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

[Blue-Jay]

@saritabee, just what PhilaGardener said. Spread them out on something. Too many beans piled too deeply won't allow the ones in the middle to get enough air to dry out. Your beans are like in a minature version of a grain bin. Grain bins where farmers store corn and soybeans have a system of forcing air through the grain. I would spread your seeds out on something.

 

[flowerbug]

Nice looking bean. I take it that is your outcross. Slightly looks to me like a butterscotch colored "Goats Eye".

the camera picture is a bit darker than i'd like, i did white balance the picture but it still didn't bring out the more yellow color. they are a bit brighter yellow than butterscotch. i expect they will age towards golden brown or brown similar to how the Molasses Face beans age. still think they're purty.

they are also fairly large for the Goat's Eye beans i've been growing (the black mark on the board is 1cm).

 

[Blue-Jay]

Russ's Bean Show Day #17​

''LONG LAKE GIANT" - Bush Snap. Another of the Robert Lobitz original named beans. Released by Robert through the SSE yearbook in the early 2000's. I obtained this bean from Peace Seedlings in Corvallis, Oregon in 2015. Plants produce large 7 inch green pods that are said to be excellent flavor. Seeds are also fairly compared to most snap beans.

"Long Lake Giant" - Bush Snap

''MAGGIE'S CRESENT" - Bush Snap. Another Robert Lobitz original b bean that I purchased from Peace Seedlings, Corvallis, Oregon in 2011. This summer was my third try and growing the bean. 2013 was my best grow out of this bean so far. I think I had only one plant grow this season. Will try again next year.

"Maggie's Cresent" - Bush Snap

"MARICO" - Semi Runner Dry. Originates in Marico county South Africa. I obtained this bean from Will Bonsall of Industry, Maine in March of 2012. That year was my best grow out of this bean so far. 2017 the bean threw off so many segregations I hardly got any seed that looked like Marico. Same again for this year. I will try again next year with this years seed in hopes that I'm slowly bleeding out all the genetic material that's caused all the off types. The off types weren't even interesting to look at. Lots of black seeded and dark mottled beans. The off types will become baked beans eventually.

"Marico" - Bush Dry.

"MENOMENEE" - Semi Runner Dry. One of my original named beans discovered when I was gardening in the small town of Capron, Illinois in 1980. I never kept a record of what the seed mother of this bean was. Smaller than a navy bean produced in a profusion of 4 inch pods. For some odd reason I named the bean after Menomenee, Wisconsin. There is nothing really special about this bean except I guess I have a personal attachement to it considering I discovered it as an outcross in my younger years when I started growing lots of beans. The bean also produced lots of off types in 2017 giving back only a sparse amount of these very small white beans. This years grow out was better and I'll probably try it again in 2019. I reacquired a sample of the bean from Seed Savers Exchange from my donations list in November 2011. The bean is in SSE's bean collections and has a SSE accession number.

"Menomenee" Semi Runner - Dry

#31 A-98D-1 - Bush. Another of Robert Lobitz's Legacy beans. This one has a seed coat that is similar to the semi runner "Osakis" and my original bean "Choctaw" or perhaps even more similar to another of my original beans the semi runner"Chicasaw". However this one is a true bush. A-98D-1 is Robert's code for his unnamed bean. To be grown again in 2019.

#31 A-98D-1 - Bush
​

 

[flowerbug]

@Bluejay77 i'm beginning to wonder if your soil conditions are giving you the results you are seeing with the Marico (similar to what is happening with the Money beans where you are getting a darker bean with less white right?)... the all dark beans that are mottled may just be how they'll grow in your soils, but if given to someone with poorer soils to grow they may end up being more white again.

just a hunch based upon the beginning of a pattern. will be curious to see if i'm right.

my package will not go out this week, but it is almost full. will send it next week for sure...

if you ever wonder what to do with off type beans, save some in a jar and when sending out packages send a handfull along as a genetic mixer bonus (instead of packing peanuts, have packing beans). just an idea. some people may really like having those to try out and see what happens. with all the beans you have those mixes would be real interesting.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Hi @flowerbug, I don't think it is soil conditions causing things to happen to Marico's seed coat. This is definitely the result of outcrossing. I'm getting the normal looking beans in the same soil that I'm getting the off types in. The first year I grew Marico not a single off type. I would bet that I had harvest F2 generation and when I planted those F2's last year. The off types came pouring out. I will probably clean them up in a few years. It will take time.

If anyone wants off types from me let me know and I'll save some and send them out. Otherwise the ones I'm not interested in will eventually become baked beans.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Russ's Bean Show Day #18​

"MINNESOTA 1940'S" - Semi Runner dry. Obtained this bean from Heritage Harvest Seeds in Canada in 2012 when they were still shipping seed across the Canadian/U.S. border. In 2017 I started getting lots of off type seeds from this bean as well. Will keep growing it out until I get the bean back on track. One can only guess how this bean got it's name. It's name has always suggested to me the place and the era when it was grown. Someone probably collected it from someone there then possibly named it that way. One can only guess I suppose. It produced wonderfully in 2012 when I got no off types. So I know what the bean is capable of. It reminds me a little of Brauner Bar the German bean with the brown eye patch. Sort of like having a brown and white Molasses Face bean.

"Minnesota 1940's - Semi Runner Dry

"#15 - SuxYeE/JACOB'S PRAIRIE" - Bush Dry. Another of the Robert Lobitz legacy beans. Roberts code was SuxYeE. I grew the bean last year for the first time and then again this year. The majority of the seed came back looking like last years seed two plants produced an off type seed coat. The first photo is Jacob's Prairie. The next two photos are it's 2018 off types. The white bean is just like the white off type it produced in 2017.

"Jacob's Prairie" - Bush Dry

"Jacob's Prairie 2018 Off Type Seed".

"Jacob's Prairie 2018 Off Type Seed"


"ILLINOIS SNAP" - Bush Green Snap. This is one of my original named snap beans that has bean around nearly 40 years. I had a fellow in the state of Washingtion try it out around 2015. He was a big "Jade" snap bean fan. He told me this bean had way more flavor than his more modern snap bean. The bean has large seeds for a snap bean and pretty good size pods. When cooked just until tender they have more body than a lot of green beans. A little more something between your teeth.

"Illinois Snap" - Bush

"MISSOURI BILL'S'' - Semi Runner dry. Obtained this bean from the Ozark Seed Bank in 2012. This bean has grown true to type ever since I got it. I had also gotten Corbett's Refugee from them and when I grew that one out it was just unrecognizable and threw off a plethora of off types. I have been having trouble getting good seed increases from Missouri bills in 2017 and this year. I think it's a combination of a bit of crowding and the soil they were planted in, and I really need to grow semi runners on some good support system like hog panels. Intersting thing I ran into an old SSE listing by Will Bonsall for Missouri Bill's that has all white seed.

"Missouri Bill's" - Semi runner dry.

"MOLASSES FACE" - Semi Runner Dry. My first encounter with this nice bean was John Withee's Wanigan catalog back in 1978. I got restarted with this bean from a lady in Quebec, Canada in 2012 who got this bean from Heritage Harvest Seeds. Growing under the same conditions as Missouri Bill's. Molasses Face out produced Bill's by about 20 times. Nice crop of beautiful seed in great condition from this bean. It's another New England old time favorite for soup and baked bean dishes.

"Molasses Face" - Semi Runner Dry.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Two more package seed returns came in yesterday. Only 20 more to go.

One of the growers is a bean farmer in Idaho and he sent me a couple of new seeds that we didn't have. At the end of my bean show I will post the new beans he sent.

Later today I'm going to my nieces in the Chicago suburbs for the Thanksgiving holiday. I'll be off here until Saturday. Just want to wish everyone a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.

 

[Lady0bug]

Gifted some black beans from an in-law in Michigan. They were unsure of variety, likely a standard black bean. Lovely to admire in the jars.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Gifted some black beans from an in-law in Michigan. They were unsure of variety, likely a standard black bean. Lovely to admire in the jars.
View attachment 29421 View attachment 29422

They remind me of Black Turtle but there are a lot of black bean out there.

 

[flowerbug]

They remind me of Black Turtle but there are a to of black bean out there.

agreed, it has the matte finish of turtle beans, but to be sure i would need to see a closer up picture with a measure of some kind.