Odd bean

[MKG]

Now here's something I've never seen before. I planted loads of runner beans a while ago (in pots in the greenhouse) and, as they seemed to be taking their time, I later planted a few more. As it happens, they all germinated - but one of the later ones seemed odd. As all of the others pushed up and sprouted leaves, this one was just an emergent lump, just showing through the surface of the compost. And that's the way it's stayed. But i've just become super-curious and it obviously wasn't going to do anything, so I emptied it out of the pot. And there it was - a runner bean which had fully germinated but was growing completely upside down. The emergent lump was the roots which had promptly turned round when they met air, but the stem was heading determinedly for the bottom of the pot.

It looked healthy, and had leaves - not green but a translucent brown. I'm a sucker for individualism, so I've replanted it the right way up. We shall see what happens.

Never, ever, have I seen that before.

Mike

[Thomzo]

Will be interesting to see what happens.

Zoe

[frozenthunderbolt]

That ignores the laws of photo-tropic response! waaaack

[MKG]

It ignores every principle of plant growth I know ... but think how easy the beans will be to harvest if it does grow to maturity

Mike

[Green Aura]

Maybe they'll come pre-cooked

[prison break fan]

MKG You obviously planted it the wrong way up! pbf

[The Riff-Raff Element]

MKG You obviously planted it the wrong way up! pbf

Yeah - that'll be it. Just make sure next time you look for the little white mark on the top of the seed.

[Ellendra]

Hmmm, save seed from that one. It might be a mutation made it less responsive to gravity, and thus usefull for space travellers.

(No, I'm not joking. I used to have a special setup for testing how well plants would grow in low- or no-gravity. NASA used to do tests like that but I'm not sure if they still do.)

[MKG]

UPDATE:!!

It's doing OK. It hasn't reacted adversely to its universe being turned upside down, and the leaves, having had a full day of strong sunlight in a cosy corner of the greenhouse, are now showing distinct green tones.

Free-fall beans sound good to me, Ellendra

Mike

EDIT: Now behave, Jon. All of the seeds were planted flat, as I always do. Mind you, some may have had the white spots facing in the wrong compass direction.

[Millymollymandy]

It's happened to me before too!

[MKG]

It has now caught up with the others and looks like a normal, healthy bean plant.

I'm going to keep my eyes on this one. It could come in handy during a nuclear winter.

Mike

[Odsox]

Yeah I've had it happen too, but only with RUNNER beans, it doesn't seem to affect other members of the bean family.
Really weird and seemingly impossible and makes geotropism null and void.

[gregorach]

Really weird and seemingly impossible and makes geotropism null and void.

No, just not 100% reliable. That's biology for you - it mostly works, but it's not perfect. Weird stuff happens.

[Potter's Farm]

I've had lots of runner bean seeds doing that his year!!! Never happened before, and its only the runners - i'm growing french, canelloni and borlotti and they're ok. Strange

[MKG]

I see suggestions around the net that broad beans do it too.

Maybe it's the size of the seed?

Mike