growing beans inside during the winter

13 years ago

Hi every year when the snow falls I try to grow beans inside. i heard you can self pollinate. I tried that and couldnt get flowers to take . I get vines then they die. If i put the plants close together think that would work ??? ANY IDEAS HELPFUL SUE

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Comments (3)

chesnok
13 years ago
what kind of beans are you trying to grow?

i think most common beans and peas self pollinate. the flowers of all the legumes i have grown have a distinctive shape and the reproductive organs are inside the closed, slipper shaped part (i think they are called wings). i think runner beans have open wings, and may require a pollinator.

i have never tried growing vegetables indoors, but i would expect the biggest problem would be getting enough light.

photoperiod could also be a problem. some plants do not grow properly if they do not get enough darkness.
Macmex
13 years ago
The problem is probably more that they cannot get enough light intensity. I too have brought some beans inside, but because they were day length sensitive varieties from Mexico, and they wouldn't flower here until nearly frost. Once they come inside, on our sun porch, they are only good for maybe two weeks, and then they decline very rapidly. They simply cannot get enough sufficiently bright light to sustain them. I suppose this would work if they were in a true green house.

So, my guess, is that your beans are not setting pods, simply because they are not in condition to do so.

George
Tahlequah, OK
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hemnancy
13 years ago
I have an aquaponics system in my dining room by a sliding glass door. It has a 40 gal. stock tank for the fish and a 12.5 gallon gravel bed for the grow bed. The fish water is pumped into the grow bed and then siphons back into the fish tank. I tried pole beans one winter, and the vines grew lushly, and I did get some beans, but not like they were outdoors. The high intensity lights are really expensive and I haven't seen my way to buy them, so fluorescents and a few grow lights are all I use. So, like they said, they need a lot of light.

I also tried cucumbers. Regular cucumbers bloomed like crazy but set no fruit. Parthenocarpic cucumbers with all female flowers set fruit and ripened small cucumbers but also not like outdoors.

Presently I'm doing tomatoes. There are a couple set on and growing but lots of vines. So... aquaponics requires a lot of expensive lights, I may give up on it.