Accidents happen to plants, especially around curious can't-help-myself-must-grab toddlers.
Enter my bean stalks. I have five bean stalks: three pinto and two black. I also have a small brother endlessly fascinated with dirt. I've managed so far to curtail his interest in poking his finger into the soil of my plant pots and ripping the roots and the seedlings out. However, today we had a mishap. After stopping him yet again from poking the soil, he gazed lovingly at the long plants with the big leaves, talked some gibberish to them, and finally couldn't help himself from touching. I was about half a second too late and we ended up with a black bean stalk with a broken stem.
Usually this spells death for the plant. I've broken stems before and they almost always die. But I've been taking care of this plant for almost 3 weeks now and I wasn't ready to give it up. I rushed to my trusty google and looked for possible solutions.
An emergency room treatment similar to setting a broken bone was in order and here's what you need:
- Some type of elastic tape, such as electrical tape or better yet, plumbers tape.
- Splints (i.e. toothpicks) and a long stick.
First of all you have to carefully wrap a small length of tape around the stem, while holding it in place, so it doesn't bend awkwardly. The tape seals off the part that is broken and prevents it from drying, so that water and nutrients can still flow up to the rest of the plant while the stem heals. The tape being elastic means that it can expand as the plant stem grows.
Use the toothpicks as splints around the stem to keep it firmly in place and avoid further injury.
Use the long stick and tie it in several locations to the plant to hold it up and keep pressure off the injured part.
So far so good. It should heal in about 4-5 days in a process similar to grafting. In my experience, broken stemmed plants start wilting within a couple of hours. My bean stalk 8 hours later is not only NOT wilted, but it's leaves have tucked down firmly for the night as always. They're still firm and bouncy. I think it may make it. This is a close up of the plumber's tape bandage and the splints.
The bean plants are my favorite. Partly because they were the first thing I ever grew as an 8 year old. And I love the large deep green leaves that are forever in motion. Rotating constantly toward the light and tucking in downwards like the wings of bat at night. Eggplants are nice too, but more as an adult flowering plant. The really big purple flowers are a sight to see!
Wonderful. Now I need to figure out how to stop my self from over watering. I've already lost three tomato seedlings to blossom end rot from over watering. I'm forcing myself now to wait until the top soil is really really dry and so far so good. I have one more survivor from the heirloom tomatoes which may just make it. I've forgotten what it is. I think either an Amish Gold or a Cherokee Purple.
Of course, the commercial variety seeds I picked out of some tomatoes I bought are all doing great. I hope they all make it to the fruit stage and I get to compare.
The beans and eggplants are headed for the window sills. I have 4 large pots prepared for the tomatoes. Last year I buried a fish head and some banana skins in each one. That's right, a fish head. They were left over from a meal of baked fish. I watered the empty pots in spring to keep the little insects in there alive and functioning, and left them to dry in the hot summer. When it comes time to transplant, I will mix in some peat to "lighten" the soil. I am hoping I will have an extra rich mix of soil that will result in some impressive tomatoes.
Enter my bean stalks. I have five bean stalks: three pinto and two black. I also have a small brother endlessly fascinated with dirt. I've managed so far to curtail his interest in poking his finger into the soil of my plant pots and ripping the roots and the seedlings out. However, today we had a mishap. After stopping him yet again from poking the soil, he gazed lovingly at the long plants with the big leaves, talked some gibberish to them, and finally couldn't help himself from touching. I was about half a second too late and we ended up with a black bean stalk with a broken stem.
Usually this spells death for the plant. I've broken stems before and they almost always die. But I've been taking care of this plant for almost 3 weeks now and I wasn't ready to give it up. I rushed to my trusty google and looked for possible solutions.
An emergency room treatment similar to setting a broken bone was in order and here's what you need:
- Some type of elastic tape, such as electrical tape or better yet, plumbers tape.
- Splints (i.e. toothpicks) and a long stick.
First of all you have to carefully wrap a small length of tape around the stem, while holding it in place, so it doesn't bend awkwardly. The tape seals off the part that is broken and prevents it from drying, so that water and nutrients can still flow up to the rest of the plant while the stem heals. The tape being elastic means that it can expand as the plant stem grows.
Use the toothpicks as splints around the stem to keep it firmly in place and avoid further injury.
Use the long stick and tie it in several locations to the plant to hold it up and keep pressure off the injured part.
So far so good. It should heal in about 4-5 days in a process similar to grafting. In my experience, broken stemmed plants start wilting within a couple of hours. My bean stalk 8 hours later is not only NOT wilted, but it's leaves have tucked down firmly for the night as always. They're still firm and bouncy. I think it may make it. This is a close up of the plumber's tape bandage and the splints.
The bean plants are my favorite. Partly because they were the first thing I ever grew as an 8 year old. And I love the large deep green leaves that are forever in motion. Rotating constantly toward the light and tucking in downwards like the wings of bat at night. Eggplants are nice too, but more as an adult flowering plant. The really big purple flowers are a sight to see!
Wonderful. Now I need to figure out how to stop my self from over watering. I've already lost three tomato seedlings to blossom end rot from over watering. I'm forcing myself now to wait until the top soil is really really dry and so far so good. I have one more survivor from the heirloom tomatoes which may just make it. I've forgotten what it is. I think either an Amish Gold or a Cherokee Purple.
Of course, the commercial variety seeds I picked out of some tomatoes I bought are all doing great. I hope they all make it to the fruit stage and I get to compare.
The beans and eggplants are headed for the window sills. I have 4 large pots prepared for the tomatoes. Last year I buried a fish head and some banana skins in each one. That's right, a fish head. They were left over from a meal of baked fish. I watered the empty pots in spring to keep the little insects in there alive and functioning, and left them to dry in the hot summer. When it comes time to transplant, I will mix in some peat to "lighten" the soil. I am hoping I will have an extra rich mix of soil that will result in some impressive tomatoes.
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