2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

[Ridgerunner]

Next up are the Karachaganaks. These came from the WB #39 packet so the parent bean was Norridgewock. My first grow out of this segregation produced an oval bean and a round bean. Everything else about the beans were the same, just different bean shapes. Others have grown them. I think they aee half-runners but Russ thinks they are semi-runners. We're still working on that.

@Bluejay77 Did you plant Karachaganak this year and what growth habit did you see?

When I grew the "round" version I got a runner and a bush version. When @Artorius grew it he also got a bush version. So this year I tried planting the oval (I called it long) version, the climbing round version, and the bush version. I'd grown the bush version in 2020 and it repeated quite nicely. But although I had 60 seeds I could not get the bush version to sprout and grow this year. I direct seeded them, tried to pre-sprout in a zip loc bag and damp paper towel. Even when I rinsed them in a mild bleach solution they either would not sprout or molded. So that line is lost.

When I planted the Karachaganak Round this year I got some repeats on what I still think of as half runners, but I also got a bush version so it hasn't stabilized in growth habit yet. The bush version was pretty dark, not quite the same color, but that might be due to growing conditions. The bean planted is in the middle.

The oval or "long" version pretty much returned what was planted, though poor quality.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll do the 27's next. These are from the WB #27 packet so the parent bean is Dove Kidney. I did not name some of the segregations I got from the #27's so they are still 27's.

One of the grandchildren of this bean was the 27-1 #2. I got two beans back, a dark version that looks like the bean I planted and a lighter version. These were among the most productive of any beans I planted this year, though the bean is small.

Another 27 grandbaby I planted was 27-3 #1. This gave me 3 segregations. A and B look a lot like the bean I planted but the B version is a bush. The A and C climb. C is a little lighter.

I'll include Raspberry Ripple 2 here as it is also a child of the WB #27's. I only had a few of these and had trouble getting these to grow. I wound up with only one plant that produced so I did not have and seeds to compare to what I planted. The bottom photo shows the patterned bean I planted while the one just below shows the solid bean I harvested.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Next up is Tartan Tan. These are from the WB #38 packet so the parent bean is Norridgewock. I've had a few segregations of Tartan but until this year they were always the same pattern just a different color. You can see the pattern I planted, I still don't know what to call that pattern. But as you can see when I planted it this year I got two different patterns. The pods had always been solid red. The plants with the "typical" pattern were still solid green but the plant that produced the new pattern had pretty dark purple stripes on them. The plants had different colored flowers too.

Something fun about the normal pattern is that when they are first harvested the beans are almost solid white, just a very few markings. But when they dry this pattern emerges.

Next up is Miss T Red #2, These are from the WB #32 packet so the parent bean is Terrier Kidney. These are interesting in that you can get a fair difference in patterns off of the same plant so I have to go by color when separating them. These are a fairly large bean but they are also prone to splitting when on the plant even in a fairly dry year. This year they were horrible for that. @heirloomgal and I discussed it a bit, that is caused by them trying to sprout in the pod, some beans are more prone to that. The root did not actually come out where I could see it but if I opened the bean I could see where it started. Kind of strange. This would have been pretty productive if I didn't have to toss so many. So three segregations here.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Next up is TTA 2A. The TT's are also from the WB #27 packet so the parent bean is Dove Kidney. The TT is a segregation, everything after that is a new segregation. Very unstable. It's not just the bean color/pattern. Different bean plants had different colored flowers. I knew this one was not stabilizing even before I saw the beans. You can see the bean I planted in the middle. The quality of the beans I harvested was not great, I think they would look better if growing conditions had been better

Then a sister, TTA 2B. Same story but with this one I got 6 segregations instead of only 5.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 Did you plant Karachaganak this year and what growth habit did you see?

My Karachaganack grow out was terrible. Most of them died and dried up even though I watered frequently. It was dry, dry, dry and very warm here this summer. The Karachaganack's that did survive made it to the top of a 4 foot tall hog panel. Seed I got was a handful and it was all shriveled and sunken in all the the surface of the few beans that I got. Will grow them out again next year

 

[Blue-Jay]

The TT is a segregation, everything after that is a new segregation. Very unstable. It's not just the bean color/pattern. Different bean plants had different colored flowers. I knew this one was not stabilizing even before I saw the beans.

If this segregation doesn't want to stablize you don't have to carry it through with more and more grow outs. You have gotten what looks like other successful possiblities out of that #27 packet.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I've had a few segregations of Tartan but until this year they were always the same pattern just a different color. You can see the pattern I planted, I still don't know what to call that pattern.

#1 pattern looks like a Snowcap or Mostoller Wild Goose pattern. #2 looks like a standard Cranberry or Horticultural pattern.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Now I leave the Will Bonsall out crosses and go onto a segregation I found in some Bluejay bush beans I was growing as my snap beans. The segregations I found were solid black. When I planted those I had three different segregations. Now they have had kids and grandkids.

I called one of the segregations Voodoo as it was black but with a purple base. When I planted VB 2B (as you can see a brown bean, the one sort of center top) I got four segregations.

I called this iteration VB 3 Bush as i thought it was a bush, but when I grew it this year I realized it was a semi-runner. That happens when I grow them in my late summer growing season down here. growth habit is not always clear. Anyway, this one pretty much repeated what was planted. This white bean has a slight greenish tint.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Next up is AH B1, again from one of the segregations from Bluejay. The original segregation was black but with a slight brown pattern in the background. No brown here. The bean I planted is in the middle. B and C look a lot alike, the only real difference is hat C is a climbing bean and the B is a bush bean. Not too surprising since the parent Bluejay was a bush.

And finally, the last one from the segregations from Bluejay for this show. This segregation was black, black as midnight. So I called it Midnight at the Oasis. Now the future working names will just based on Oasis. You may say that 1 and 2 look a lot alike. They do, but when fairly fresh 1 is a beetle green while 2 is just black. When dried there is a slight difference in appearance, 1 looks more metallic. You might way 3 and 4 look a lot alike. They do, but 3 is bush and 4 was a climber. Still lots of segregating going on.

That's it for this year. If you ignore Aksai and Cock 'n Bull, which I consider stabilized, I planted 13 segregations that grew and produced. I now have 37 new segregations to play with. Maybe 2 of those are showing signs they might stabilize. Now I get the fun of figuring out what to try next year. I haven't counted up how many segregations from other plantings other years I have also waiting their turn.

 

[flowerbug]

i finished shelling the last flat i had of mostly Purple Dove beans. i found no obvious crosses and only some beans that had some markings to continue to plant to see what they'll do. IMO a very stable bean.

and then i had a flat of Adzuki beans off to the side that i wasn't planning on doing this evening but it didn't take me too long to get through them, they're much easier than many other beans.

the seed sizes did not often approach the size of the larger commercial Adzuki beans i alternate planted with the smaller types but towards the end of the season i could tell in the plants that survived which were which. not much rot in the pods and that was good to see. very hard to see if it is there more than what i picked out. i'll have to go through it all again more carefully for the 2nd sort to check my work some day this week or so.

return was about 8 times what was planted (by weight) and for as little work that i put into those rows and how poor the soil was i'm pretty happy they did that well. they certainly did better in the sandier soil even if it was poor compared to where i planted them last year where they barely made it above 8 inch tall plants. in comparison the plants i had in some spaces in the two rows were about 20 inches tall and quite healthy right up until when i harvested the pods off them and buried the plants.