2018 Little Easy Bean Network - Join Us In Saving Amazing Heirloom Beans

[Pulsegleaner]

@Zeedman
note that the cautions i saw said that the colored versions tended to have much higher levels of toxins compared to the ones we usually eat, so i'm thinking even eating a few raw here or there won't be nearly as bad as it could have been (or it would be more generally known)...

That certainly seems to be the case for a lot of legumes. It's the reason, I think that a lot of common legumes have white seed as a prerequisite for commercial sale. Commercial peas are usually white. Lablabs are ALWAYS white for eating as mature seed (the colored are so poisonous you have to leach them three or four times to make them edible)

I recently discovered it was possible to buy seed for chichara (edible grasspea) and they said that to improve the safety I should pick out the brown seeds and discard them (I saved them for the garden, since I also know that colored seed means colorful flowers, and grasspea flowers are such a nice blue.)

 

[flowerbug]

i think the other thing with white seeded beans is that it is much easier to clean out the beans from those which are slightly spoiled or marked by fungi or such. when you have colored beans it takes a bit more inspection to get those and sometimes i still miss a few here or there and find them later...

i also tend to go for the pink or purple flowers in the beans which usually means the beans have black or other dark colors of some kind in them.

this past week it has rained a few times and Sunday is supposed to be sunny so i need to get out and inspect all the beans i can possibly get to for possible picking before more rains come this week. i know i have to go through the lima beans for sure.

anything i pick from now until Sept 15 i consider early. i have some plants which are just now getting some flowers. if they can actually get pods filled and ripe before frosts it will be nice.

 

[Zeedman]

i think the other thing with white seeded beans is that it is much easier to clean out the beans from those which are slightly spoiled or marked by fungi or such. when you have colored beans it takes a bit more inspection to get those and sometimes i still miss a few here or there and find them later...

i also tend to go for the pink or purple flowers in the beans which usually means the beans have black or other dark colors of some kind in them.

this past week it has rained a few times and Sunday is supposed to be sunny so i need to get out and inspect all the beans i can possibly get to for possible picking before more rains come this week. i know i have to go through the lima beans for sure.

anything i pick from now until Sept 15 i consider early. i have some plants which are just now getting some flowers. if they can actually get pods filled and ripe before frosts it will be nice.

While the white-seeded beans are fairly easy to sort, I find that they are often more prone to rot, especially under wet conditions. I've had very poor germination with some white-seeded beans, and one of my few complete failures. There are exceptions... Tarbais seems to be inclined to produce especially good seed with few defects.

Most of the beans that I grow are darker colors. That is mainly coincidental, since I love large-seeded beans as shellies, and most of those are colorful. In the case of snap beans, though, I prefer the beans with darker colors (such as black-seeded Emerite, and brown-seeded Fortex) because they tend to have better cool-soil germination. I still enjoy the white-seeded Ferry-Morse Pole 191, but it too has temperamental germination in cool wet soil.

@flowerbug , you have beans only flowering now? That is really cutting it close, if you hope to get dry seed. My observation (strictly unofficial) is that beans need to flower by about August 1st, if I expect to get dry seed. It is still possible after that, but becomes increasingly dependent upon better than normal Fall weather... which we have been blessed with in recent years, such as last year.

 

[flowerbug]

While the white-seeded beans are fairly easy to sort, I find that they are often more prone to rot, especially under wet conditions. I've had very poor germination with some white-seeded beans, and one of my few complete failures. There are exceptions... Tarbais seems to be inclined to produce especially good seed with few defects.

Most of the beans that I grow are darker colors. That is mainly coincidental, since I love large-seeded beans as shellies, and most of those are colorful. In the case of snap beans, though, I prefer the beans with darker colors (such as black-seeded Emerite, and brown-seeded Fortex) because they tend to have better cool-soil germination. I still enjoy the white-seeded Ferry-Morse Pole 191, but it too has temperamental germination in cool wet soil.

@flowerbug , you have beans only flowering now? That is really cutting it close, if you hope to get dry seed. My observation (strictly unofficial) is that beans need to flower by about August 1st, if I expect to get dry seed. It is still possible after that, but becomes increasingly dependent upon better than normal Fall weather... which we have been blessed with in recent years, such as last year.

i haven't noticed any distinction in germination rates yet, but i've only just begun to keep records of each seed planted and how they turn out, what i needed to replant and such. i also don't grow that many purely white seeded beans, the wax beans are soldier type markings, some yellow eye and a few selections of those and a few others that have spots or eyes, but for the most part all the rest of my beans are not white. probably because most of my life almost all of the dry beans we ate were white types (either navy pea beans or great northern beans). once i was introduced to pinto beans and other beans i hardly ever ate any white beans again. a few times a year perhaps in the split pea/bean soup with ham, etc. now that i cook most of my beans here in plain water it is mainly the lima beans that are white the rest vary. oh, yes, i also grow greasy beans or some cornfield beans which are also white but i don't grow much of them any more or very often because they are climbers and longer season beans which don't do as well here often enough. and i've just discontinued my green beans that are a white seeded bean, but they produce so few seeds it's been a challenge to even grow them.

i guess i'm not geared much for growing many all white seeded beans.



how do tarbais compare to great northern beans?


i've not been able to check all plants as to when their first flowers showed up but yes, i do have some that are now just starting to put out flowers and getting pods. i've not even been able to look at them this past week at all to see how they are doing. i hope i can get outside tomorrow to check things out and start picking what is ready before any more rains come. i hope. i hope. i hope.

we can get first hard frosts in 3wks or so, but a longer season is possible into October sometimes. but my preference is to keep aiming for early season beans as much as i can. which is why when a new cross shows up i'm always hoping it's an early one.

i do have some plants which can easily put on pods and seeds in three weeks from flower to seed developed enough to be dried. 70-75 days is probably the fastest bean i have from seed to seed (first fairly well dried pods, but not all pods on the plant yet dried). i'll know better tomorrow if i can get out to peek around some more.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

While the white-seeded beans are fairly easy to sort, I find that they are often more prone to rot, especially under wet conditions. I've had very poor germination with some white-seeded beans, and one of my few complete failures. There are exceptions... Tarbais seems to be inclined to produce especially good seed with few defects.

Well, that's sort of inevitable as well, a lot of of those same compounds that make the beans more toxic for us work as fungicides and antibacterials as well.

For some beans (like cow peas) the white skin can also be thinner than the colored ones, and therefore more vulnerable.

 

[flowerbug]

Well, that's sort of inevitable as well, a lot of of those same compounds that make the beans more toxic for us work as fungicides and antibacterials as well.

For some beans (like cow peas) the white skin can also be thinner than the colored ones, and therefore more vulnerable.

those are good points.

the rains tonight are going to play some havoc, i fear...

 

[Beanfan]

I use lava rock in my planting trenches to deter voles digging into the area, they don't like the scratchy texture. I have also tried sprinkling cayenne pepper in the trench and on top of the soil and it seems to help some.

 

[thejenx]

This is such a strange year for me. I've got dry seed from all bush beans, some some still going others are completely finished. But the pole beans have been really struggling, completely stunted in their growth from the drought but I'm guessing mostly from the heat. I sowed all my beans late may and had poor germination rates in most of them. We had a 3 month drought, but once a week I watered them, however in the past weeks we finally had some rain. This weekend I spotted plants that were just coming up around 4 inches high! Those beanseeds were just waiting for better conditions! I don't expect any dry seed from them, but hopefully I can eat the snap beans.

I've got pole beans that are now finally setting pods, but my Penland family has still not produced a single flower. I can only hope it will give a few seeds for next year...

 

[flowerbug]

@thejenx every season can be so different from the last... Mother Nature doesn't want us to fall asleep at the switch or something.

 

[Beanfan]

I'm growing a couple of new to me white seeded beans for the Network collection, Starlite and White-Seeded Kentucky Wonder. After reading this thread, I feel like they were poor choices. But maybe they are more tender. But this has been the worst year ever for deer, rabbit, and vole attacks on the beans, the deer got in to the side with the Network beans 4 times! They mainly eat the leaves and leave the stems, so if the bean has managed to get above their heads the deer only give the lower leaves a trim. But I was only sent 5 Starlite beans to grow, and I took care to grow them under lights to ensure they would be able to germinate, and only 1 grew. That plant was one hit by the first deer invasion, and was 10" tall after. It managed to bloom and set one pod with 5 bumps. Then it was hit by deer again so that is how it still is, I don't know that there is hope for any more flowers or pods. If the one pod dries its 5 seeds, I may keep them for next year and see if I can get the 60 seeds to send Russ then. WSKW is doing better but not setting many pods yet. The best performer so far of my Network beans is Sarconi 1?, quite a few nice pods, I can't decide if I should pick any to try them green or just let them all go to seed, especially since they are a dry bean, though I eat the green pods of a lot of my dry beans.