User avatar
appleman
Full Member
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:11 pm
Location: Chicago

Kentucky Blue Pole Bean Chronicles

[img]https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i390/tomandsparky18/DSC00076.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i390/tomandsparky18/DSC00077.jpg[/img]
phaseolus vulgaris

Hello there! I've never grown anything in my life before, but yesterday I bought some starting containers, bean seeds, and starting soil. I spent a couple hours today setting up my own indoor growing station!!! Here are some pics, I'm rather proud of my work :)

[img]https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i390/tomandsparky18/DSC00075.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i390/tomandsparky18/DSC00074.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i390/tomandsparky18/DSC00073.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i1091.photobucket.com/albums/i390/tomandsparky18/DSC00072.jpg[/img]

How does that look to you guys? I haven't planted the seeds yet because my noobie sense tells me to be cautious :wink:

I just realized one problem--apparently beans will grow up to 6'-8' tall!! They'll quickly grow out of my little greenhouse :( Also, I'll have to do some more work looking for poles for the little plants to climb.

JZydowicz
Full Member
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:25 pm
Location: Southern Wisconsin (Zone 5a)

What kind of light are you giving them? It looks like just the closet light, and if that's the case, you'll probably want to hang at least another strip of fluorescents to give them enough. I've found that drainage and air movement are really important growing indoors (or else you get gnats), so make sure the mix has a decent amount of something like perlite, and it might be worth it to get a small fan to keep the air moving over the plants. The fan will also help keep the plants more compact, as they will put more energy into strong stems to combat the wind.

Hope that helps. Looks fun, good luck!

garden5
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3062
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:40 pm
Location: ohio

You set-up looks great, Apman :), except I don't know if the light you are using is really ideal.

If you want to see what some of our indoor setups are like, here are some threads:

[url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23519&highlight=seed+starting+indoors]Greenhouse vs. Houselight[/url]

[url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23786&highlight=seed+starting+indoors]Seed Starting- Leggy Seedlings[/url]

[url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12209&highlight=seed+starting+indoors]My Seed Starting Operation With Pics[/url]

As you can see, most folks prefer fluorescent lights for a number of reasons.

Also, You may want to consider growing another type of plant. Beans are usually planted out about 3 weeks or so after the last frost. They grow vigorously in the heat and quickly make up for their late start. They are not usually started in doors, except for occasionally being pre-germinated in a cup of a water a few days

Plants that are typically grown indoors ahead of time are tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, onions (a bit challenging), and cabbage. Some other crops can be either grown indoors or direct-seeded in spring like lettuce and other greens.

Typically, you will want to start your indoor plants about 6 to 8 weeks before your avg. last frost (when you will plant them outside).

Growing indoors can seem a little daunting at first, bit it is easy once you do it one time.

Good luck :D.

User avatar
appleman
Full Member
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2010 9:11 pm
Location: Chicago

Thanks for the replies guys!!

You were right--the closet light was originally just any incandescent bulb you would find in a closet. However, due to some stroke of luck, I happened to buy a pair of compact fluorescent bulbs from Home Depot the other day and used it to replace the incandescent bulb. It is a 60W equivalent bulb I believe.

I've got a couple questions at the moment--
1. I read that generally for growing plants indoors, 14-16 hours of light is pretty standard. Does the pole bean deviate much from this guideline? How about an apple seedling? I'm planting an apple seed along with these. Do they have vastly different lighting needs?
2. It seems a lot of people here speak of indoor gardening simply as a means to eventually planting them outside. Is this the norm? Sorry, complete noob here. I won't have any access to real soil for a couple years, so everything will be done in containers. Why is it that people don't seem to usually grow plants indoors indefinitely?

JZydowicz
Full Member
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:25 pm
Location: Southern Wisconsin (Zone 5a)

The beans should handle 15 hours or so of light. I don't think they are affected by day/night length.
The apple however might be a problem, but not because of day length. Where did you get this apple seed? If it's from an apple you collected or from the store, you're going to have problems getting it to grow into a tree that produces remotely edible fruit. Most apples we buy (Red Delicious, Macintosh, etc.) are clonally propagated. If you plant those seeds, any number of weird combinations of seeds could come out. You'll get some crabapple sized fruit, some decent sized fruit, but most of the seedlings will not turn into what you are looking for.
Another thing - apple seeds probably have a long chilling requirement (need to be kept cold, 34-40 degrees F for several months) before they will germinate. There are probably some good resources online for information with that.
If you bought seeds commercially and they have some idea of what they will grown into, check to see if they are cold treated in advance.

About your second question: Indoor growing is more time consuming, more expensive, and prone to more problems compared to outdoor growing. It's perfect for starting seedlings indoors because you get a jump on the season and the plants stay compact. If you are growing something where the edible part is the fruit (and you plan on growing it to completion indoors), then all sorts of complications arise. The plants need to grow, which means you need more light and more space. They also take much longer (usually) compared with growing outdoors. Although most pests won't find the plants indoors, some indoor pests are inevitable (fungal gnats especially) and those can be a huge problem. But the main problem is cost. If you pay your own energy bills, HPS lamps (or something else with a high light output) are out of the question. You'll get a few pounds of beans for $100 worth of light usage. It's the reason people don't grow corn and soybeans in greenhouses in the winter. Only the highest value crops can turn a profit.

Now, don't let all this discourage you. I may sound like I'm ripping on indoor growing, but I have a full set-up too. I live in an apartment, and I don't have much access to a place to grow yet, so I do it indoors. It can be done, but indoors, light is going to be your biggest challenge. I have 3 four foot fluorescent fixtures side by side. Each one has two 40w bulbs. This seems to be enough for the plants, and they are all a nice deep green. They stay nice and cool, which is another bonus.

If you'd like, I can take some pictures and post them to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

I'm a college student (senior) and each fall semester, I have ambitious plans to grow plants indoors. Through trial and error, I've learned a lot about the plants' needs. The first year, I tried growing pole beans by a window. Terrible. They were so weak from the low light they couldn't even climb. The following year I tried and failed again. The third year I got a shelving unit and LED lights. Those were alright, but didn't give nearly enough light for the plants to grow. This year, I got a new shelving unit with much bigger shelves. I started with one fluorescent fixture, but realized that was nowhere near enough. Now I have three, and it seems to finally be enough.

One last thing: keep a fan on your plants at all times (on low). I can't emphasize this enough. Another thing that sometimes works with beans (although it's a bit risky) is intentionally drought-stressing the plants. It will cause them to flower faster, while increasing root area (and often stunting the aboveground part of the plant). Be careful though, it can kill the plants of course (which I've done before :P )

garden5
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 3062
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:40 pm
Location: ohio

That's some good info from JZ if you are going to be growing indoor exclusively.

However, things are a little different (and less expensive :wink:) if you have a porch or balcony that you can set pots and planter boxes out on in the summertime. This is known as container gardening and you can find out a lot about it here.

How are you planning on growing them?

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Another point about indoor growing fruiting vegetables/plants is that some plants need to be pollinated, which is usually taken care of by insects outdoors.

Your current lighting is inadequate as have already been described. CFL bulbs are great, but 100W equivalent Daylight bulbs are better, and closet ceiling fixture is too far away. You could probably use that hardwired ceiling socket to connect a pendant fixture, you could even get an electrical outlet adapter (usually has 3 outlets) that screws into the light socket, or possibly re-wire with hanging fluorescents. Also, it's just possible that if you check with your school's maintenance people, they might have old shop/fluorescent light fixtures somewhere that they'd let you have. Mixing with incandescent light may help with flowering plants.

If you are intent on growing beans, try bush beans. They don't need as much light or nutrients as pole beans and they mature faster (pay attention to "Days to Maturity" and choose the variety of what you want to grow accordingly). Production will be directly related to size of container and light as well as warmth. I do know 1 bush bean grown with just winter sun in SE windowsill (chilly because it was right next to the glass) and a cut-off at shoulder 2L soda bottle container produced 3 full sized bean pods, but that was it. :roll: (I did find out that beans and peas can self pollinate without any help at all)

Last year, I accidentally grew a cherry tomato plant -- a seedling started to grow in a container around end of November, so I potted it up and put it in the kitchen window (probably around low 60's) -- SE with supplemental Daylight CFL about 2 ft away (it was primarily being used for a overwintering stevia plant) and overhead incandescent kitchen light. It was very spindly with inadequate light -- growing to about 4 feet, but still flowered and fruited -- when was it? around February? (I did post about it). With greater attention to growing conditions - more like mid-70's temp, more intense light, etc. it probably would have grown and fruited better. With tomatoes (and related plants like jalapeno peppers), all you need to do is to shake the flowering stalk to self-pollinate.

As you can see, I do mostly like to provide as much natural sunlight as possible. Quick growing leafy vegs like salad greens would be easier and faster to grow and won't need as much light (my seed starting setup is in window-less garage and they grow with only artificial light -- lettuce grows well there, sometimes to eating size) but will prefer cooler temps.

You might also consider sprouts. If you look at sources like Johnny's Selected Seeds (for example), it's not just alfalfa and mung bean sprouts anymore. 8)

Another something to consider is hydroponics. Check out the Hydroponics Forum for more info. I'm venturing into this method with my first experiment soon. :D

What is the temp of your room like? I know my dorm room was always hot. Temperature in a room could vary by as much as 5ºF or more between floor vs. ceiling, windowsill (no heating unit immediately underneath) vs. interior space, etc.

About growing in the closet -- it looks like you're using the top shelf. Do note that increased humidity in the closet may not be the best for your clothes, etc. stored there and possibility of accidents -- spills, etc. -- do come to mind. :wink:



Return to “Vegetable Gardening Forum”