How to Hybrid Two Bean Plants

Select two of your healthiest bean plants of different species but the same genus. Look over the plants to ensure they aren't suffering from disease, are not infested with insects or failing to produce pods. Write the genus and species of the plants you have selected in a notebook for future reference.

Pick a bud that hasn't yet opened on each plant. Tie a length of string around the stem of each plant close behind the bud without tying so tightly the stem is crushed or severed. Watch for the marked flowers to open over the course of a day or two.

Examine the inside of each flower to note the numerous stamens and the single pistil in the center. The stamens appear as stalks with pollen-covered platforms on the ends, while the pistil is often taller and appears as a tubelike stalk with an enlarged bulbous end.

Use tweezers to grip one of the stamens on one of the marked flowers. Clip the stamen free from the flower with the tip of your small scissors below the tweezers. Pull the stamen away from the flower without touching the tip of the pistil.

Hold the stamen with the tweezers and take it to your other marked flower. Dab the pollen end of the stamen in the tweezers directly onto the end of the pistil of the second flower.

Leave the flower to form a bean pod and let the pods dry on the vine. Collect the dried pods and split them open to retrieve the seeds inside. Store the dry hybrid seeds in an envelope labeled with the parent plant genus and species until ready to plant.