How to grow beans at home step by step with a photo
A product loved by many can be obtained without much hassle, without having a summer cottage. You just need to know how beans are grown in a house or apartment. To plant this crop, it is enough to acquire small containers - containers, boxes, pots, which will conveniently fit on a loggia, balcony or windowsill. Beautiful flowering plants not only provide delicious beans, but also serve as a decorative element.
How to choose the right bean variety for your home
If you decide to plant beans at home, you first need to decide on the choice of variety. There are several options, the best of which are asparagus and ornamental species.Bush beans also deserve attention due to their short growing season, fast maturation and compact size. The features of early bush varieties allow them to be grown in boxes without much hassle. Skuba and Homestead green are popular. For home cultivation, hybrids that are immune to diseases and insect pests are recommended. Decorative species give out large and beautiful multi-colored beans that are unsuitable for food, but are used for further gardening of balconies.
Early asparagus beans are distinguished by excellent fruiting in the apartment:
- Oil King. Delicate, tubular, large pods are removed no earlier than two months later and used fresh or as a component of blanks;
- Caramel. Variety with increased resistance to diseases of legumes. Produces a crop of sugar pods in two months;
- Saksa 615. A compact variety with small, tubular pods valued for its high nutrient content and lack of coarse fibers.
When a climbing look is preferred, you should not choose climbing varieties that shade the windows as much as possible. You can advise Krapinka, Rumba, Violetta. Pinching is capable of stopping the growth of the vine, which will bring the moment of the onset of fruiting closer. Climbing plants are fixed on a trellis or cone-shaped wooden tripod. For bushings, it is enough to install a low support.
Ploughing varieties are planted to obtain dry grains, home conditions are not suitable for this - what is sown is what is harvested.
For those who first decided to plant beans at home, it is best to purchase several varieties for testing and plant 3-4 seeds.
Is it possible to create conditions suitable for beans at home
The plant needs a short light day - no more than 12 hours, this is necessary for the formation of flower buds. If it is possible to provide beans grown on the windowsill with such conditions, the harvest will be early and plentiful. The same applies to planting culture on the balcony. This parameter loses its relevance with the onset of fruiting.
To grow beans in an apartment, prepare loamy or sandy soil and warm up to +12 degrees. Breeding beans at home will not cause problems, in particular, thanks to self-pollinating flowers.
Seed preparation and sowing
Planting seed material should be after careful selection and processing. There are criteria for selecting seeds, after which full-fledged specimens remain. The grains should be smooth, with a shiny surface, without traces of pest damage, dark spots, mold, flabbiness, voids.After a visual inspection, the beans are poured with s alted water.
Floating seeds are discarded. Dry seeds have a hard shell that delays germination.
Bean seed processing technology is as follows: the seed material is soaked for a day in warm water, which needs to be replaced four times. Growth stimulants play a good role. A weak solution of potassium permanganate, insecticide or fungicide is suitable for the prevention of seedling ailments.
After that, the seeds are placed in a damp cloth until they germinate. The air temperature is maintained within +25 degrees. As soon as the first sprouts hatch, the seeds are planted in the soil, covered in a container with a 5 cm deepening. The soil mixture must be watered and the bean seeds laid out with the roots down or sideways, with an interval of 15-20 cm.
The length of the day needed to grow beans is from mid-February to mid-March. For planting on the windowsill, the seeds are prepared in February. On a glazed balcony, beans are sown in mid-May, on an open one - at the end of May.
Heat-loving culture is afraid of frost. As an adult, it is able to withstand a short-term temperature drop of at least -3 degrees.
Preparation of soil for planting seeds
The fast growth of beans allows you to grow the plant without picks, in a constant container. Each plant will need at least 3 liters of soil. Pots should be 20 cm high, due to the poor development of the root system. A tight container will make the beans weak and barren.
If it is not possible to equip the containers with drainage holes, a layer of expanded clay is poured onto the bottom. You can purchase a universal ready-made soil or prepare the soil mixture yourself. To do this, take equal amounts of humus and sod land, where 200 g of wood ash is added. The use of acidic soil is unacceptable. Deoxidation is carried out with dolomite flour, ash, chalk or lime to pH 6 - 6.5.
Steps of planting
Indoors - balconies, loggias - beans are recommended to be planted at the very beginning of May. The technology of growing in an apartment differs in terms: they start planting in March. A phased scheme for planting this vegetable crop is proposed.
Stage 1
Seeds are allowed to be planted in the ground dry or already sprouted. In the case of choosing the second option, the seed material is placed in a gauze bag and lowered into a container with warm water, which should be added as it evaporates. The first sprouts will indicate the right time to plant the beans.
Stage 2
Let's start choosing a container for planting: bush varieties need a soil volume of at least 3 liters, climbing varieties - 35 liters. Having picked up a suitable box, container or pot, we fill it with the soil mixture, the preparation of which was mentioned above.
Stage 3: Disembarkation
There are no problems at this stage, it is enough to follow simple rules:
- Before planting dry or soaked seeds, it is recommended to shed the soil with hot water or a solution of manganese. Beans are laid out in pits, maintaining a distance of 10 cm. Germinated seeds are recommended to be laid on their side, regardless of the location of the sprout, otherwise it is difficult to determine the correct location of the grain. However, nothing bad will happen if placed incorrectly, as the seedlings hatch anyway, rushing towards the light.
Optimal planting dates - May. Beans germinate already for 5-7 days, begin flowering in a month and a half, and the first harvest should be expected in a few more weeks.
Combined cultivation is considered a good option:
- Seedlings grown indoors are taken out to the balcony or loggia with the establishment of warm weather. Sowing is carried out a month before the time of disappearance of the threat of night frosts.
- Early ripening varieties sown in February are grown on the windowsill until fruiting. After harvesting, the containers are emptied and put on the balcony for planting new plants.
Caring for beans at home
Watering plants is carried out as the top layer of soil dries up. On a loggia or balcony, the frequency of irrigation depends on weather conditions: in the heat, the number of waterings reaches two per day. To avoid the occurrence of fungi, you should try not to get water on the leaves. The best time to moisten the soil is in the morning. With the appearance of two pairs of leaves, watering is stopped and resumed with the beginning of flowering.
To get a good harvest on an unglazed loggia, bean plantings must be protected from rain, preventing water from stagnating in containers. To this end, the containers are moved under the roof, inside the balcony.
Optimal light mode
The culture does not tolerate shading, so a well-lit place is selected for planting or additional lighting is provided. However, it must be remembered that daylight hours before fruiting should be short, no more than 12 hours.
When growing beans on a windowsill during the winter months, the boxes are located on the south side. If this is not possible, additional lighting is provided with a phytolamp. In late spring and summer, the culture feels great on the windows of the western and eastern directions.
To determine the difference in yield at different lengths of daylight hours, it is recommended to conduct an experiment.Young plants of the same variety, grown under the same care, are divided into two groups. The first will develop in a short day, the second in natural light.
What and how to feed beans
First top dressing should be done in the phase of the appearance of true leaves and repeated twice a month. During the growth period, the plant needs organic fertilizers, but at home it is impossible to use mullein droppings and infusion due to an unpleasant, pungent odor. There is only one way out - the regular addition of humus while mixing with the soil. The introduction of such dressings ends in the budding phase. Now beans require potassium and trace elements, the role of which will be played by wood ash. The earth is powdered from above, loosened and watered.
For top dressing plants cultivated indoors, a natural odorless fertilizer developed - horse manure extract.
Diseases and pests of beans
Home plantings are not protected from diseases and pests. The greatest danger is the bean weevil. In the presence of indoor plants, thrips, spider mites, and aphids can spread to bean bushes. Indoors, pest control should be organized using biological preparations, as safe as possible for the human body and pets.
Get rid of grains by freezing dry seeds for two days in the freezer at a temperature not lower than -15 degrees.
Beans are affected by bacteriosis and viral anthracnose. Viral infections are incurable, so take preventive measures in the form of spraying plants with special preparations twice before flowering.
First harvest
Mature pods are immediately used for food. When harvesting your own seed material, the fruits are left on the plant until fully ripened. Growing beans at home cannot be called large-scale, but a dozen bushes will provide the owner of the plantations with a harvest two months after sowing. Curly beans are enough and five bushes. Late fruiting due to cool weather.
Unpretentious culture does not require certain skills and experience to grow at home. The development of beans occurs even in close quarters and lack of lighting. Creating favorable conditions will provide you with no less abundant harvest than when planting in open ground. Important agricultural practices: a sufficient amount of soil, the organization of the lighting regime, competent watering and fertilizing.
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