Smelly Bean!!!!

After two weeks on the windowsill in my bedroom, I can cope no longer with the terrible smell coming from this mouldy bean!!

My bean rose to the top of the rice after a couple of days in the rice/water mixture. After 7 days I notices that the outer casing of the bean had split and a shoot had started to emerge.

At this stage the rice in the cup had started to tun green and mouldy. I witnessed no further changes in the bean after this point. I kept the bean for a further week but then made the decision that nothing further was going to develop and that the mould in the water had stopped the growth of the bean.

Before throwing the bean away, I did remove it from its incredibly smelly environment and came to the conclusion that the bean did germinate in the rice water, however, upon getting mouldy, the environment I was growing it in stopped it developing any further - I'm not surprised really - it smelt toxic when I threw it away.

But, in terms of the experiment - yes, my bean did successfully germinate.

Rice Bean!

My bean was planted in this cup of rice. The rice is uncooked and water has been added to the cup to the top of the rice line. The bean was submerged under the rice and I have been topping up the cup with water to ensureit stays at the same level.

The rice went cloudy with the adittion of water - the starch from the rice mixing with the water.

I have kept the cup with bean in it on my windowsill indoors in my house.

Sand Bean update

The bean in the sand has now gone mouldy! I did hold out some hope when I saw that the seed was beginning to split as the photo shows. However the seed has now gone mouldy, the salt content in the sand from the beach was clearly to high for the seed to germinate.

Gravel Bean

Well something else has found our bean investigation successful!!! I have found a few holes developing on 'Bean's leaves. It seems that we have an intruder! No less than a caterpillar who I have named Ceril! Needless to say he likes 'Bean' and we may not have much left to measure soon. Have taken a final photograph which I shall post and will measure 'Bean' before Ceril has finished munching!

Go cotton Wool

Well the bean is still growing! It now stands well above the top of the cup in which is was planted. However; the leaves seem to now be getting a few black spots on them which have not been noticeable previously. On research I have found out that plants obtain essential minerals from the soil. The most important nutrients are Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Although these are not needed to produce food as plants produce food through photosynthesis, plants need these nutrients and minerals in order to maintain cell walls, cell membranes, proteins and plant DNA. Magnesium, iron and sulphur are used in the manufacture of chlorophyll and are also important. If these minerals are usually found in soil it would be a safe assumption that my bean is not getting these minerals from the cotton wool. As I mentioned in my last post the bean had enough energy within it to successfully germinate. However; now it is becoming a plant, perhaps the black spots on the leaves indicate a deficiency. If the plant is not getting enough minerals to make chlorophyll then this maybe a reason why some parts of the leaves are black not green. I will keep a close eye on it and comment further at a later date!

The compost bean so far...

On Monday 29th October I put my bean into soak for 24hours. Exactly 24 hours later it was time to place my bean into a pot of damp compost and place it on my windowsill. It has sat there ever since making gradual progress over time. I continued to monitor the bean each day, adding water when necessary to make sure that the compost stayed damp. The first signs that it was developing was a few days later when I started to see roots growing. Then, on the 3rd November the bean’s shoot broke through the surface of the compost (picture A). It started as only 7mm out from the soil but as the days went on it quickly grew. I took my next picture the following day (picture B) and it now stood 2cm tall. I also tried to take a picture of the root network which was also making rapid progress (the picture did not come out very clearly though due to reflection (picture C). I then took another picture on 6th November (picture D), which shows that it has again grown and now stands at 3cm tall. The final photo taken so far was on 11th November (picture E) where it now stands 6cm tall. I have also taken a picture from above the bean to show how the leaves have opened out (picture F).

Picture A: Picture B:

Picture C: Picture D:

Picture E: Picture F:

Bean in Gravel

The bean is doing fantastic! Originally I wasn't sure if it was going to grow as the water could not be absorbed into the gravel and lay in the bottom of the cup, but it has and is growing really well.

Jelly Bean in the bin

Despite all my hopes, I'm afraid I have to report the demise of Jelly Bean. It was too mouldy to save. It has now gone to the recycling bin!

Jelly Bean in Crisis

At the end of week one, I'm sorry to have to say that the jelly bean has become the mouldy bean. Unfortunately, there are no other signs of growth. I'll leave it on the window sill though for a bit longer, just to see if the bean stages a fight back, but at this moment the outlook is bleak...

Bean in cotton wool

Week One

Exciting developments! The bean has started to sprout in the cotton wool after less than a week. Here is a picture of it.

There is definitely a green shoot coming out of one side. The bean seed must therefore be getting enough moisture from the cotton wool to be able to germinate! Because the bean has previously got starch within the seed (in the cotyledons), the bean seed doesn't need to get energy from anywhere else in order to germinate. The moisture from the cotton wool is therefore sufficient to allow the bean to grow. The seed has been able to germinate effectively in damp cotton wool. However; as it becomes a plant it needs to be able to gain nutrients from the soil in order to help the cells develop for photosynthesis. I'm not sure therefore how long my plant will keep up its continual growth without the soil containing the nutrients it may need!