2020 Little Easy Bean Network - An Exciting Adventure In Heirloom Beans !

[baymule]

@Zeedman I got the bean seeds today! I will have several varieties to try. I'm very happy to have the seed, Thank You!

@Bluejay77 I also got the seed you sent, today! How's that for timing? LOL I'm going to enjoy picking purple podded beans that I can actually find in the vines.

@flowerbug also sent me bean seeds, I am all fixed up for purple beans!

 

[Blue-Jay]

Russ's 2020 Bean Show - Day 24​

Rose Creek Beauty - Bush Snap. A Robert Lobitz original named bean that he release through the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook about 20 years ago. The seeds are just gorgeous when I get the bean to grow right. Another tough year for this beauty. Will try again next year. The seeds in the photo are my entire 2020 seed crop of this bean.

Sacre Bleu - Pole/Dry. Blossom Lavender. Highly productive. This bean originates with Lisa Bloodnick of Apalachin, New York. Originaly obtained from a friend. A German bean called Dwarf Blue which had inconsistent characteristics. Lisa spent a number of years of selection to stablize this bean and to weed out plants that did not grow and perform the same way. The result, is this gorgeous dark blue bean with plants that bear a profusion of beautifuly straight 5 inch pods. This bean will darken after harvest within about a month to almost a black blue.



Rose Creek Beauty.......................................................Sacre Bleu


Skunk - Pole Dry. Productive about 90 days to first dry 6 to 7 inch easy to shell pods. Pod walls become thin as the pods dry. Traditional Iroquois/Seneca variety.

Skunk River Trout 1 - A Robert Lobitz Legacy bean that I've worked with since 2015. The original seed that I received of this bean also said Contender x Trout and was the same color as the previous sample. However Robert had given both beans a slightly different number code. Robert's number code for this bean was 97D-00M-03A. I named the bean after the Skunk River in Minnesota.



Skunk.........................................................................Skunk River Trout 1


Skunk River Trout 2 - A Robert Lobitz Legacy bean that I've worked with since 2015. This bean has grown true to type for the last several times except for this year when the bean produced two off types shown in Photos 2 and 3. The Original seed I had received said Contender X Trout. Robert's number code for this bean was 01 - 03A. I named the bean after the Skunk River in Minnesota. Because of the Identical appearance of the seeds and plants growth I also named this bean Skunk River Trout but for the time being grow both samples seperately.




Skunk River Trout 2....................................................Skunk River Trout 2 Off Type




Skunk River Trout 2 Off Type

 

[flowerbug]

@Zeedman I got the bean seeds today! I will have several varieties to try. I'm very happy to have the seed, Thank You!

@Bluejay77 I also got the seed you sent, today! How's that for timing? LOL I'm going to enjoy picking purple podded beans that I can actually find in the vines.

@flowerbug also sent me bean seeds, I am all fixed up for purple beans!

i'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with those! i'm excited waiting for spring and planting season as usual. will be fun to hear of your adventures in purple podded beanland.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Russ's 2020 Bean Show - Day 25​

Slovenia III - Pole Dry. Purchased this bean from DeaFlora in Germany n 2013. Nicely productive. I hadn't grown it since then. Didn't get as much of this seed as I wanted so 2021 will be another grow out of this one. Seed Savers Exchange got some seed of this bean from me a few years ago and planted it in their display garden in front of their visitors center. The beans were blooming and full of pods by the time of their third week in July conference/campout in Decorah, Iowa.

San Antonio - Pole Snap. This bean exibited a lot of water stress this summer. The seed is not totally filled out and I would not be able to stand so many of them up on their bottoms so you could seed so many of the eyes of the beans. Beans bottom should be very rounded and fall over. The trouble apparently was a lack of enough water to completely form it's seed correctly. I ran my soaker hoses plenty but I guess it wasn't enough for this bean. Got this from Annette Barley, Nanaimo, B.C. Canada. The seed arrived in my mailbox on November 26, 2012. They need a good grow out again probably in 2021.


Slovenia III....................................................................San Antonio

Sebastian - Bush Dry. The bean comes out of one of the outcrossed beans that was sent to me by Will Bonsall in 2015. The bean seems nearly stable but seems to have thrown off another shade of color this year (second photo). Sebastian was named after one of the streets in the subdivision where I live. Sebastian has a semi runner counter part with the exact same seed coat that I named Sebrina.


Sebastian................................................................Sebastian New Color 2020

Shantyboat - Pole Lima - Very productve lima. Produces loads of beans. Has a history of being widely grown in the Ohio river valley during the depression.


Soldier - Bush Dry. I've known this bean as Soldier perhaps should be called Pink Soldier. Bought if from someone on Ebay in 2011. I've grown this one six times since then. Always does well each season.



Shantyboat...................................................................Soldier

 

[flowerbug]

@Bluejay77 how many times havey you grown Shantyboat? does it finish in time where you are at? are the pods liable to shatter or open up when they get dry?

Ohio river valley is a bit longer season than we have here.

i'm not sure i actually want to try any more pole lima beans, but i may keep this one in mind if it might actually work out.

 

[Zeedman]

i'm not sure i actually want to try any more pole lima beans, but i may keep this one in mind if it might actually work out.

Have you ever tried Sieva (a.k.a. Carolina)? It has a short DTM, and is the only pole lima that is reliable here direct-seeded. Small white seeds, a high yield (potentially very high), and tolerates cool weather. If I were growing limas for subsistence, Sieva would be my first choice. I'd be happy to send you some if you want to try it.

 

[flowerbug]

Have you ever tried Sieva (a.k.a. Carolina)? It has a short DTM, and is the only pole lima that is reliable here direct-seeded. Small white seeds, a high yield (potentially very high), and tolerates cool weather. If I were growing limas for subsistence, Sieva would be my first choice. I'd be happy to send you some if you want to try it.

yes, you actually gave me some of those this past spring to try out and they didn't finish in time for me here when direct seeded. the hopi lima beans didn't really finish well either (they were hollow aka didn't finish developing well enough).

we had a bit of an earlier surprise frost than we've had before but that was mid-September and that is about when i need most things to be fairly well done or i may not get much from them.

note, i don't know if this is a problem due to soils/location or the length of the season but since we get a good crop from the bush lima beans i'm not too worried about this. just being curious.

 

[Zeedman]

It doesn't surprise me that the Hopi lima didn't mature... although their DTM has been shortening with each generation, it is still a fairly long-season lima. The first time I grew it only a hand full of pods close to the ground dried before frost. I always start them as transplants now.

I really thought Sieva would work for you though, since I successfully direct-seeded it 3 years in a row when I first started growing it. Your early frost might have been a factor, since production is generally heaviest in late September. I suspect that although your winters are a little warmer than mine, you don't get as much heat in late Summer.

I'm glad that your bush limas did well. Of course, it's not as if you would've suffered a lack of beans, had all of the limas failed.

 

[flowerbug]

It doesn't surprise me that the Hopi lima didn't mature... although their DTM has been shortening with each generation, it is still a fairly long-season lima. The first time I grew it only a hand full of pods close to the ground dried before frost. I always start them as transplants now.

I really thought Sieva would work for you though, since I successfully direct-seeded it 3 years in a row when I first started growing it. Your early frost might have been a factor, since production is generally heaviest in late September. I suspect that although your winters are a little warmer than mine, you don't get as much heat in late Summer.

I'm glad that your bush limas did well. Of course, it's not as if you would've suffered a lack of beans, had all of the limas failed.

almost all the lima pole crop this season was frozen and fermented in the pods as it was developing. i did harvest some seeds anyways but i have no idea if they'll be viable when planted. many of them seemed too light and are probably hollow and i don't know if those will actually sprout or not. there's a good chance i may just cook up most of them anyways.

we ate a lot of lima beans this summer from the bush lima beans. i planted a few hundred plants. i have several pounds of dried lima beans for storage plus some shelly lima beans that were cooked and put in the freezer to be used in vegetable soups. all of them are so good we rarely have enough lima beans to last us until the next season.

i'm trying to get my bulk beans put away this week so i can get back to other bean sorting tasks i need to get done before the end of the year. with all the other stuff going on here lately i'm not getting as much done as i'd like but after the holidays things should calm down some more. we're doing a lot of baking this week so i have sous chef duties and other things (like finishing the dusting of the floor in here). making progress by bits and pieces.

p.s. if you do the soybean growout offer again this coming spring i will likely be willing to try to do a few of those for you.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 how many times havey you grown Shantyboat? does it finish in time where you are at? are the pods liable to shatter or open up when they get dry?

Ohio river valley is a bit longer season than we have here.

i'm not sure i actually want to try any more pole lima beans, but i may keep this one in mind if it might actually work out.

@flowerbug
I have grown Shantyboat twice. The bean has finished ahead of frost both times. Frost here is about from October 5 to the 15th.