans and they all sank. The first bean picked is now showing a little gray around its hilum.
Sea Bean Vine
September 4, 2003 a hole was drilled in a dime sized dark Mucuna Sloanei. The bean went into a 4-inch pot, ...Read More