Happyday,

Excessive rain does it here. For me, Jeminez is the leader of the pack when it comes to sprouting in the pod. Some years I can lose about 25% of the pods.

Gary

Gary, are those seeds still viable? Did you ever try planting them?

When shelling I found two or three beans that had done this, I've never had this happen before. I sure hope the growing season next year is better than this one has been. We've had an awful lot of damp if not rainy days here.

Annette

I've always believed it's due to higher rainfall than the bean needs to fill out. It's usually the biggest bean in the pod. (I'm talking Lima beans)

I've experimented with them for the next planting season & found that as long as the outer skin hasn't cracked, they sprout.

Happyday,

No, the sprouted ones are not viable.

I've found that in rainy weather, it's best to pick pods that have started to dry, and move them indoors. I then open one, or two, to check on sprouting. If I find sprouting, I open them all. If no sprouting, I let them fully dry.

Gary

"What causes beans to sprout inside the pod like this?

I think we all agree wet conditions cause this sprouting, but rain isn't always the reason. *smile*

Toward the end of the season last year, there was a threat of rain so I decided to pick my "seed" beans a little early. They were almost dry, but not quite. I got to my last variety and realized I was out of empty baskets. So, I grabbed one of those grocery store "plastic" bags and emptied one of my bean baskets into it. Long story short, I "forgot" about the beans in the plastic bag. A few weeks later I rediscovered them and, much to my dismay, found them sprouting. During that time the beans were finishing their drying process naturally but, being in the plastic bag, the moisture had nowhere to go so it just condensed inside the bag.

Yet another reason to switch back to paper bags lol.

Rdback what variety of bean is that?

Happy, the best I can recall is Goose, but I'm not 100% sure. My memory isn't what it once was.

Rick

I've grown a Goose bean that was olive green cutshort like the Ma Williams and didn't have any of the red color.

When I pick into plastic bags, I have to get them out of the bags that night, and the inside of the bag is still wet.

Somebody handy with a sewing machine could make reusable cloth picking bags, possibly these could be hung to dry?