I too, have had the same problem, and its funny, it was with pole beans, so i dont know if that means that the beans were no good, although the package was new this year.......

marcantonio
2 weeks ago I sowed some bush beans, I just noticed germination on Sunday, and only 2 seedlings. I think the ground is still cool and thats why the bean seeds are not germinating as they should. This has been a very crazy cool and rainy spring we are having.

Alberta

Beans will rot in the ground instead of sprouting if the temperature is too cold.

I had the same problem, but only with one of the two pole bean patches. They were side by side, planted with different varieties of beans. One sprouted and grew. One disappeared. i replanted and the same thing happened again. Odd.

Pole beans usually take about two weeks to germinate for me. And, I never water them. If they get too wet, they will rot.

I had the same thing happen and wondered what it was. We've had a wet spring/early summer, so I'm guessing that mine rotted in the ground.

Is it too late to start another round?

Hmmm, sounds like it was the rain that most likely did mine in then, LOTS of rain here.
I started some more today, so fingers crossed they do well.

luvsdieter, I would say, go for it. They take about 2 months to start producing and will produce until frost. And, just to clear up, I would/do water the seeds if there is no rain, but there is usually enough here, and I also did water when I first planted them.

Another possibility is seed corn maggots. They like wet, cool soil, and can destroy every bean seed you plant. Try not planting too deeply, (about 3/4 inch deep) as this gets the seed in the upper layer of soil, which is warmer, and the seed will germinate quicker, and can help avoid seed corn maggot damage.

This might be a crazy idea, but what if you tried pre-sprouting the beans before planting? Lots of people seem to do that with their peas to avoid having those rot in the ground because of too-cold soil temps. I mean just keep them moist until you see the seeds crack open, maybe a little root showing, then plant them? That would let you see if there's anything wrong with your seed, too. Cheers!

Sunni

well, I found a volunteer bean plant that was trying to grow in spilled potting mix and mulch under a table. Potted it up, so we'll see how it goes! I was able to harvest my first bean crop though from the 2 surviving plants - a whopping 6 beans! Enough for a snack! :)

I figured out they just weren't getting enough sun, so am planning to do chard and spinach in the same place for a fall harvest. Fingers crossed!

As some have already mentioned, this Spring has been far cooler than normal, and wetter in some areas. Beans are especially vulnerable to cool, wet soil conditions. For those that plant beans by the calendar, this can result in rotting and/or poor germination rates.

When it became apparent that the long-term forecast for my area was not favorable, I started some of my longer-maturity pole beans (such as the limas) in peat pots, so little time would be lost waiting for better weather. Other beans were direct-seeded based upon soil temperature, and I just got the last of them into the ground last week - more than 2 weeks behind schedule. Germination has been good.

For beans, soil temperature of 70 degrees F. or higher will give the best results. Soil drainage is also important, so in poorly-drained soils, or when rain is frequent, planting on raised hills (or in raised beds) will increase the germination rate. You can also place clear plastic over the soil to warm it, but do so with care... it's better done to pre-heat the soil, not to leave it in place over the seeds.

Since temperatures in the Northern Tier seem to be warming (finally!) it should be safe for everyone to replant their beans. There's still plenty of time to grow beans for snaps, which are usually ready in 60-70 days.

43+ straight days of rain here. Only 4 lima plants grew and hardly any snap peas but the string beans took off nicely. I wrote Burpee and they replaced my Lima seeds for free. Had two rows of 20 feet each of limas. Now I replanted that yesterday.

We're hoping for sun before we sprout roots ourselves.....

I plant my beans in toilet cardboard roll inners . in the past I have had near to 100% result.

This year I have done the same and not one seed in 48 planted has germinated and whe n I cut open the toilet rolls there was not one bean to be seen. This is a phenomamen I have not experienced before. Any answers? Brian

It is truly startling how some people adopt a decade old thread to talk about something only vaguely relevant. Maybe it's an ownership issue, where people are reluctant to be identified as the thread starter? I try to ignore such posts.