Avoid Transplanting Beans into the Garden

Collar rot on been planted in cold soils

Q. I
just read your recent article regarding pole beans. I am not having much
luck with them. I planted seeds (Kentucky and Blue Lake) the last week of
February in my green house and then transplanted to raised bed the first week
of April. The vines have grown like weeds and are very lush, but there are no
beans. There are blossoms, but I do not see much bee activity. Any
suggestions for next year?

A. Usually beans are not transplanted. The roots of beans
are somewhat fragile and they will not transplant easily. Normally they are
direct seeded into the garden as soon as soil temperatures are warm enough in
the spring or, when temperatures are cool enough in the early fall.

We have a long growing season so we
can get both a spring and fall crop here. When soil temperatures are warm
enough for germination usually are air temperatures are also warm enough for
good growth and fruit set
by the time they get larger.

Growing them in the greenhouse and
putting them out in the garden may be a bit early for them to be productive and
they might get damaged. For beans to set fruit it’s best if air temperatures do
not drop the low 55° F at night.

In a warm microclimate, South or
West facing and protected from wind, you could probably plant in February. If
you are in a normal microclimate then delay planting until March. If we get
cold

Likewise, when we plant beans too
late in the spring, they will struggle to produce beans at temperatures above
90° F.

Try pole beans again this fall but
plant the seed in the middle to latter part of July at about a 1 inch planting
depth. This will give them some time to get up in size and begin flowering when
we start entering cooler temperatures of late summer and early fall.

Soils warm early if they are loose
and in full sun. We keep the soils loose by adding compost to improve the
aeration of the soil, or the amount and size of airspaces between soil
particles. A good starter fertilizer for beans will be high in phosphorus and
lower nitrogen.

Another factor that can affect
production in a garden is wind. If the garden area is in a windy location this
may affect production particularly of those vegetables that rely on pollination
through the air or by insects.

I realize you were trying to get an
early start on them by germinating them in the greenhouse but putting them into
cold garden soils can create a problem with root diseases, particularly collar
rot and root rot diseases.

If you want some early germination
in the spring, I would suggest adding compost first and then warming the soil
with strips of clear plastic about 18 inches wide for a week before planting.
Cut slits in the plastic after one week and plant directly into the warm soil
without removing the plastic.

Fall vegetables to try