"Entada Gigas" emerging from the soil!
Update! 07-06-10 This is after 24 hours of growth! It is now 3 inches tall, and becoming a beanstalk.
Update! 07-07-10
Update! 07-09-10 am - Its actually over 11 inches as of now at 1pm, meaning that it grew over an inch between breakfast and lunch!
Some of you may remember my post where I first mentioned growing sea beans, and I decided to give it another go a couple of months ago, planting a "Sea heart" bean that I found on the beach about three years ago. The shiny bean was a huge 2 inches long, which is not surprising since the entada genus produces the largest seeds in the whole legume family! In its native Amazon rainforest, it would grow into a 100 foot liana also known as a "monkey ladder", climbing high into the rainforest canopy in a corkscrew spiral. Here's a link to some great photos of entada gigas in its natural habitat. Pay no attention to the hippie on the second page... he looks totally stoked and strangely like Spencer Pratt. Seriously though, to him this plant is more exciting than playing hackie sack at a Dave Matthews Band Concert on pot. And it is to me too! (Actually, check out page 7 and it shows the hippie stranded on the beach, introducing you to his 13 seabean friends, all named Wilson!) If you are the aforementioned castaway, no offense and thank you for the wonderfully demonstrative photos.
There's virtually no information on growing this beanstalk online, and the closest thing is info on the related African species, used for shamanic rituals or a cheap high. That's why the hippie's so stoked! I'm stoked to finally document the cultivation of this plant along with the eventual untimely demise, since its ultra tropical and will get way too big. I'm debating on whether to grow it in a pot or outdoors! It will get too big for any pot I can supply, and its water needs will get pretty extravagant. I know it will die in winter, so maybe I should just put it outdoors so it will live happily for its several month existence. Maybe someone from South Florida will take it off my hands before winter! Regardless, I have about 15 more beans to use for next year. Here's a picture of the bean before I planted it, along with other beach finds! Its the big one in the middle.
For more info, visit www.seabean.com for all the sea bean info your heart desires!
For more info, visit www.seabean.com for all the sea bean info your heart desires!
Very cool! I've always had a fascination with seeds and these are among my favorites. I have a few sea beans but have never planted them, simply because I like the look of the seed so much!
ReplyDeleteGrower Jim:
ReplyDeleteYou should give it a shot since you may even be able to overwinter one outdoors! If you decide to plant one, drill a hole through the side or use a dremel or power sander to expedite the germination. I didn't drill or anything and it germinated in months.
Cool beans! That website was very interesting. I have to say I'd be afraid to plant a beast like that in the garden, just in case it did take off.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your success! Don't place it too close to your house...it may swallow it up by winter. :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting link to all the sea bean lore. I am not familiar with them. Do they wash up on Gulf beaches? When I go to the beach I'm going to be looking for one. I can't believe yours germinated. Your going to have fun watching it grow. Probably a good thing it won't make it through the winter. Those were some huge vines and seed pods.
ReplyDeleteReally cool that you could get one to germinate. I never realized that they made jewelry out of the beans. I have found them in the tideline at the beach here in South Florida several times but never knew their story.Quite interesting thanks for posting the story links.
ReplyDeleteFloridagirl and Susan:
ReplyDeleteYeah, it would be a little big... I guess I just want to prove that it can be overwintered so that others can try it.
NanaK:
Not so much on the Florida gulf coast (The gulf stream is what carries them from the rainforests), but they do end up on the Texas beaches in smaller numbers.
Sanddune:
Yeah, I've actually polished some and they look like gemstones. I'm working on a hamburger bean necklace too.
When you mentioned 'sea beans', I immediately thought of 'sea monkeys' LOL I'm such a weirdo. I'm glad they're growing for you! :D
ReplyDeleteWow, that is a huge bean and fast grower after it starts to germinate. It must be its way of competing with other plants in the forest.
ReplyDeleteI learned something new today with your post. Thanks.
Hey everyone! Its grown to 5 inches in 2 days now!
ReplyDeleteKyna:
You ARE such a weirdo! But thats why everyone likes you.
Solitude Rising
It reminds me of those fast motion videos of plants germinating and climbing toward the light in nature documentaries about the rainforest!
OMG...what amazing growth!!! How exciting!!! I think you must build it it's own greenhouse cover you can slip over it in the winter...surely something would work! An big tall antennae or three joined together that you could throw a giant plastic cover over??? Anything!!!
ReplyDeleteCoool. An update! Glad I popped in and re-read this post tonight. That kinda growth is right up there in bamboo territory, isn't it? Awesome, but a little scaaaaarrrry.
ReplyDeleteDon't be surprised if you hear it say FEED ME SEYMOUR" :D
ReplyDelete:) Yeah, I was thinking more along the lines of a beanstalk, though it would be at home in Little Shop of Horrors.
ReplyDeleteWhere exactly would I drill a hole to speed up germination? I picked one up while i was in florida last year...Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhere exactly would I drill the hole to expidite germination? I picked one up while I was florida last year. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhere exactly would I drill a hole to speed up germination? I picked one up while i was in florida last year...Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhere exactly would I drill a hole to speed up germination? I picked one up while i was in florida last year...Thanks!
ReplyDeleteA little late answer, but I found a seaheart-bean on the beach on the andaman islands, brought it back home to sweden. I sandpapered a lttle bit on it and then put it in water for a week or more, don´t remember. Then put it in soil in a pot on the windowframe. It startet growing in a week and grew very very fast, like yours. Straight up, and i had to make it grow in circles to be able to keep it in the window. this is now almost 4 years ago, and it still lives in a big pot in the windowframe growing in circles, shooting new sprouts all the time from it´s wines. But it doesn´t like it very much, a couple of times it has dried because lack of water etc. but it is a surviver! It lives still. But I dont know really if I can reproduce it somehow...do you know what I should do with it for making it be happier? Or making more plants out of this one? best regards, from Lisa in Sweden
ReplyDeleteI planted a sea heart I found in Believe. It took a couple weeks to sprout. Now a couple weeks later, its 4 ft tall.
ReplyDeleteI found 2 Hamburger seabeans on the same day at Peranporth beach Cornwall, England.
ReplyDelete