I apparently stressed the common beans too much. Two died after setting a single pod, and a third died without setting anything.
The remaining two are purple flowered descendants of a striped bean that I thought might be crosses because they were a different color than the other beans in the pod. Based just on appearances, I think at least one is definitely a cross, although I don’t know which. Their stem color and leaf shape is very different.
Interesting… now could this be from stress like how you got a 5 leaflet bean leaf?
It’s possible, but if so then one of the two is a LOT more adapted. They were all in the same pot, so same soil, same water, same light.
The plant center right is the one with the huge leaves. The one with the thick stem is the only survivor of the original 3, and it’s barely hanging on.
(I said all three died–if you zoom in on the white lid you can see some crumpled, papery leaves. They belong to the thick stem. I think it’s dead, but I’m keeping it for the moment since the stem is still green)
Nice! This one is shaping up to be the winner!
I hope you get a lot of seeds from this one!
Only 1 of the 3 seeds sprouted. I’m thinking straight common bean, but I’m uncertain. I’ll let it go to seed to get an absolute.
What do you think? The seed leaves look normal, but the narrow secondaries…not sure.
Awesome! It is next to impossible to tell just from the leaves.
The best ID features to separate species are flowers & pods.
I don’t notice any seedling cotyledons above ground, does that mean the cotyldeons germinated below ground? If that’s the case, these are Runner Bean (Phaseolus coccineus) traits.
I hope this ID guide I put together helps.
As for wild tepary beans, the leaves are a helpful ID trait (Usally being much more narrow). However domesticated Tepary bean leaves can have relatively wide leaves making it nearly useless as an ID trait to distinguish it from other species.
Leaves of Tepary Beans (Phaseolus acutifolius)
Leaves of Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus)
Leaves of Common Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)
I guess you could say Tepary Bean leaves are more triangular & less round/oval.
But some Common Bean leaves can also be quite triangular.
and if it is indeed a hybrid, it only becomes harder to tell as it will have to be intermediate between species. In hindsight it would be helpful if you took pictures of the parents & then compare & contrast with potential hybrid offspring, something I will take notes of when making the hybrids myself.
Cotyledons emerged aboveground but fell off pretty quickly.
The plant is really pale and weak. I think I made a mistake in using a commercial hydroponics nutrient mix rather than my home-made mix. I also transferred plants to hydroponics that were already blooming, which creates massive transplant shock.
I’ll try to save it, but it may be time to start over.
That might be the best thing to do.
The hydroponics mix is only 5-4-3 as mixed in the instructions, which seems really off.
I haven’t used hydroponics much or the fertilizers needed thus know even less.
