2019 Little Easy Bean Network - Come And Reawaken The Thrill Of Discovery

[Blue-Jay]

One outcross from last year is giving a lot of fun for the future! The plants didn't do very well, so I got only one pod per plant, but every pod gives another seedcoat! Eye candy! I like the speckled grey and the speckled grey with white the best.

Wow ! How incredibly beautiful. What neat shades of blue or bluish purple, and purple. There seems to be no end to the wonder of beans. This will be really fun to follow your results in the future.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Update

Ice Cream Sandwich bean vines climbing all over everything, but STILL no flowers!

BTW I may have worked out a bit about the oragin of this bean. I did a little looking around at Joe Simcox's website and found a picture that seems to show these beans. There was no specific captions but based on the pictures before and after it (and assuming the pictures are in order on the site) It looks like Joe got the seeds somewhere in the vicinity of Vilcambamba, Ecuaudor. That's at the very south of the country, so theoretically the problem could be it's used to a tropical climate and a season that is basically a full year or nearly that in duration. If that's the case it may not work for ANYONE in this country.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Update

Ice Cream Sandwich bean vines climbing all over everything, but STILL no flowers!

BTW I may have worked out a bit about the oragin of this bean. I did a little looking around at Joe Simcox's website and found a picture that seems to show these beans. There was no specific captions but based on the pictures before and after it (and assuming the pictures are in order on the site) It looks like Joe got the seeds somewhere in the vicinity of Vilcambamba, Ecuaudor. That's at the very south of the country, so theoretically the problem could be it's used to a tropical climate and a season that is basically a full year or nearly that in duration. If that's the case it may not work for ANYONE in this country.

So probably what the problem is with no blossoms right now on Ice Cream Sandwich is that it's daylight sensitive. It's used to the 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night near the equator. Will probably start blooming about the third week of this month when we get just about on top of the autumnal equinox.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

So probably what the problem is with no blossoms right now on Ice Cream Sandwich is that it's daylight sensitive. It's used to the 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night near the equator. Will probably start blooming about the third week of this month when we get just about on top of the autumnal equinox.

All well and good, but since it is usually about a month from first bud to mature seed, that doesn't leave much time before the frosts. I know we are supposed to get them late, but it will be cutting it close.

 

[Raiquee]

Just popping in to say pale grey lavender did decent for me. Got your seeds for that Russ. I know Mona Lisa and kutsai princess might not get beans from. They gave me trouble from the start. :/ we will see...

 

[Blue-Jay]

Just popping in to say pale grey lavender did decent for me. Got your seeds for that Russ. I know Mona Lisa and kutsai princess might not get beans from. They gave me trouble from the start. :/ we will see...

Are those seeds dry enough to enclose in baggies or jars without molding? The reason I ask is that I am usually drying seed until about the beginning of November to make sure that it's dry enough to store in a freezer without destroying it. Perhaps I'm too conservative. I always feel that if I destroy the seed that is the entire season gone down the tubes.

 

[Raiquee]

Are those seeds dry enough to enclose in baggies or jars without molding? The reason I ask is that I am usually drying seed until about the beginning of November to make sure that it's dry enough to store in a freezer without destroying it. Perhaps I'm too conservative. I always feel that if I destroy the seed that is the entire season gone down the tubes.

I generally lay them out on a paper plate for a good while before putting them in baggies. Not until November though and I’ve never had issues with germination. However, I don’t freeze seeds currently. They will sit out to dry awhile longer- only in the bag now because I sit and Shell a lot at a time with little ones

The pale grey lavender however was an interesting bean plant for me. It came, set a bunch of pods and died back super quick. I picked dried pods off of it weeks ago and just now got to shelling them. No other of my beans are at that point yet.

I’m going to replant the trellis with more, cause what the heck let’s see if I can sneak in another crop

 

[reedy]

My network beans have been setting around unsealed for a couple weeks or more and before that another couple weeks in paper bags in front of a fan. I don't like to actually seal the bags till ready to send cause I think the less the zip lock bags are opened and closed, the better. I'll be sealing them up and shipping them off pretty soon.

There is only about 30 seeds of the Mangetout Pleine Le Panier but there aren't going to be any more. The vines did better that any others except Wide pod Withe Greasy but they just didn't bloom. There are still two pods on the plants, one that feels like it might have two seeds and the other feels empty.

Veense did just ok, seeds in the pack represent most of the crop. Chocolate is interesting, lots of variation in seed coat but I don't think it is from crossing, just variation in the variety.

Piatella was very productive even though the vines looked awful most of the time. Nez Perce and Karachaganack also produced pretty much just what you see in the packs and both died out pretty soon in the hot dry weather. *Only one plant of the Karachaganack climbed, the rest were tall bushy plants that leaned against the trellis but didn't grab on to it. I had them separated but they accidentally got mixed back up.

Kilham Goose also died off early and was never healthy even before that but it produced pretty good despite that. They are hard to spot in the picture but there some off types in them. Witsa was very productive. Wide Pod White Greasy held up to the weather best of all and still has lots of pods ranging from fully dry to newly set. It is a great green bean but only if picked when small or it gets fibrous. Seems an inefficient use of space to grow something that has to be harvested at an immature state but they sure are good picked at about 3 inches long, On the other hand there are few rivals in flavor.

I'm pretty pleased over all and will be adding them all to my dry bean mix. I'll also keep Wide Pod white Greasy as a pure strain. Unfortunately my bonus beans were in the back garden that got attacked so bad by the deer. Sill I got some seed from back there and I suspect some are in it. I just don't know which and I didn't get to test any for use as green beans.

 

[flowerbug]

...
Unfortunately my bonus beans were in the back garden that got attacked so bad by the deer. Sill I got some seed from back there and I suspect some are in it. I just don't know which and I didn't get to test any for use as green beans.

it can take some time to properly evaluate a new variety. i keep hoping to get enough to check for dry bean use but some of them don't give me enough to cook up a whole batch at once, so last winter i trialed a bunch of them by cooking up just a few of some of them and tasting them as they got done enough.

i'm pretty sure this year i'll have enough Purple Dove beans to cook up some dry beans but since i'm going to try to give a lot of them away it will be only a small amount.

i still haven't cooked up any Dappled Grey yet. i hope to have enough of those this season. they're looking ok.

 

[Blue-Jay]

My network beans have been setting around unsealed for a couple weeks or more and before that another couple weeks in paper bags in front of a fan. I don't like to actually seal the bags till ready to send cause I think the less the zip lock bags are opened and closed, the better. I'll be sealing them up and shipping them off pretty soon.

The network beans look like they did very well for you overall. The seed looks really very nice. I think that is about the best looking Kilham Goose seed I've seen grown. It hasn't done the best for me and last year a bean growing farmer in Idaho tried it and was not crazy about it either. Must like your climate or soil or maybe both.