Green bean is popular for its taste as well as its nutritional values. Taste with health is a rare combination. This unique characteristic of Beans made it the first choice for every kitchen and backyard gardener. Everyone wants to grow and get some beans from their garden. Green Bean is one of the easiest veggies to grow. It does not require too much attention and care. The first step of growing beans is seed germination, and this is our topic of discussion. How to Germinate Green Bean Seeds?- Start with getting some healthy green bean seeds. Don’t use too old seeds, they are not good enough for expected yield. Next, Soak these seeds for 10 to 15 hours. Sometimes a little more soaking is required. Rinse the soaked seeds and place them in moist soil or paper towel wrap for a couple of weeks. These Green Bean seeds will start germinating within 7 to 10 days at 65 degrees Fahrenheit and more.
Check out my previous post: 20 Vegetables to Grow in May: Monthly Gardening
Is it easy to Germinate Green Beans seeds?
Green Bean seeds are quite easy to germinate especially if the temperature and humidity are in your favor. If the temperature is lower than 60 degrees Fahrenheit then the seeds may take longer to germinate. Similarly, if the moisture is too high or too low then this may stop the germination.
Seed rot is the worst result of failed germination. This mostly happens due to sogginess and lack of aeration. Both temperature and moisture have a deep impact on the overall seed germination process. Together they can ease your task by fastening the germination process. Also in bad conditions, they will force the green bean seeds to die before germinating.
Therefore start seed germination in ideal condition and you will succeed in growing Green beans.
Should green bean seeds be soaked before planting?
Green bean seeds are bigger. It has a thick seed shell that protects the core from external damages. So to get past this protection we have to soak the green bean seeds.
Soaking seeds can help loosen the shell and also rehydrates the core. The water changes the fluid concentration within the seeds. This change is essential to the initiation of new root and shoots development. It simply wakes up the seed from dormancy.
No matter whether you soak the seeds or directly sow them in the grow. The seed has to go through all of these procedures before germination. That’s why presoaked seeds take less time to germinate than dry green bean seeds.
Therefore, It is always suggested to soak Green Bean Seeds for 10 to 15 hours before germination.
How long does it take to germinate green bean seeds?
The overall germination time for green bean seeds depends on two important factors. These are Temperature and moisture.
It may take 7 to 10 days for a healthy green bean seed to germinate. This requires a consistent temperature above 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature lower than this range can slow down the germination process. The green bean seed may not even germinate at a temperature lower than 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
In addition to that if humidity is too high then the seed will rot before germination. Also if the moisture is not enough then the seed may not germinate at all.
Therefore, we can say that in ideal temperature and moisture level, a green bean seed will take at least 7 to 10 days to germinate.
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How to germinate green bean seed in water?
It is very easy to germinate green bean seeds in plain water. It simply takes two-step to succeed. First is soaking the green bean seed for 10 or more hours and secondly rinse it once every day.
All you need to do is—
- Take some green bean seeds and let them soak in a glass of water. Overnight soaking is helpful but not always sufficient. It may take a little more time to soak.
- Rinse the soaked seed and let it aerate for a few hours and then soak again.
- Repeat this step every day for 5 to 7 seven days. You will be amazed by the result.
- Sometimes prolong soaking may cause fungal development especially during hot summer days.
- In this situation, simply wrap the soaked seeds in a piece of cloth after rinsing.
- Hang it in the cup holder and moist the cloth only once every day. It will encourage the seed to form roots faster in search of water and nutrition.
Germinate Green bean seeds in Soil
Read this: How to Grow Sprouts in a Sprouting Tray or Box?
Soil is probably the best media to germinate any seed. It is the natural playground for the seed. That’s why direct sowing of the green bean seed is also common in commercial farming.
The only difference is that the soil is damped before sowing the seeds. It will do a similar seed soaking task in the soil. It does not mean that you can’t presoak the seeds before sowing them in soil. Presoaking is always the best way to ensure faster germination of Green bean seeds.
Simply, follow these steps and you will get your green beans ready in the garden.
- Prepare loose, soft soil for the Green beans. It does not require too much nutrition so you can use plain garden soil. Although I prefer using 25 to 30% compost mix in the soil. It helps in faster growth and better bloom.
- The Green bean plants can stretch their roots to 20 to 25 inches below the soil surface. Therefore use a deep container if you are planning for container gardening. In the garden dig and rake soil up to 2 feet deep.
- Sow the Green bean seed at 3/4 – 1 inch depth below the surface. Adjust this depth according to the density of the soil. 1/2 inch soil cover is sufficient if your garden has clay soil.
- Keep the soil moist but not soggy for 10 days. The Green bean seeds will start germinating by this time.
- Meanwhile, you may have to protect these seeds from birds as they love to eat them. You can use plastic covers or green garden nets to avoid bird attacks.
How to germinate green bean seeds in Paper towels?
The Paper Towel method is also pretty common. This method can be used to germinate many different seed varieties. You will need only 3 things to successfully germinate green beans in paper towels.
These are-
- Healthy Green Bean Seeds
- Tissue Paper or any Paper Towel
- Air-tight zip bag or any ploy bag to hold the seeds.
- Start with Soaking the seeds for 10 to 15 hours.
- Rinse the seeds and place them on a piece of paper towel.
- Put another paper towel to cover these seeds.
- Spray the towel with clean non-bleached water. You can simply moisten it in drinking water.
- Gently tap the moist towel so that it sticks and covers the seeds properly.
- Remove extra water by dragging it off or hanging it aside for a couple of moments.
- Finally, Place the moist paper towel with seeds inside a plastic zip bag.
- Wrap it and put it in a warm spot to maintain a temperature above 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Open the zip bag to observe root growth once in 3 days. It is also essential for proper aeration else the seeds may rot.
- Ideally, the green bean seeds may start germinating within 7 days. Although it may take a few more days at low temperature.
The special technique of quickly germinating Green Beans
This is a rouge technique but it works for me. So you can give it a try.
- Sometimes I scrape off the hard seed shell just after soaking. Carefully removing the shell can reduce the germination time to 5 days from 7 or 10 days. This technique works but requires good hand control else the seeds may break apart.
There is another technique of quickly germinating Green Beans. It requires pure dry organic compost. This method is commercially used for many other plants. So I tried it for germinating green bean seeds.
- Soak the green bean seeds for 10 to 15 hours and follow the next steps.
- Moisten the Compost and make a dough out of it. Next, make a small golf ball size ball from this compost dough.
- Put 1 or 2 soaked green bean seeds in this dough.
- Collect all of these compost balls and place them in a tray for 3 to 4 days.
- The seeds will germinate within 5 to 6 days due to the excessive heat of the compost ball.
- Meanwhile, keep the balls moist though it is not necessary as the moist compost will retain moisture for more than 7 days.
- Thich technique is very effective but you should be careful with this. It may cause damage to the seeds dure the summer season. The decomposition of compost is an exothermic reaction. It can easily increase the surrounding temperature by 5 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit. So, evaluate the necessity before application.