Problems germinating beans on paper

**Flummery** · 16-05-2009, 11:31 AM

I usually just put them in compost. Can't think what the problem could be. New sowings will soon catch up though.

**SarzWix** · 16-05-2009, 11:40 AM

Try just soaking them over night then sowing? I've never done the kitchen paper thing, so I don't know what might have gone wrong, only thing I can think of is that they soaked up all the water, but weren't warm enough to germinate?

**womble** · 16-05-2009, 12:06 PM

I've never had a problem before with paper germination, in fact its alot more reliable than other methods I have used.
Thanks for the replies, could be the temp I suppose, been a bit chilly, inside temp of not over 16C I would think.

Running out of certain types of seeds now, I think I'm going to go directly outside and try to catch up a bit!

**00264167** · 16-05-2009, 12:18 PM

i compared 3 methods of fb germination this year because as we know rotting is a problem is germination takes too long. i used the kitchen towel method, straight to compost, soaked overnight then to compost and the last had the highest germination rate in all cases the compost was only watered once every 6 days. i used 2 packets from thompson and morgan and one from sutton and the t&m had lower germination rate, i will avoid them next year if possible.

**womble** · 16-05-2009, 12:22 PM

Soaked overnight then into compost came out best huh? Mmm that is interesting info, thanks for that.
Did you start them off in warm water, or just std from tap?

**taff** · 16-05-2009, 02:18 PM

I put them straight into compost, 3 to a small pot, they've all germinated in an unheated greenhouse about 10 days ago.
They were Trail of Tears, Minador, and Borlotti beans.

**zazen999** · 16-05-2009, 02:41 PM

I put loads of beans into my peat free compost and I've now got about 80% up and the rest are just starting to peep through.

**00264167** · 16-05-2009, 03:42 PM

Originally posted by womble View Post

Soaked overnight then into compost came out best huh? Mmm that is interesting info, thanks for that.
Did you start them off in warm water, or just std from tap?

just standard temp tap water. to be honest though any method should work as long as the seed is good and theyre not kept too damp (ie. in waterlogged peat). you might have had a bad packet although some should have worked, there seems to be quite a bit of variabililty between the packets ive tried. rhs do say they need a minimum of 12C for them to germinate.

**nikiwitch** · 16-05-2009, 05:10 PM

both my friend and I have tried Blue lake this year, and nothing!

**Two_Sheds** · 16-05-2009, 07:01 PM

I soak mine overnight, then rinse with fresh water every day for a few days. Germination with dark coloured beans is great, with white beans ... poop. They just go mouldy.

**Alison** · 17-05-2009, 04:27 PM

How long are you waiting for them to germinate. Mine seemed to be taking a long time this year (I always just shove them into damp soil in root trainers in a cold greenhouse) as there was nothing after about 10 days. Checked last year and noticed that they were all up by then, went back to the greenhouse a couple of days later and noticed that they were starting to come through so I was just being impatient.

**zazen999** · 17-05-2009, 05:06 PM

i've just spent a hour in the unheated greenhouse putting all my beans in my outdoors cloches for the start of hardening off. All my beans were sown 2 weeks ago today and 90% are now up. I've not germinated in an unheated greenhouse before. My point is, that it did take longer, but on many of them - the outside casing has come up with mould on the outside. Obviously it drops off once the bean first leaves flick out, but I've not had them come up mouldy before.

**Alison** · 17-05-2009, 05:20 PM

Originally posted by zazen999 View Post

but on many of them - the outside casing has come up with mould on the outside.

Ooo, NEVER had that and that's the way I always do mine, very strange.

**pipscariad** · 17-05-2009, 06:09 PM

It's interesting reading this thread and seeing that although we all do various things alike, the results are often different from person to person - sadly there seems to be no 'failsafe' method. I germinated my beans on kitchen roll for the first time this year - and they were really successful! I covered them with clingfilm and put them on the kitchen windowledge, which is warm only for certain times of the day.

However, I have had almost total failure with my courgettes and squashes, only managing to germinate 2 plants from 15 planted - the rest all went mouldy, so I obviously drowned the poor things. But with those, as with the beans, it's not too late to almost catch up, just very frustrating.

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Problems germinating beans on paper

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