2017 Little Easy Bean Network – Everything Beans, Post It Here & Join The Fun

[VA_LongBean]

We've dipped into the low 30's a couple times at night this week. Yet the lima beans outside are still alive! And I have found some big pods on them, with little beans starting to form. If we have a mild November, they just might make it. The potted lima plant in my sunroom is doing well too.

I've been really enjoying the bean show. You guys have some real beauties this year. I love this time of year.

I'm in the same situation with my limas. I got a second crop late in the season and I am on tenterhooks hoping it will ripen by the time the plants die.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How do you reach that high to harvest them?

I climb on top of that building behind them. It's a cinder block storm shelter so it will hold my weight.

I know 2 plants of Voodoo would not give me enough.

There is no way to know how much a plant will produce next year. It's the first year Voodoo has been grown and it is an outcross. You don't know what the bean color/pattern will be or even if it will be a pole or a bush. My original "Miss T" produced over 500 dried beans last year but none that I planted this year came anywhere close to that productivity.

My "Raspberry Ripple" produced pretty well last year. I did not count the seeds but it was a lot. When I grew it this year two plants produced really well, even better than that plant last year. But four of them produced so few that I only got enough seeds to send Russ seeds from one of them.

 

[Blue-Jay]

More beans from the Backyard. Last year I had obtained some old green and yellow podded snap bean varieties. The first one I grew this summer was Puregold Wax. Very productive and produced just under a half pound of seed for only 5 seeds planted. Bred by the Rogers Brothers Seed Company of Idaho Falls, Idaho and released in 1947. It was commonly found in catalogs in the 1950's and 60's. I don't think it is in any catalog anymore. Widely adapted can be grown in a lot of areas. Parentage is Brittle Wax x Wisconsin Hybrid Wax 536.

#34- Puregold Wax

Dry Puregold pods.

 

[Blue-Jay]

On post number 467 I changed the name of the bean "Marengo" to "Hebron" as there is a commerical variety in Europe called Marengo. Could be the bean might be patented. So I don't want to get into any difficulty with the patent owner if there happens to be one.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Another old commerical variety from the 1940's is this green snap bean called "Ranger". Bred by Asgrow Seed Company in 1947. Widely Adapted. 56 days to snaps. Pods 5" x 3/8". Plants spreading, with short runners, very productive. I thought it fun to dip into some old commercial bean history.

#35 - Ranger

Dry Ranger pod

 

[Blue-Jay]

"Medal Refugee" Bred and introduced by the Asgrow seed company of New Haven, Conecticut in 1942. Parentage is United States 5 x Round Pod Kidney Wax. Asgrow seed company is short for Associated Seed Growers. It was started in the 1920's by Calvin Keeney who is credited with being the father of the stringless bean.

#36 - Medal Refugee

Dry Medal Refugee pods

 

[Blue-Jay]

"Keewatin" is another Robert Lobitz variety. Bush dry bean type.

#37 - Keewatin

Dry Keewatin Pods

 

[Blue-Jay]

"Giant Stringless Greenpod" Tall plants over two feet in height. Long pods somewhat variable, long and stringless. One of the most popularly grown snap beans of the early twentieth century. Bred by Calvin Keeney the father of the stringless bean, and introduced by Johnson & Stokes Seed Company in 1898.

#38 - Giant Stringless Greenpod

Dry Giant Stringless Greenpod

 

[Blue-Jay]

"Zumbro Falls" Bush/Snap. Another cultivar in the large bean legacy of the Late Robert Lobitz of Paynesville, Minnesota. Robert named the bean after the little town of Zumbro Falls a little over 200 population in Wabasha county in southeastern Minnesota.

#39 - Zumbro Falls

Dry Zumbro Falls Pod

 

[Blue-Jay]

"Refugee Wax" Bush/Snap/Wax. Yellow podded. Plants large spreading with many runner like branches. Productive with a long bearing season. This stringless form was selected from a stringy form of Refugee Wax by Calvin Keeney sometime before 1897.

#40 - Refugee Wax