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

[flowerbug]

sent some Purple Dove beans off to Dad today to see how they do in Southern FL. one of my step-sister's may also grow some of them so i sent him plenty, plus i've got more...

 

[Blue-Jay]

sent some Purple Dove beans off to Dad today to see how they do in Southern FL. one of my step-sister's may also grow some of them so i sent him plenty, plus i've got more...

How far south in Florida does your dad live. He might be able to plant them right away and have dry beans by February. You will have to give us a report on how those bean do there.

 

[heirloomgal]

Anyone ever grow/hear of a bean called 'Connecticut Wonder'?

 

[heirloomgal]

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.


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

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I think I might be able to grow this bean in 2022! A friend of mine in another province grew some out this year and I think she may offer it on her website! Fingers crossed! This bean is so beautiful. I think she actually grew out a few of your named beans.

 

[heirloomgal]

(Knocking on wood...)

I've only had weevils twice, and both times were incoming seed. One of those was from a large, well-known seed company (who I've had other issues with as well). The other was seed received from a swap, and by the time I checked on it, all beans had been destroyed. Fortunately I acquired more of the dead seed (which I still grow). When I grew out the surviving commercial seed, it was not even the right species, and I never grew it again.

Because I quarantine any new bean seeds in a sealed container, I catch any infestation before planting - it never gets into my garden, or my seed stock. I am just as careful with new garlic stock, ordering only from a few trusted sources to avoid the introduction of garlic bloat nematode.

Knock on wood, we don't have those here. One good thing about the part of the North I live in is there really is very little insect trouble or disease. I've had very little problems from those issues overall. Probably because we freeze so hard in winter (-40) many pathogens and insects can't make it through. I whine about those things occasionally because I'm very spoiled and if I lose a single plant - ever - I pout. Hearing about JB's and squash bugs was all new to me on here. My No. 1 enemy is late & early frosts.

 

[Zeedman]

The seed cleaning & sorting is winding down. Oddly enough, cowpeas & soybeans were really the stars this year; they mostly recovered from this summer's heavy rains, while most of the beans did not. These were this year's cowpeas:


"21 Peas". Possibly a.k.a. "Red Ripper"; long vines that I trained up a trellis. They were initially stunted by heavy rainfall in the rural garden, but recovered & still put out a decent yield - 2 pounds from 10 plants.


"MN 13". True bush habit, so rows can be spaced closely. These too were heavily stunted by summer rains, to the point where some plants died... but aside from a delayed DTM, the survivors recovered almost completely. They even produced a second pod set, which thanks to our warm October, ripened almost completely. 24' of row produced 2 pounds 9 ounces of seed, which given the conditions, was not bad.


This is the (as yet unnamed) black cowpea sent to me by @Bluejay77 . We thought it might be a purple-podded yardlong bean; but the immature pods are green, 10-11" long, and IMO poor quality as snaps. The pods turn purple as they ripen. The dry seed yield from 20' of row was phenomenal - 5 pounds, as heavy a yield as I would expect from pole beans! This is a great cowpea, and I hope to share it widely - but it needs a name. It could be "Black Crowder" , based upon the description... any word back from your source, @Bluejay77 ?

 

[Zeedman]

Cowpeas continued...


"Thailand Pole". More of a yardlong bean than a cowpea, with firm 11-12" pods of very high quality. The seeds too are more typical of a yardlong bean, although the seed color is unusual. A weaker climber than most yardlong beans though - much like the "Bert Goodwin" beans it shared the trellis with. We harvested 4-5 pickings of snaps, and the vines still produced 2 pounds of dry seed - which is better dry seed production than most yardlongs. The only drawback is a rather long DTM.


"White Cream Crowder". A new trial I was really looking forward to... and the most severely affected by the flooding rains. All but 2 plants died. Those 2 plants at least produced enough seed for another try.


"Black Seed Yardlong". A pole variety with the shortest DTM of any pole yardlong I've grown, and normally highly productive. Unfortunately, it too was severely stunted by the heavy rainfall, to the point where 1/3 of the plants died & the survivors reverted to half-runner habit. We only harvested a few snaps, and I was surprised to get even 9 ounces of dry seed. The membranes are VERY tough to remove from the seeds, even after repeated shaking & winnowing... so although I've cooked the seeds before, I would only do so again as a last resort.

 

[flowerbug]

How far south in Florida does your dad live. He might be able to plant them right away and have dry beans by February. You will have to give us a report on how those bean do there.

yes, these beans were for immediate planting. he is far enough south that they rarely get any frosts at all and my step-sister's place is even further south close to the Everglades.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Anyone ever grow/hear of a bean called 'Connecticut Wonder'?

Yes I have heard of Connecticut Wonder and had grown it once in the early 1980's. Seed Savers Exchange is offering the seed in their online and printed yearbook for 2022. If you don't obtian them from SSE I can do it and send them up to you.

This variety was originally developed circa 1919 by Reverend Frank Abbott (1887-1983) of Bolton, Connecticut. Rev Abbott later told his granddaughter Deborah that the beans were a ”gift from the bees” indicating that bees had cross pollinated bean plants in his garden. Rev. Abbott named the new variety 'Connecticut Wonder' and believed it was a cross between 'Kentucky Wax' and 'Cranberry Pole' beans. The exact year of this cross is unknown, but seeds were saved, grown, and soon became a family favorite. Rev. Abbott shared it with his granddaughter Deborah Abbott, who in turn shared this variety with bean collector John Withee in the mid-1970s. Seeds were donated to SSE in 1981 by John Withee of Lynnfield, Massachusetts and the Wanigan Associates.

 

[Blue-Jay]

This is the (as yet unnamed) black cowpea sent to me by @Bluejay77 . We thought it might be a purple-podded yardlong bean; but the immature pods are green, 10-11" long, and IMO poor quality as snaps. The pods turn purple as they ripen. The dry seed yield from 20' of row was phenomenal - 5 pounds, as heavy a yield as I would expect from pole beans! This is a great cowpea, and I hope to share it widely - but it needs a name. It could be "Black Crowder" , based upon the description... any word back from your source, @Bluejay77 ?

I can not find the person who sent me the cowpea. I was certian it was someone on Facebook. I never saved the envelope it came in. I believe I sent all the seeds to you as I had no interest in them. I put out a message weeks ago on Facebook asking who sent me cowpeas this year and no response. I do remember that the sender said in a note enclosed that they didn't know the name of the variety. No information as to where they got from either. I have asked a couple of my out of the country Network growers if they sent the cowpea, but no the didn't.

I think this is one you are going to have to name.