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

[heirloomgal]

Ironically, Hokkaido Black was one of those affected for me as well. Only 4 sprouts out of a 15-foot row (which is at least better than the three completely dead plantings). That is especially surprising given that I over-sow heavily, and usually need to thin quite a few. T-239, a 2012 soybean which had poorer germination test results than Hokkaido Black, still needed to be thinned by 1/2.

Today I dug in all of the soybean rows affected, and found only rotten seed - no sprouting at all. That in itself is odd, because with older seed, I expect to see staggered germination over at least a 10-14 day period. That was the case for the 2012 rescue soybeans started in pots this year, some emerging as much as 3 weeks after the first sprouts... and when I dumped out the empty pots, there were still some living seeds which had not yet emerged. That there was no sign of life at all in the empty rows seems to indicate that the seed was completely destroyed after planting (probably by high soil temperatures).

One of the things which frustrates me is that two of the varieties (Hokkaido Black and Saint Ita) are not in the USDA soybean database, so I was looking forward to measuring & recording their characteristics. Both are also old & nearly dead, so I will attempt to plant Saint Ita again & hope for the best. The other two varieties, Sapporo Midori (which was bsupposed to be the main edamame crop) and Pando, have short DTM's; so provided that the second planting germinates, I should be able to get some seed. The weather has cooled into the upper 70's this week, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

Do you think the primary factor here is too high temperatures? When it was mentioned in earlier posts here that farmers had soybean crops planted in May, that got my attention, because as a 'bean' I assumed it preferred heat. I wonder now if some of its germination requirements are actually cooler weather, and require an earlier planting. Last year my germination was 100%. I replanted everything, possibly in vain, right next to the original row just in case. If they do sprout I'll have to really thin them. I did get Sayamusume to maturity 2 weeks early last year by wide spacing.

 

[Zeedman]

Soybeans need fairly warm soil to germinate; but the conditions this year were highly unusual. IMO the high air temperature & extended period of sunny days, combined with lack of significant rainfall, created much higher-than-normal soil temperatures. That is a good thing if you plant early, and all of my early plantings did exceptionally well. But as the warm conditions continued, the peak soil temperatures may have become excessive. I noticed the high soil temps during the later plantings, but assumed that irrigation would cool them to normal levels. I'll never know whether or not the soil was cooled enough, or whether temps again rose "into the red" some time after planting. Who knows, by the time I got around to watering at the end of the day, the damage may have already been done.

 

[baymule]

@Zeedman do you plant the soybeans for saving the seeds only or do you ever eat any? If you eat them, what is your favorite way to prepare them?

 

[flowerbug]

Do you think the primary factor here is too high temperatures? When it was mentioned in earlier posts here that farmers had soybean crops planted in May, that got my attention, because as a 'bean' I assumed it preferred heat. I wonder now if some of its germination requirements are actually cooler weather, and require an earlier planting. Last year my germination was 100%. I replanted everything, possibly in vain, right next to the original row just in case. If they do sprout I'll have to really thin them. I did get Sayamusume to maturity 2 weeks early last year by wide spacing.

i think the problem was that the seeds were presprouted and then put into very hot dry soil so that the sprouts were cooked before they got enough water on them. how long does it take to cook a sprout on the stove? 8-15 minutes or so? but i'm only guesing from what @bluejay wrote above... here i've been planting everything into the seed drills as seeds only and once planted even if the ground was powder and hot i watered the gardens for quite a long time with very cool well water and i've had pretty good germination.

yesterday we got a pretty good downpour and even some hail so i get to take a look at things today and see how they're doing, but i expect that they'll be ok. i've seen much worse storms here and worse hail and had the sprouts come through ok. the only thing they don't really like is bunnies and chipmunks. the groundogs sometimes eat the tender top leaves off them, but rarely do they kill the plants like the bunnies and chipmunks do. the chipmunks go after the beans and very young sprouts. sometimes a cut worm will get a few plants. i've never had crow or other bird problems.

later on the japanese beetles come along and chomp on some leaves. i hand pick those off as much as i can.

 

[Zeedman]

@Zeedman do you plant the soybeans for saving the seeds only or do you ever eat any? If you eat them, what is your favorite way to prepare them?

My motivations are a little of both. I began growing them seriously when my soybean mentor (long-time SSE member Robert Lobitz) passed away suddenly. There was a widespread effort by other collectors to preserve his huge collection of beans, soybeans, and grains... I chose to focus on soybeans; others (such as Russ) focused on his bean collection. I purchased seed from Robert's estate, and saved as many as I could before the seeds began dying. The 60 or so of his soybeans that I grow is sadly only about 1/3 of what was sent to me, and I had to make some tough choices as to what to keep.

The 20+ soybeans I grow each year vary widely in DTM, so they ripen over a long period. There are 4-5 edamame varieties each year, which we eat fresh & freeze for Winter; but edamame or not, we eat at least one meal of each variety when they reach that stage. Some of the grain varieties, while small seeded, have interesting flavors. DD is experimenting with tofu, soy milk, & miso. I grow the grain types primarily to offer for people who want to make their own organic soy products, as there are few sources of non-GM processing soybeans available commercially (and very little diversity).

 

[Artorius]

I think my runner beans will start flowering in a week's time.



Common pole beans also grow nicely.

Bill Wheatly Fall - I only had 3 seeds. I sowed two and I have two plants.



Fox Family Greasy


Gout de Chataigne d'Echenans


Cornplanter Purple


Also half runners moved up.

Snow Cap


You have beautiful bean beds. I look and sigh

 

[flowerbug]

...
The 20+ soybeans I grow each year vary widely in DTM, so they ripen over a long period. There are 4-5 edamame varieties each year, which we eat fresh & freeze for Winter; but edamame or not, we eat at least one meal of each variety when they reach that stage. Some of the grain varieties, while small seeded, have interesting flavors. DD is experimenting with tofu, soy milk, & miso. I grow the grain types primarily to offer for people who want to make their own organic soy products, as there are few sources of non-GM soybeans available commercially (and very little diversity).

one year i found out how different soybeans could be as i'd gotten some commercial soybeans and planted them, they were not usable for making soy milk or tofu. the next year i saw some organic soybeans at the health-food store and picked them up to try and they grew well the next year and they were much much better - by the tune of 44lbs! i ended up keeping them in a pillow case until i finally used them all up years later.

 

[heirloomgal]

Piekny Jas beans are climbing now, can't believe how high they've climbed already. Really liking this variety.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Getting back to the high soil temperatures. I also got the same results with just direct seeding some beans not being pre-sprouted. Most of those did not come up either. Sometimes I found rotted seed when scratching into the soil and sometimes I couldn't find any seed at all. The extreme lack of moisture will allow temperatures to go higher. Enough moisture in the enviroment dampens down summer tempertures. I hope we start getting some regularity in our rain soon. I don't want to see my bean plantings go through blistering 100 degree heat like we had in 1988.

 

[Zeedman]

I replanted the Sapporo Midori and Saint Ita soybeans today, in rows offset by 12" just to be safe (in case any pests/pathogens are present in the original rows). Better safe than sorry, especially when the first planting failed. These rows were heavily over-seeded & I really soaked the rows after planting, so hopefully there will be a good stand this time. A couple more sprouts for Hokkaido Black emerged, so I'll just let all of those go for seed & plan on a further increase next year.

I also started an 8-pack of Brita's Foot Long pole bean indoors, which should be enough to fill the gaps in the row.