Bean Plant
Sebastian sprouted a bean in a plastic cup in school a few months ago; it was a project. It wasn't the healthiest plant in the class, but it was doing pretty well.
The problem was that when he brought it home, it didn't stay in one place. It was left on top of the refrigerator for a while, and did poorly because there was virtually no sunshine. We couldn't put it in a window with sun, because our old cat Baby would eat it. He's hell on plants; when I bring flowers home for Teri, he'll do anything possible to get at them and eat them.
The bean plant was dying. So I put it outside, in the sunniest place possible. Sebastian didn't like that; he was afraid that some animal would eat it. We also had a lot of rain, which wasn't good for the plant either.
So I brought the plant inside and put it in the window of our enclosed back porch. Unfortunately Teri left the door open to the back porch; she prefers it open during nice weather, while I prefer it closed. Baby went out there and ate every leaf off the plant, and then ate one of the three stalks it had. I was pretty pissed off, both at Teri and at Baby.
All that were left were two bare and shriveled stalks. I doubted the plant would live, but I put it back outside in the sunniest spot and hoped. We didn't tell Sebastian what had happened.
To my amazement, the plant lived. It's almost as if it knew that it was on the edge of death, and went into a growing frenzy. Three or four tiny leaves appeared within a day or two, and soon there was a small but definite bean.
I showed Sebastian the plant and told him what had happened. He asked me to bring the plant back inside, because he was still afraid that an animal would eat it; some of the leaves had been nibbled on by insects. I tried to explain that yes, insects were nibbling on the leaves, but that it could probably survive that. On the other hand living inside without sunlight would kill it - and Baby would kill it even more quickly, guaranteed.
It took a lot of talking, but eventually I managed to convince him (he's getting to the stage where he's getting more insistent about his own opinions, and more likely to question his parents). The plant has been doing quite well, and yesterday we took it out of its little plastic cup and put it into a big ceramic flowerpot we'd bought for him. The transplanting process went very smoothly (I was surprised), and this morning the plant looked alive and well.
I'm not sure what we'll do with the plant in the long run. I don't think bean plants live for more than a year, so I suppose we should save the one bean and plant it, or sprout it, or something. Does anyone know what you're supposed to do with a bean?
The problem was that when he brought it home, it didn't stay in one place. It was left on top of the refrigerator for a while, and did poorly because there was virtually no sunshine. We couldn't put it in a window with sun, because our old cat Baby would eat it. He's hell on plants; when I bring flowers home for Teri, he'll do anything possible to get at them and eat them.
The bean plant was dying. So I put it outside, in the sunniest place possible. Sebastian didn't like that; he was afraid that some animal would eat it. We also had a lot of rain, which wasn't good for the plant either.
So I brought the plant inside and put it in the window of our enclosed back porch. Unfortunately Teri left the door open to the back porch; she prefers it open during nice weather, while I prefer it closed. Baby went out there and ate every leaf off the plant, and then ate one of the three stalks it had. I was pretty pissed off, both at Teri and at Baby.
All that were left were two bare and shriveled stalks. I doubted the plant would live, but I put it back outside in the sunniest spot and hoped. We didn't tell Sebastian what had happened.
To my amazement, the plant lived. It's almost as if it knew that it was on the edge of death, and went into a growing frenzy. Three or four tiny leaves appeared within a day or two, and soon there was a small but definite bean.
I showed Sebastian the plant and told him what had happened. He asked me to bring the plant back inside, because he was still afraid that an animal would eat it; some of the leaves had been nibbled on by insects. I tried to explain that yes, insects were nibbling on the leaves, but that it could probably survive that. On the other hand living inside without sunlight would kill it - and Baby would kill it even more quickly, guaranteed.
It took a lot of talking, but eventually I managed to convince him (he's getting to the stage where he's getting more insistent about his own opinions, and more likely to question his parents). The plant has been doing quite well, and yesterday we took it out of its little plastic cup and put it into a big ceramic flowerpot we'd bought for him. The transplanting process went very smoothly (I was surprised), and this morning the plant looked alive and well.
I'm not sure what we'll do with the plant in the long run. I don't think bean plants live for more than a year, so I suppose we should save the one bean and plant it, or sprout it, or something. Does anyone know what you're supposed to do with a bean?