2016 Little Easy Bean Network - Gardeners Keeping Heirloom Beans From Extinction

[aftermidnight]

@Bluejay77 , in a word yes, you can just see where the beans are forming in the pods now, nowhere near drying down yet, it's a very pale yellow but it's definitely yellow. I won't be doing the taste test as all are being saved for seed. As you can see in the above picture the seed coat is mottled not black.
I'm waiting to see what #45-2 (pole) produces before I name it . So far it looks like only 2 plants are turning out to be pole beans. Some of the other plants (bush) are weak growers but hope to get at least a couple of seeds from them too. Could be because the #45 seed is older, other beans growing in the same soil are growing gang busters. I just gave them all the #45's a bit of liquid seaweed to help them along. One of the bush plants has the tiniest of flowers so it will be interesting to see what, if anything it produces. In any case I'll send what each plant produces in a separate ziplock numbered if not named.

A little off topic but I was given 3 samples of Nuna beans to see if they will grow here. I have 2 plants each of 2 varieties planted in tubs in case I had to move them to the greenhouse in the fall to finish off. I gave them a bamboo pole to climb on as the vines in both tubs have grown over 4 ft. Started Apr 30th they germinated in 3 days, they are flowering and setting beans now . Both these varieties have produced good strong healthy vines. So it looks like they like my climate.
The third variety I think is a variety already sold in the states for popping. I don't know if the beans have been treated or not or if the seed is just old, I had a devil of time getting any to germinate never mind grow. Some seed rotted some came up blind, some came up and then rotted but, finally, after many attemps I got 3 to germinate and actually grow. They just sat there doing nothing for so long but the finally started to put on a bit of growth and I think I can see a flower forming on one of the plants, so far these look to be a true bush bean.

Because of the legal haggling still going on over Nuna beans I'm not able share seed of two of the varieties I'm growing at present, not sure on the commercial variety. Hopefully this will be resolved in the near future.
Annette

 

[baymule]

Hi @baymule, That is super Plantastic about the beans especially Globula. I would definitely look forward to try growing that one myself next year. Have you tried one of the pods? Steam one or two of them up and see if they leave any strings in your mouth when you chew it up. If they steam up tender might be good for snap bean use. If you can. Take a picture of one of the Globula's loaded with the pods and post it here.

I will try a couple of them, I have had to beat my husband off them, so this ought to make him happy! The vines are loaded, so they won't miss a few beans.

 

[Tricia77]

Solwezi #2 is starting to climb. They are very healthy plants. No flowers yet.

Solwezi #2 by Tricia Rosamilia, on Flickr

#34 Pole Bean is also climbing up my bamboo teepee nicely. I noticed last night there are a lot of flowers and two baby beans on the one vine! I also noticed that the vine with baby beans has yellow flowers and pink. It looks like they start off pink and turn yellow. Is that possible? I might have followed the wrong vine to the wrong flower too. I will check again. I sowed 5 beans around each bamboo pole, so it is a little crowded.

#34 Pole Beans by Tricia Rosamilia, on Flickr


#34 by Tricia Rosamilia, on Flickr

#34 by Tricia Rosamilia, on Flickr

#34 by Tricia Rosamilia, on Flickr

 

[Blue-Jay]

Nice pictures @Tricia77, very nice looking beans. I don't know if I've ever seen a bean blossom start out pink then turn yellow. I've seen some that look like they are going to be yellow then turn out to be white ones. Vines with different blossom, or different pods will constitute a different bean. You might get some of your 34's segregating into different types.

 

[Tricia77]

Thanks Russ! I am going to take a better look at the vines tonight. I think I need to label each vine like you suggested to someone else. I know #34 seeds were a mix of colors. I'm looking forward to seeing what each one produces!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I just can't get good photos. I apologize ahead of time.

Vines with different blossom, or different pods will constitute a different bean. I thought this was a timely comment. Thanks, Russ. I'm going back to re-evaluate how many different drying areas I'll need. Several more than the original seven I was thinking about. I hate to think of your cataloguing problem just from the beans I'll send you back let alone everyone else's beans. That's before we see what the dried beans look like.

I thought my 39B's were behaving nicely. The ones I planted were a dark red/light red pattern about pinto size and shape. Very pretty. I got great germination.

They were supposed to be a pole. They were growing as a pole until I noticed last night one is a bush. It will be easy to separate out those seeds. The pole are not a vigorous pole, topping out maybe five feet high but definitely a pole and not a half-runner.

All the blooms are similar, bush and pole, none of this different colors for them. Maybe our fashion/color guru @ninnymary can tell me what shade or color I should call these. I don't think "pink" is good enough.

But there is also a clear difference in the pod color/pattern. Some are a clear green, some have dark purple markings. I have the base of some of these marked so I can at least get some seeds from each pod color and keep them separated.

I'm starting to think none of the beans I have are fully segregated yet. I keep finding surprises.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I will say this about the 39B's, I consider them an honest bean. None of this nonsense about the blossom looking yellow until it opens and then it is clearly brilliant white. None of this blossoms being so very pale pink it looks white, with the shade seeming to change through the day. If I can find one pink blossom on the plant at any time then all blossoms are pink, no matter how white some of them look. None of this having really pale purple markings on some pods with some pods on that same plant looking pure green. Nope, one pod on a plant marked with even a really pale purple mark means all pods on that plant are marked, even if some are so pale I can't see them.

Nope, none of that. With the 39B's the blossom has color, no doubt whatsoever. If the pod has marking, it clearly has markings. None of this making Old Ridge think he's losing his mind when he reads the last thing he wrote about this bean. I may change my mind when I see the dried beans and call it all kinds of vile names if there are really subtle differences in markings or colors, but so far I consider it honest. I can't say that about all the beans I'm growing.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Let me quality my statement a little further. A different pod, or different blossom but on a different vine. Not on the same vine.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Understood, mine are on different vines. I was not clear on that.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Nice pictures @Tricia77, very nice looking beans. I don't know if I've ever seen a bean blossom start out pink then turn yellow. I've seen some that look like they are going to be yellow then turn out to be white ones. Vines with different blossom, or different pods will constitute a different bean. You might get some of your 34's segregating into different types.

The ones I have are white but become sort of yellow/ivory as they get old and dry out