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

[flowerbug]

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There's been a little bit of talk about it on this thread already, but I'm curious about how you guys all deal with isolating different varieties for seed-saving purposes. Do you have any particular minimum distance you use? What percentage of outcrossing (if any) do you typically see?

I've read everything from "beans don't cross pollinate" (which is clearly false) to "keep at least 50 feet between varieties for seed-saving" (which seems like it would only apply to large-scale seed companies), and I'm curious how you guys have experienced this "in real life" in your smaller-scale home growouts.

i've not been trying to avoid crosses at all, in fact for some plantings i encourage them by alternating plantings next to each other sometimes many times over to see if i can get the crosses i'm aiming for...

whoever says beans don't cross must not have the various kinds of bugs and bees around that we have. i see many different kinds on the bean flowers here.

in less than eight years of growing beans i have more crosses and strange beans than i'll ever be able to grow out and evaluate. i stopped counting at a hundred and fifty. i planted between fifty and a hundred types this season and since many of those were only single beans i probably lost a few dozen of what i planted, but on the other end i've picked up a dozen or two more (including several that i was hoping to finally see) from what i see so far.

mostly what i am doing is for fun, i like the different colors and shapes, i am OCD enough that i love sorting and i'm tactile oriented too so the shelling and sorting fits those parts of my psyche too. i'm probably worse than Ebeneezer Scrooge counting his money v.s. me and the beans. well, not quite as i do like sharing them with other people.

only a few varieties each year grow enough that i eat them. dry beans i want enough pinto, black, red, limas and a few others. i need to grow enough out to see how they taste as a dry bean when cooked up. so i need a few larger plantings for those. i've done a lot of other beans over the years and stopped growing them because i've already tried them and i want to try something else. not because i didn't like them, just because i don't have the space.

for fresh eating i grow a wax bean and a green bean. sometimes i sample other beans as they are growing to see how they taste.

almost every bean is different from the others in taste. i think that's facinating in itself.

i'll have more space for growing beans next year. let the adventures continue...

 

[saritabee]

Thanks for all the tips (and photos!)... that's what I was thinking for next year, too: a combination of other "more interesting" (to the bees, at least) flowers nearby, and bagging a few beans on each plant for safety's sake.

And beyond that, I guess it's an experiment to see what our pollinator level is like here? Lol.

Annette, now I'm curious about your sky beans!

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 Received the bean seed in the mail this morning, thanks a bunch. That Breck's seed coat pattern and the shape looks pretty much how I remember the one I lost all those years ago. The proof will be in the growing, hopefully next year. I will try a pole of the Fasold too all going well. As soon as I can get down to the bank I'll get a m.o. to at least cover the postage and get it mailed off to you. Thanks again, you're the best.

Annette

Hi Annette !

So glad the beans finally made it. I think you will like the Fasold also. You don't really have to pay the postage. I enjoyed do it for you.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Ridgerunner,

Can you tell me what the new bean "Tranquility" is related too? What is it a segregation from? Trying to enter the new beans into my spreadsheet.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Tranquility's parent is one of the no name ones on your page #5. 27-1, a plum colored bean.

Now that you've seen it, what do you think? I have trouble coming up with a color to call that.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Hi Ridge,

Yep that is a really interesting color. It looks a bit purple and it lacks gloss so I would say that is flat. Flat Purple. I have a bean that comes out of African Premier a bush bean that is a flat pink with a blueish undercolor. Your bean is the second really flat color I've seen in a bean.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Glad I could add something different. Will Bonsall gets the credit though, I just grew it. That was so unusual I didn't know if they were even healthy so I did a germination test on three of them. All three very quickly produced very healthy sprouts. I did not try eating that one but others from the original #27 produced some snap beans. That one was not hugely prolific but it wasn't bad. I did not keep the beans picked off either, just let them go to seed. The pod was fairly short but not bad. The pod was solid green, but turned reddish as it dried. I did not get any photos.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Russ, I'm planning on getting back into growing some of your "Unknown last grown" beans next year. Not many, probably just one or two and they will be pole. I'll not make up my mind until next spring, partly to give you time to update what you need to update and partly because I keep changing my mind. I'm mainly looking at page #4, lots of good candidates. There are a lot of really good candidates just on that one page.

I'll probably have more questions next year on specific ones but what can you tell me about Rwanda Rainbow? I see at least four different color/patterns in that one, maybe more. Could I expect different colors on one plant or even in the same pod? Would I need to plant the beans by color/pattern or could I grow them all together? Any idea on how vigorous or productive they might be? I kind of expect the answers to be that I have to grow them to find out which is a great answer.

I don't remember seeing the Rwanda Rainbow in any of the bean shows. If they have been renewed already them they are off my list. I just looked and there are at least seven others that I'd really like to grow but I am limited in space. I understand by going for the ones that are unknown I am setting myself up for probable germination drama but I'd like to at least try to renew one or two of them. That drama will only get worse each year I wait.

 

[saritabee]

Notice on the white bag I've stitched the collar in so I can snug the bag right up close on the stem The only thing to watch for is to make sure you take the bags off as soon as the bean starts to form, if you don't you end up with a coiled up bean filling the bag and you usually have to tear the bag to get the bean out. Once the bag is removed I mark the pod with pieces of that green stretchy tape long enough that they are easily seen. Not the best picture but you get the drift.

Annette, I was just looking at your pictures again... sewing down the collars of the bags is a great idea. What size of bag do you find works best?

 

[aftermidnight]

Annette, I was just looking at your pictures again... sewing down the collars of the bags is a great idea. What size of bag do you find works best?

I use the smaller size 3x4" although if I still had a sewing machine I'd make them myself and make them a half inch bigger all round. Buy a yard or two of tulle and use string instead of ribbon.

Annette