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

[Ridgerunner]

It had some new stems starting from lower leaves joints so I cut the top of it off and now it doesn't look too bad, a little bushy for a pole bean but starting to climb again. Will see how it turns out.

I had a rabbit nip the tip off of a semi-runner last year in Arkansas. It had a couple of side shoots below that nip that produced fairly well. I do think it hurt production quite a bit but it dod not seem to delay production. That was a Miss T which is normally a pole bean but it is still segregating. Hopefully I can plant some of those next season to see how they turn out.

I had a cutworm cut off a Raspberry Ripple last year, again right above a couple of side shoots. That cutworm and I had a nice round table luncheon conversation with my chickens. The chickens found that conversation stimulating. That was a pole bean. It took forever for those two side shoots to grow but finally they did, but not nearly as vigorously as they normally do. From where it was situated I think the late start caused it to be shaded a lot more than it liked. It finally produced but it was way later than it should have been. That was one of the first ones planted but I only got a few dried beans before frost forecast. I cut off the top and took it inside to finish drying before I harvested the last several.

I think the shade had a lot to do with that last one, but with both I got limited production. Still you just need a few seeds to renew that bean. Good luck with it.

 

[Michael Lusk]

I have a question and an update on my network beans.

@Bluejay77 or any of the more experienced: Since the main purpose of growing these beans is for seed, should I harvest at all or should I just let them grow out and then dry? I know that with my 'regular' beans, I usually harvest for a while and it seems to promote more growth and then leave enough for seed on the plant towards the end of summer...just curious how you guys handle w/ the special crops.

As for the beans:

Pink Tip (5/11) - Extremely vigorous, has grown to the top of 8' pole. The plant is growing tight to the pole. Has just started to set flowers. In the first photo, they are the one on the left.

Kutasi Princess (5/11) - The plants look really healthy but are definitely growing more like a bush bean. I've been trying to train them up the pole but they seem to want to spread out down below. In the first photo, they are the one on the right.

Grandma Rivera's (5/11) - Has grown to the top of an 8' pole, no flowers yet. This one has needed a little help vining up, it seems to want to spread out but took to the pole with assistance. In the second photo, they are the one on the left.

Gabarone Sugar (5/11) - Same as the Kutasi Princess, these plants aren't really wanting to climb. The good news is they look healthy, have tons of flowers and even a couple of beans. In the second photo, they are the one on the right.

Joyce Fetterly's Red & White (5/27) - Destroyed by rabbits. There's one tiny nub of plant with leaves that I'm hoping for a comeback - I also planted one last seed this week that I had held on to. Odds are against this one.

Cape Sugar 2 (5/27) - These are growing reasonably well though I did lose a few to my rabbit invasion. They haven't put on flowers yet but since they were a later planting I think that's normal.

 

[Ridgerunner]

On my network beans I generally let them all go to seed and harvest dried beans. I grow special beans (bush and pole) for green beans so I have no need to eat the network beans fresh or to can them.

When I am growing the "unknown" network beans, the ones that are outcrosses, I will cook one or two to see how they do as a snap or green bean if it looks like production will be good. Some are so fibrous they are inedible, some make great snap beans. I only eat them if production looks good though and that's just for my curiosity.

When I grew the Kutasi Princess in 2016 the plants were pole beans. Some topped out on my 12 feet high trellis. I grew both Malawi Pinto and Kutasi Princess on this trellis but I can't remember which was left or right in this photo. I'm pretty sure Kutasi was to the right where there were some shorter vines but some of those over 12' were Kutasi also. As you can see, some were more vigorous than others but this is a great bed for beans, I always got good growth here. I also grew some in another location. I'd still classify then as pole beans there but they probably topped out at eight to ten feet there. It will be interesting to see how yours turn out. They were prolific, good productivity and easy to hull.

 

[Michael Lusk]

@Ridgerunner, I like the idea of testing out a few beans for taste etc. and will do that as they mature. If I get a good enough harvest to return the seed and have some left, I'll have a better idea of which ones to grow for fresh, dry etc. in the years ahead. Thanks for the advice!

 

[flowerbug]

@Michael Lusk , same for me like @Ridgerunner says, leave them as they are and sample just a few to see how they are for various uses. until i know i have enough seeds. last year's trials made it clear to me that i can't even count on appearances sometimes (it may look like a full pod, but may have poorly developed beans in there if the weather/conditions/plants have other ideas about what should be going on).

i usually grow enough wax/green beans for all of our fresh eating. in year's past i have made bean salad (to put up) from a wide range of sampled beans. some varieties work out all ways (fresh, shellies, dry) - i think that's one reason why we like the lima beans so much.

when looking at the lima beans today i was thinking they were going to be semi-runners instead of bush beans, but i think that is just the stage of growth they're at where they're just starting to send up the first long flower stalks.

nothing i have growing here is taller than a few feet yet and some are just figuring out where their supports are at and beginning to climb.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Michael Lusk, The way I harvest seed beans is I pick the dry ones each time I find one that is quite dry and continue drying more undercover of my garage. Sometimes if you have lots of dry pods on the vine and you get days and days of rain it can quickly ruin your dry seed. You don't want to harvest pods green as the seed might not be very mature yet.

 

[Blue-Jay]

This is a very strange bean growing year here. Tuesday night we got another 4.5 inches of rain. We've probably had over 22 inches since about the middle of May.

My pole beans planted at the former Harwood Nursery that were planted around the 28th of May are hardly even climbing yet. Some of the runners on the plants have even dried up and died. Below is what the pole beans look like today. Most of them should by now be halfway up the poles. These plants don't look much different than they did two weeks ago. I think mother nature has provided to much water for beans this year.

36 varieties of pole beans

About a 150 feet higher up this little rise in the land to the west of my pole beans the soil seems better drained and the semi runners planted there are looking really good.

32 Varieties of Semi Runner beans.

 

[Michael Lusk]

@Michael Lusk, The way I harvest seed beans is I pick the dry ones each time I find one that is quite dry and continue drying more undercover of my garage. Sometimes if you have lots of dry pods on the vine and you get days and days of rain it can quickly ruin your dry seed. You don't want to harvest pods green as the seed might not be very mature yet.

Thanks for the advice, I certainly appreciate it. You guys are all really knowledgeable and I find myself researching things based on the posts here. I've learned a lot this year. It's an educational experience!

 

[flowerbug]

when it comes down to it, i try to leave the beans on the plants as long as possible, but once the pods are full and the seeds are fully developed it doesn't make any difference where they finish other than it takes more efforts to pick and dry pods that aren't fully dry.

if you pick them too green and then layer them too thickly in your drying trays or whatever you use it can become a mold problem.

i get around this by using cardboard box tops, where i spread the beans out in a very thin layer so they get plenty of air, and then i will go out and check them and rotate them so they dry well before i shell them.

this means in the fall i can have stacks of box tops around drying. before i bring them in the house i leave them in the garage for a day or two to make sure any bugs have a chance to crawl away. once they're in the house they tend to be shelled as soon as they are firm enough to get them done without injury to the seed coat. sometimes i shell some earlier than they are fully dry, it's amazing how large some of those beans are at that stage and how much they can shrink and also change colors.

bean harvest time is like picking stones at the beach. i love the colors and tactile aspects. and when the fall weather is bad and i'm stuck inside it's good to have trays of beans ready to be shelled. if i see the forecast turning rainy i'll try to get out and pick anything that's remotely close to being ready. also before the hard frosts hit.

i also keep a label in each box top so i know where it came from.

 

[Zeedman]

when it comes down to it, i try to leave the beans on the plants as long as possible, but once the pods are full and the seeds are fully developed it doesn't make any difference where they finish other than it takes more efforts to pick and dry pods that aren't fully dry.

if you pick them too green and then layer them too thickly in your drying trays or whatever you use it can become a mold problem.

i get around this by using cardboard box tops, where i spread the beans out in a very thin layer so they get plenty of air, and then i will go out and check them and rotate them so they dry well before i shell them.

this means in the fall i can have stacks of box tops around drying. before i bring them in the house i leave them in the garage for a day or two to make sure any bugs have a chance to crawl away. once they're in the house they tend to be shelled as soon as they are firm enough to get them done without injury to the seed coat. sometimes i shell some earlier than they are fully dry, it's amazing how large some of those beans are at that stage and how much they can shrink and also change colors.

bean harvest time is like picking stones at the beach. i love the colors and tactile aspects. and when the fall weather is bad and i'm stuck inside it's good to have trays of beans ready to be shelled. if i see the forecast turning rainy i'll try to get out and pick anything that's remotely close to being ready. also before the hard frosts hit.

i also keep a label in each box top so i know where it came from.

@flowerbug I can picture you running outside, dodging raindrops to save any beans that might spoil... because I've been there, done that. In late Summer / early Fall, our living room is likely to be cluttered with trays of pods drying under the ceiling fan. DW & I love shelling beans by hand, especially in the Fall after the freeze has ended most gardening. After shelling, cleaning & sorting takes a few weeks longer... it helps to lessen the end-of-garden withdrawal.

I was fortunate to have found 2 sources of cafeteria trays; a second-hand cook's store, and a local nursing home (where DW worked) throwing out many of its old trays. About 200 trays total, in 2 sizes. I use the larger trays for drying pods (or larger amounts of seed), and the smaller trays for finished drying. The trays cross-stack (allowing air flow) and index cards follow the seeds at all stages, from harvest to storage. They remain stacked in an unused room until indoor humidity drops (usually around December), at which point the seeds are fully dry. Packing & storing officially ends the garden year.