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

[flowerbug]

My brother up in the UP told me he was expecting 25 degrees last night..and that halfway through mushroom season. Most of his "green" is inside though.

the UP is a whole different world from where i am located. it's a nice world, but planting is later than here by several weeks.

one very warm early June i thought i would go for a swim in the Portage Canal as it is not Lake Superior so i thought perhaps the water would be warmer. lol i was in and out in less than a minute.

from what i can tell looking at the dew on the ground this morning i don't think we did get frosted but i'm glad i put the buckets out anyways. in another hour i'll get out and remove those as it is warming up and not too breezy. it's all ok. i just checked and removed the buckets.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Another frost last night. This time a bit colder and a few young bean plants did take a hit. All in the same row on the lower end of the plot.

 

[heirloomgal]

@Bluejay77 Things have gone really well with the network beans thus far, germination has been pretty amazing. A small few haven't germinated quite as well as the rest, but even still I got at least three plants to make a go of it. I'm waiting on Sacre Bleu as the last one to give me enough plants and I think it will. I started all the poles in pots so that I can get a two week head start on the season too, which can make all the difference in the case of an early fall. Tomorrow I'm planting them in-ground, and I'll feel that much better putting out nicely growing plants as opposed to seeds. Funny coincidence, most of the packets had 12 to 13 seeds, and my planting locations for bush beans have mostly been in 6 ft wide raised beds; given a 6 inch spacing that is about the perfect number of seeds for that distance. I did keep aside 2 seeds per variety though - just in case

 

[Zeedman]

We escaped the frosts here, I think proximity to the Fox river lake system saved us. The only bean that was up is unscathed, as are the tomatoes & peppers that had been transplanted. Fortunately nothing had been planted in the rural garden, the property owner there reported frost.

All of the backup transplants for Vigna beans & miscellaneous legumes have been planted. I intend to start backups for all of the Phaseolus beans tomorrow. Most of the rural garden is dry enough to plant; if it stays that way (rain possible tomorrow) we will begin direct seeding beans, peas, and soybeans.

BTW the rescue soybeans continue to germinate, all but one should have an acceptable population. The last one (DV-2371) had only one seed out of 200 germinate. It does look strong though, and this is a tall variety with a high yield. Needless to say, that plant will get a lot of TLC, completely enclosed within chicken wire in case the squirrels should take an interest.

 

[Blue-Jay]

beans return seed too is frightfully looking and needs another very careful grow out.

@Bluejay77 Things have gone really well with the network beans thus far, germination has been pretty amazing. A small few haven't germinated quite as well as the rest, but even still I got at least three plants to make a go of it. I'm waiting on Sacre Bleu as the last one to give me enough plants and I think it will. I started all the poles in pots so that I can get a two week head start on the season too, which can make all the difference in the case of an early fall. Tomorrow I'm planting them in-ground, and I'll feel that much better putting out nicely growing plants as opposed to seeds. Funny coincidence, most of the packets had 12 to 13 seeds, and my planting locations for bush beans have mostly been in 6 ft wide raised beds; given a 6 inch spacing that is about the perfect number of seeds for that distance. I did keep aside 2 seeds per variety though - just in case

I had decided on about 12 to 15 seeds for packet sizes when I started LEBN. I know for bush beans that will produce anywhere from a half to almost a pound of seed for bush beans depending on variety. That is a pretty good harvest. I personally shoot for 8 plants for pole beans that also produces a good harvest. I break up all the 60 count returns into.......5-12's or 4-15's seed count packets depending on the number of packets already in frozen storage. Sometimes growers that have grown a small seeded bean might even return 100 to 150 beans and I sometimes break those up into 20 count packets for storage. I've had some growers who have had such good seed crops just take my return packet and stuff it to the top.

 

[flowerbug]

...
BTW the rescue soybeans continue to germinate, all but one should have an acceptable population. The last one (DV-2371) had only one seed out of 200 germinate. It does look strong though, and this is a tall variety with a high yield. Needless to say, that plant will get a lot of TLC, completely enclosed within chicken wire in case the squirrels should take an interest.

are soybeans really sensitive to cold? like below 45-50F? i don't recall them being difficult to grow here, but the past several nights have been cold enough i wonder how warm the soil might be for germination.

 

[Blue-Jay]

are soybeans really sensitive to cold? like below 45-50F? i don't recall them being difficult to grow here, but the past several nights have been cold enough i wonder how warm the soil might be for germination.

I think soybeans are probably a lot tougher than our garden beans. Farmers around here I think plant their soybeans and corn seed in early May by at least the 10th of the month. Then it all seems to come up when it has gotten to the right conditions for it to grow. Corn and soybean seed doesn't seem to decay easily.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I think soybeans are probably a lot tougher than our garden beans. Farmers around here I think plant their soybeans and corn seed in early May by at least the 10th of the month. Then it all seems to come up when it has gotten to the right conditions for it to grow. Corn and soybean seed doesn't seem to decay easily.

I'd like to modify that statement. Soybeans indeed will not suffer much from a bit of cold.

What WILL kill soybeans (at least modern bred ones) is excess WATER when they are germinating. Put too much water on a soybean and it will almost AUTOMATCALLY rot and ferment. Wild and older soybeans have things in their seed coats to moderate water absorption, modern ones don't. When I use peat plugs, I have to remember to let the soil dry out a little extra if I am planting soybeans. They don't like the swampy conditions I usually plant in.

 

[flowerbug]

I think soybeans are probably a lot tougher than our garden beans. Farmers around here I think plant their soybeans and corn seed in early May by at least the 10th of the month. Then it all seems to come up when it has gotten to the right conditions for it to grow. Corn and soybean seed doesn't seem to decay easily.

they're sprouting and growing in the field to the south of us so i think i'm safe to plant them now. the thing that gets them the most here is the chipmunks that will raid them when planted and just sprouting. last year i got my first harvest of edamame soybeans in years because they either didn't care for the seeds/plants or i had finally hunted them enough that there weren't enough around to eat the seeds/sprouts. then the groundhogs kept eating the tops of the plants, but not enough to prevent them from giving me some seeds back. i'm hoping i can have a bigger patch this season, but if i'm smart i'll divide them up into two patches and hope at least one of them makes it reasonably well enough again. i sure hope last year wasn't a fluke...

 

[heirloomgal]

We escaped the frosts here, I think proximity to the Fox river lake system saved us. The only bean that was up is unscathed, as are the tomatoes & peppers that had been transplanted. Fortunately nothing had been planted in the rural garden, the property owner there reported frost.

All of the backup transplants for Vigna beans & miscellaneous legumes have been planted. I intend to start backups for all of the Phaseolus beans tomorrow. Most of the rural garden is dry enough to plant; if it stays that way (rain possible tomorrow) we will begin direct seeding beans, peas, and soybeans.

BTW the rescue soybeans continue to germinate, all but one should have an acceptable population. The last one (DV-2371) had only one seed out of 200 germinate. It does look strong though, and this is a tall variety with a high yield. Needless to say, that plant will get a lot of TLC, completely enclosed within chicken wire in case the squirrels should take an interest.

@Zeedman That's wild that some of your land is just now drying up. I recall you mentioned having clay soil, but is there some other factor in there responsible for that level of retention?