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

[heirloomgal]

Couple more new to me beans to try this year....

'Fagiolo Viola Di Assiago'

'Tigre'

'Cerna Tanenice' (duck beans, anyone?)

'Kaiser Fridrich'

'Buckskin Girl'

'Lavender Bush'

'African Cave'

 

[heirloomgal]

And a few more....

'Vaquero'

'Bamberger Blaue'

'Monstrance'

 

[heirloomgal]

'Zumbro Falls'

'Cerna Tanenice'

 

[heirloomgal]

@Artorius Have you ever dug up one of the tuber roots of the 'Piekny Jas' bean and overwintered it? I read that those root clumps can be stored over the winter and planted out in spring, and the bean plant will be an even quicker & better producer in year 2.

 

[Myrthryn]

@Artorius Have you ever dug up one of the tuber roots of the 'Piekny Jas' bean and overwintered it? I read that those root clumps can be stored over the winter and planted out in spring, and the bean plant will be an even quicker & better producer in year 2.

That would be amazing. I'm attempting doing the same with tobacco after discovering some was mulched enough to carry through the winter.

 

[Zeedman]

@Artorius Have you ever dug up one of the tuber roots of the 'Piekny Jas' bean and overwintered it? I read that those root clumps can be stored over the winter and planted out in spring, and the bean plant will be an even quicker & better producer in year 2.

Not as easy as it sounds. The roots may indeed winter over where the ground does not freeze; but they are not as substantial as bulbs, and delicate. I noticed that my Aeron Purple Star roots a couple years ago were noticeably large, so tried to lift & winter over some of them. Although the area below the stem was swollen, many of the larger roots were very fragile & broke off easily during extraction.

Despite my best efforts, those roots did not survive my long winters. In retrospect, had I planted them in pots mid-Winter, they might have survived... I may try that one of these years. The roots also might have better chances of survival where the ground is only frozen for a short period; but chances are that most of those areas would also be too hot to grow runner beans successfully.

 

[heirloomgal]

Not as easy as it sounds. The roots may indeed winter over where the ground does not freeze; but they are not as substantial as bulbs, and delicate. I noticed that my Aeron Purple Star roots a couple years ago were noticeably large, so tried to lift & winter over some of them. Although the area below the stem was swollen, many of the larger roots were very fragile & broke off easily during extraction.
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Despite my best efforts, those roots did not survive my long winters. In retrospect, had I planted them in pots mid-Winter, they might have survived... I may try that one of these years. The roots also might have better chances of survival where the ground is only frozen for a short period; but chances are that most of those areas would also be too hot to grow runner beans successfully.

Wow, that's pretty neat. So you've tried it. The tubers look pretty substantial in your photo. Did the ones that you did store, rot over the duration of winter in your house?

 

[heirloomgal]

That would be amazing. I'm attempting doing the same with tobacco after discovering some was mulched enough to carry through the winter.

I've managed it quite well with Marvel of Peru. And I totally neglected the roots once I put them in my basement, more like forgot about them I suppose, and they were just sitting in dry cardboard boxes on the floor. But when I planted them in spring, they grew back - fast - to be monster bushes. Ten times the size of the previous year.

 

[Zeedman]

Wow, that's pretty neat. So you've tried it. The tubers look pretty substantial in your photo. Did the ones that you did store, rot over the duration of winter in your house?

No sign of mold or rot; it looked like they just died. I stored them in one gallon zip lock freezer freezer bags, buried in moistened hamster bedding. The bags were placed in a plastic bucket, and kept over winter on the floor of my unheated (or poorly heated) basement. Although the ground was not frozen when I dug the roots, frost had already killed the vines. I don't know how the roots may have reacted, so it is possible that they may have already been dying when I dug them up.

The only place where I have heard of gardeners successfully over-wintering runner bean roots is the U.K..

 

[Artorius]

@Artorius Have you ever dug up one of the tuber roots of the 'Piekny Jas' bean and overwintered it? I read that those root clumps can be stored over the winter and planted out in spring, and the bean plant will be an even quicker & better producer in year 2.

I never did it because there was simply no need to.