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

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum @Lady0bug! Glad you found us!

Hope you stick around and join us in the general discussions. We're a fairly small group as forums go but a pretty friendly bunch and always glad to meet new people. Russ always starts a new bean grow-out thread in the spring. Sure hope you join us there if nowhere else. But we'd really like to get to know you better.

If you go to Russ's website and scroll through the beans you can see a lot with that general pattern but I did not see any colored like that.

http://www.abeancollectorswindow.com/index.html

I don't know if you've grown bean outcrosses like that before, this was my first year. I learned a couple of lessons. You never know for sure if the bean will be a pole or bush when you plant it. I had bush grow as pole and pole grow as bush, though a few did behave.

Each bean plant will produce seeds that look like all the other beans on that plant, but each seed can produce totally different seeds for the other seeds. If you look at Russ's bean show from yesterday, Day 55, you can see all the different looks he got from his Rabbit's Foot segregation. If you plant all nine of the beans in your photo you can easily come up with as many as nine different seeds. Sometimes the differences are kind of subtle, sometimes they knock your socks off. That means you need to plant each seed so you can tell which plant those seeds came from. I didn't always do that and had some sorting nightmares.

Annette had at least one of Russ's outcrosses produce a bean that looked like what she planted, lucky girl. I planted 4 different sets of beans from Russ and got 24 different beans, none of which looked like the bean I planted. To me it was a real thrill when I got the first dried beans from a plant to see what they looked like.

Once again, .

 

[Lady0bug]

Yes, these beans were found this year. We have been growing Black Valentine every year for the last four years. The other bean variety that were grown on the opposite side of a 50x75' garden was Jacob's Cattle. Hutterite soup was also grown in a different area that is up the hill. I'll grow these out next year in a separate area and see what we get.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Well that is pretty neat that you know you have only two possible pollen donors. Now if after you grow out your new seed you get some plants that shift back either towards the Hutterite seed coat or the Jacob's Cattle seed coat pattern. I think you will know then which variety is the male pollen donor. It will be interesting to see the results next year. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[journey11]

Welcome, @Zeedman and @Lady0bug ! Good to see the network growing.

 

[Blue-Jay]

The Big Bean Show - Day #57​

(Photo Top Left) In 2013 I discovered some different looking seeds in a variety called "Junin". I named the bean "Shortwave Sunshine" a bush bean that grows without runners. I believe it will also have the use as a snap bean. I thought the seed sort of looked violet in color and the shortest wave length in sunlight is violet. (Photo Top Right And Bottom Left) After growing "Shortwave Sunshine" this year. I found these two new looking seeds among it.


"Shortwave Sunshine"............................................"Shortwave Sunshine Segregation "




"Shortwave Sunshine Segregation"

 

[aftermidnight]

@Bluejay77 love the color on the seed coat of your "Shortwave Sunshine Segregation" top right, grey on dark grey or is that black? I suppose these are all bush beans?
Annette

 

[Blue-Jay]

The Big Bean Show - Day #57​

(Photo Top Left) This bean that I grew this year is a native American pole bean called "Skunk". (Top RIght) Is another very beautiful pole bean I grew out this year called "Snowcap" (Bottom Photo) Is an Australian bush snap bean developed by Aurthur Staley in the late 1800's called "Staley's Surprise". Aurthur Staley was a seed merchant from the 1880's to sometime in the 1900's.


"Skunk"............................................................................."Snowcap"



"Staley's Surprise"

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 love the color on the seed coat of your "Shortwave Sunshine Segregation" top right, grey on dark grey or is that black? I suppose these are all bush beans?
Annette

@aftermidnight.

I think that color is various shades of purple. I think the darkest of shades are a very dark purple. Definetly have to grow this one out in 2017.

 

[journey11]

View attachment 17758
"Shortwave Sunshine Segregation "

That is one cool looking bean!

 

[Blue-Jay]

The Big Bean Show - Day #58​

In 2012 I was growing one of Robert Lobitz's original beans called "White Robin" which is a semi-runner and I found this horticultural looking bean among it and I named it (Photo Top Left) "Striped Thrush". After I planted it in 2014 I found the pinkish looking bean that segregated from it (Photo Top Right). Both of these beans grow as a true bush without runners. I planted the pink looking bean and got the reverse results this year. I got some the orignal looking bean back again. So this year both seed coats were among the dry bean harvest. (Photo Bottom Left) Is a pole bean called "Succotash". It's seeds remind most people of black kernels of corn. The eye of the bean is not like that which most beans have, but more like a scar. (Photo Bottom Right) Is an original bean from a fellow in Kentucky who wants to be a plant breeder. His bean is called "Sycamore Mascara".


"Striped Thrush"..................................................."Striped Thrush Segregation"


"Succotash"..............................................................."Sycamore Mascara"

Continued On Page 67​