Growing beans in cotton is a fun
experiment that you can use to start
seeds for your garden. Use a cup or jar
to hold your cotton balls, then add
beans, water, and sunlight to make your
beans sprout.
Step 1
Choose the types of dry beans you
want to grow. You can grow any type
of dry bean using cotton balls.
To keep the plant compact, opt for a
bush bean plant. This will not require a
trellis or pole to support it and it will only
grow to about 2 ft (0.61 m).
Step 2
Soak the beans in water overnight to
speed up the growing process. Place
the beans into a bowl or cup and fill it
with water. Then, let the beans soak in
the water at room temperature
overnight. This will help to soften up the
outer shells of the beans and make it
easier for the plants to sprout.
❗ Don’t use hot water as this could
partially cook the beans. Use cool or
lukewarm tap water.
Step 3
Fill a plastic cup or glass jar about
3/4 full of cotton balls. Don’t pack the
cotton balls down. Keep them loose in
the cup or jar. Fill it until the topmost
cotton balls are about 1–2 in (2.5–
5.1 cm) from the top the jar or cup.
Step 4
Moisten the cotton balls with water
so they are just damp. Drizzle
about 1⁄8 to 1⁄4 c (30 to 59 mL) of
water over the cotton balls to wet them.
Don’t add too much water or the beans
might not spout. Only add enough to
moisten the cotton balls without excess
water in the bottom of the cup.
❗ Tip: If you accidentally add too much
water, pour it out while holding onto the
cotton balls so they don’t fall out of the
cup.
Step 5
Space 2-3 beans 1 in (2.5 cm) apart
on an indentation in the cotton. Poke
your finger into the cotton to make a
shallow indentation for the bean seed to
rest in. Make 2 to 3 indentations per cup
that are 1 in (2.5 cm) apart from each
other. Place the beans just on top of the
indentations in the cotton. Don’t push
them down into the cotton or burrow
them inside of a cotton ball.
❗ Don’t try to sprout more than 3 beans
per cup as they will not have enough
room to grow.
Step 6
Place the beans in a sunny spot for
30 minutes per day and a well-lit area
the rest of the time. The beans will
need to get 30 minutes of bright sunlight
each day and then you can transfer
them to a well-lit spot that is not in direct
sunlight for the rest of the day. This is
important since too much sunlight can
stop the seeds from sprouting.
❗ Do not place the beans in a dark
place, such as a cupboard.
Step 7
Water the beans when the cotton
starts to get dry. In warm
temperatures, you may need to do this
every 2 days, and in cold temperatures,
you may only need to water them 2
times per week.
❗ If the beans don’t sprout, this may be
because they are not getting enough
sunlight or because the cotton is too dry
or too wet.
Step 8
Watch for the beans to sprout after
about 3 days. The beans should start
to sprout by this point, but if not, keep
watching them for a few more days. If
nothing happens within 1 week, start
over with new beans.