Question by lalie: how do i grow a lima bean plant?
i’m doing a preschool lesson on plants and heard that lima beans grow pretty fast. i’m kinda going off memory, and its not working so well. i was told to soak the beans overnight in water and then i planned to put them in a ziplock bag with water in a warm area so they could sprout and the children could see the change. right now i have beans soaking and they look like they are splitting open and not going to work for this… do i need a certain kind? what am i doing wrong? should i try any other kind of plant? need this by monday.

Best answer:

Answer by SafetyDancer
First of all, soak the seed only overnight. Then, plant them right away in a container for the kids to see. Cover the soaked seed with about 1/2″ of potting soil and keep damp but not soggy-wet. The soaked seed is more likely to germinate. Seed in soggy-wet soil will rot. The planted seed needs warmth to germinate and then sun to develop leaves.

Lima bean plants usually vine (there are bush varieties). So, if you don’t want the plant to run all over the ground (floor), you’ll need to tie it up or support the vines some how.

The plants are not likely to fruit up unless they are in a rather big container and are watered and fed regularly. You can transplant the young plants into the ground and they will do fairly well as a transplant. Ideally, beans will do better planted directly into the garden instead of transplanted.

Hope that’s helpful. Good luck!

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