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

[aftermidnight]

Don't laugh guys but I put a splint on one of mine. I only had 3 seeds of this one and somehow one vine was almost broken though. Made a splint out pieces of wooden skewers and masking tape, what ever works

 

[Ridgerunner]

Actually Annette I understand. When they are precious you take extra steps and when they are rare they are precious. Those vines can be pretty brittle. I've had some break when a rabbit was running though the bean row.

 

[flowerbug]

Don't laugh guys but I put a splint on one of mine. I only had 3 seeds of this one and somehow one vine was almost broken though. Made a splint out pieces of wooden skewers and masking tape, what ever works

why would i laugh? i've propped up chewed through pepper plants hanging on by the merest wisp of skin and somehow it managed to heal up and keep growing. i was surprised as i sure didn't expect it to make it.

i've not yet done that for any bean plants but a few have been broken off and damaged and instead of giving up on them i just left them as they fell because i had no idea that splinting them would have actually helped. since they did heal up eventually i can try splinting and propping next time. just that they weren't particularly rare seeds/plants so i didn't feel like i wanted to spend the time there...

 

[NancyJ10x]

We have had rain for 5 days straight and are supposed to get more. I have been trying to pick beans pods between rains and dry them inside but many of the seeds are already starting to germinate. Is there any way to save these seeds? Is it possible to refrigerate the seeds that are sprouting so they can be planted next spring? I don't care about some of the beans but I do have some kinds that don't have a lot of plants so the seeds are more important to me.

 

[Zeedman]

Don't laugh guys but I put a splint on one of mine. I only had 3 seeds of this one and somehow one vine was almost broken though. Made a splint out pieces of wooden skewers and masking tape, what ever works

Been there, done that, so I won't laugh if you don't. In 2008, I planted seedlings of Bosnian Pole in several large pots. I only had a few irreplaceable seeds from a swap to start with (which was the reason I started then indoors) and I think I ended up with 5 transplants. Squirrels promptly dug them all up; by the time I found them, all but one were dead. I replanted the lone, bent survivor, propped it up & tied it to a forked stick to give the stem a chance to heal, and surrounded it with hardware cloth to prevent further damage. That plant recovered completely, took over its trellis, and produced enough seed to do a larger seed increase the following year. I returned part of that seed to the source, who had lost all of theirs... and who sometimes sells it online. Much (or all?) of the Bosnian Pole seed traded since can be traced back to that one plant. For rare seeds, every plant saved could potentially be the last one, and worth every bit of TLC.

 

[flowerbug]

We have had rain for 5 days straight and are supposed to get more. I have been trying to pick beans pods between rains and dry them inside but many of the seeds are already starting to germinate. Is there any way to save these seeds? Is it possible to refrigerate the seeds that are sprouting so they can be planted next spring? I don't care about some of the beans but I do have some kinds that don't have a lot of plants so the seeds are more important to me.

if you have some pots and a sunny window inside you may be able to rescue them that ways. as i don't know your location, garden layout or perhaps you have a fully heated sunroom or greenhouse...

best use of them if they are shelly type beans is to cook 'em up and eat them (if they're clean and not spoiling). i don't think you'd be able to hold them in that state in cool storage, they'll want to grow and if they can't do that eventually i think they'd rot.

i know how it can go with the sprouting in the pods. the other day i was shelling some beans out and the pod was still sealed up but it was sprouting seeds in there anyways. i have no idea how it would do that if the water from the rains can't get in but it was.

yesterday i finished up all my shelling of pods that were ready including the large brown paper bag of lima beans. that means the next two and a half days of non-rainy weather i'll be out picking through all the bean gardens to get all of them in that are ready to start the drying shelling cycle all over again. perhaps a few of them that haven't been ready yet up until now have some beans on them and i can sample or check them out.

 

[aftermidnight]

Been there, done that, so I won't laugh if you don't. In 2008, I planted seedlings of Bosnian Pole in several large pots. I only had a few irreplaceable seeds from a swap to start with (which was the reason I started then indoors) and I think I ended up with 5 transplants. Squirrels promptly dug them all up; by the time I found them, all but one were dead. I replanted the lone, bent survivor, propped it up & tied it to a forked stick to give the stem a chance to heal, and surrounded it with hardware cloth to prevent further damage. That plant recovered completely, took over its trellis, and produced enough seed to do a larger seed increase the following year. I returned part of that seed to the source, who had lost all of theirs... and who sometimes sells it online. Much (or all?) of the Bosnian Pole seed traded since can be traced back to that one plant. For rare seeds, every plant saved could potentially be the last one, and worth every bit of TLC.

....and from that one seed it is now grown by many in Canada, I believe it made it's way to Israel and at least several have it in the UK . That Bosnian sure gets around .

I have been given scarce seed and have sent seed back to my original source when they lost theirs. The latest is Piekny Jas, after much searching a source was found. A packet was sent to Texas from Eastern Europe and divided between 4 of us. Two in Texas, one in Ohio and me in Canada. Of my 8 seeds I sent 5 to the gal in the UK that I actually started the search for, kept 3 form myself. the ones sent to Ohio got lost in the mail, of the 2 that have them in Texas, one lost theirs due to extreme heat, the last I heard the other in Texas was growing but not producing. The last I heard of the 5 I sent to the UK 4 were growing well in a protected spot.

My first harvest of dried seed from my 3 vines was divided up and sent back to those in the states who either didn't get them, they died or hadn't produced so far. The first batch of collected seed, the seed coats were a little pebbley to the touch, perhaps from the heat wave that descended on us. The second batch was picked and shelled yesterday, all seed in perfect shape but vary in size according to how many seeds in a pod. The pods that only had one or two seeds in them were the biggest very much the size of Gigandes, the smallest were from pods that had 4 seeds in them, I only had one pod with 5 seeds.
@Zeedman do you want biggies or a mixed bag, they will probably go out on Monday.

This is why it's so important to get scarce and rare seed into as many hands as you can to lessen the chance of them getting lost forever.

Annette

 

[Beanfan]

Wow, I'm glad you managed to save Bosnian pole. I grew it the first time last year and thought it was an amazing bean, plus I love shelling them, the pattern on the seeds is so fascinating.

 

[Beanfan]

This is the best (earliest) of my 4 Network beans I am growing, Sarconi 1. I started them in pots and they were 3' high in the garden when my own collection of beans sown in the ground were still 6-9" tall. I got the first pod set off of them and now the first dried down pods. I like the pattern and size of the beans. Thanks, Russ! I won't have any trouble getting the 60 beans from this one.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Speaking of Bosnian Pole I'm growing it this year. Last time I grew it was 2013. I checked on it today for dry pods, and noticed a deer had eaten all the top leaves off nearly half way down my pole support. Most of the pods are nearer to the ground. That deer didn't touch a single other pole bean. I hope he or she won't be back.