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

[flowerbug]

Been there, done that. You can change the emoji after the fact by clicking on the right one.

or click on one you've made and it will remove it.

this morning i've been cooking up some old beans to get them gone. they are the smaller beans i normally use for chili which means they can boil for three or four hours and still not fall apart. edit, make that five hours... i just forgot about them for another hour and a half and they're still ok. haha... i did finally turn them off...

mmm, just having a bowl for brunch.

Mom will be happy to have them for using later, we freeze some after draining them, but she'll also be happy to have that counter space back where i had those containers sitting to remind me to use them up. they weren't full containers so they were certainly taking up more room than they needed. 9 quart containers compacted now into i nice tidy small stack of containers and lids.

all ready for the next round to be grown and harvested.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 I just went searching your posts from last year to find the one which mentions your methods for setting up your bean gardens. I finally found the description of your wooden poles, and the spacing between them of 4 ft. I'd like to create that same setup in my garden for my network pole beans. I'm wondering if you think that 4 ft between the poles is a minimum, or could they be spaced a bit closer, say 3ft, or even 2 1/2 ft? I'm not sure if your spacing between the rows is the same, and if the spacing between pole rows is to be able to till between the rows? I'm beginning the process of calculating what I'll need in terms of lumber based on spacing distances; it was three beans per pole right? I also have four very large wire trellis frames that I'll plant pole beans on; what suggestion might you give for poles grown along a row like that......

I usually do a 4 foot spacing on my pole rows. I think one time I did three feet and could still cultivate with my rototiller. This past year 2020 I did a 51 inch spacing with poles 3 feet apart in my row. I also had used a 4 foot wide garden fabric for weed control and rolling the roll up between rows was really tight trying not to run little newly emerged plants over with a roll that was pretty heavy. When I use garden fabric the rows get only one shallow cultivation with the tiller at about the week and a half to two week point after the plants emerge then the fabric goes down right away. I plant 4 seeds around each pole. This coming season I'm going to widen out my pole rolls to about 55 inches and see how much easier it is to put down the garden fabric without traumatizing plants.

This past summer on bush bean rows I spaced rows at 40 inches and used a 3 foot wide garden fabric. That worked out perfect.

 

[Blue-Jay]

The Results of My 2021 Germination test on approximately 208 bean samples from years 2012 to 2016.
There isn't much 2012 seed left. I've been curious to see how long some of the beans in the 2012 group can maintian a good germination percentage as the seed ages. All the following 2012 seeds have sat in baby food jars in my basement on a shelf and have never been stored away in a freezer. My basement can run from about 50 degrees in the winter when I turn the heat down and venture off to Florida. This year it bottomed out at 58 degrees. I've been home all this winter. The temperature tops out at about 68 in August.

What I will do is post each seed year in a seperate post.

This is the 2012 Group

..............................................................Germination %

1. Black Valentine............................100
2. Bountiful Ester.............................100
3. Brown Trout.................................. 83
4. California......................................... 70
5. Davis Wax........................................40
6. Eden Prairie.....................................93
7. Florida Speckled............................53
8. Gillenwater.......................................93
9. Greencrop......................................100
10. Illinois Wild Goose......................100
11. Improved Golden Wax................93
12. Minnesota 1940’s..........................58
13. Nova Star Segregation................80
14. Osborne & Clyde.........................100
15. PXBT-pp-3-97B-OOH.................100
16. Prince...............................................100
17. Provider..........................................100
18. Purple Eye – Lima.........................80
19. Rio Zape.......................................... 83
20. Rose D' Eyragues.........................80
21. Rose Eye Pink................................62
22. Soldier............................................100
23. Tennessee Wonder......................55
24. Tenderpod......................................68

 

[heirloomgal]

I usually do a 4 foot spacing on my pole rows. I think one time I did three feet and could still cultivate with my rototiller. This past year 2020 I did a 51 inch spacing with poles 3 feet apart in my row. I also had used a 4 foot wide garden fabric for weed control and rolling the roll up between rows was really tight trying not to run little newly emerged plants over with a roll that was pretty heavy. When I use garden fabric the rows get only one shallow cultivation with the tiller at about the week and a half to two week point after the plants emerge then the fabric goes down right away. I plant 4 seeds around each pole. This coming season I'm going to widen out my pole rolls to about 55 inches and see how much easier it is to put down the garden fabric without traumatizing plants.

This past summer on bush bean rows I spaced rows at 40 inches and used a 3 foot wide garden fabric. That worked out perfect.

My goal is to try and fit in as closely as possible my bean poles, without compromising the beans' date to maturity. I don't use garden fabric, so I don't have to factor that in as a consideration. (I generally use a scuffle hoe to keep the soil bare between plants.) So I could probably space the poles closer than 3 feet then, or even maybe, 2 in order to fit in as many as possible along a length. My main garden is slightly terraced, not on a flat plane, so the pathways work a little differently. My thinking is that 6 inches between bush beans (for dry seed) is ideal, along a row length? And 6 inches between poles too, along a length of trellised row ? Does anybody have experience that suggests different spacing than this? I usually put 18 inches between bush bean rows....

 

[BeanWonderin]

My goal is to try and fit in as closely as possible my bean poles, without compromising the beans' date to maturity. I don't use garden fabric, so I don't have to factor that in as a consideration. (I generally use a scuffle hoe to keep the soil bare between plants.) So I could probably space the poles closer than 3 feet then, or even maybe, 2 in order to fit in as many as possible along a length. My main garden is slightly terraced, not on a flat plane, so the pathways work a little differently. My thinking is that 6 inches between bush beans (for dry seed) is ideal, along a row length? And 6 inches between poles too, along a length of trellised row ? Does anybody have experience that suggests different spacing than this? I usually put 18 inches between bush bean rows....

I usually thin using a handwidth for spacing (4-6 inches) and I've found that works well. A couple times I haven't thinned in time and they have grown pretty thick, but those are usually the rows that don't get weeded as well as they should so I can't compare.

Reading Ashworth's Seed to Seed this year I noticed she references 3 inch spacing for seed saving and food production. I think I'll set up an experiment this year and try several spacings to see what works best.

I usually plant double rows and sometimes triple for beans. Double row spacing would be two at around 12 - 16 inches and probably 36 inches between rows. Triple row spacing would be three at around 8 inches and 36 inches between rows. These would all be for bush beans.

 

[Zeedman]

My thinking is that 6 inches between bush beans (for dry seed) is ideal, along a row length? And 6 inches between poles too, along a length of trellised row ? Does anybody have experience that suggests different spacing than this? I usually put 18 inches between bush bean rows....

Pretty close to the same bush bean spacing I use. Because my heavy soil tends to crust over when it rains, I plant beans in hills rather than rows; the cluster of beans has the power to break through the crust. For bush beans, I plant hills 12" apart, with 4-6 beans per hill. After germination, I thin to the strongest 2 plants per hill (2 @ 12"), which averages out to 6" spacing. In soft or sandy soil, I would probably plant 2-3 seed every 6", and thin to the strongest plant.

The spacing above is my default for seed saving - and nearly always, the beans I plant are for seed. If I was growing bush beans strictly for food, the final plant spacing could be closer, perhaps 3-4 per foot. That spacing requires more seed, and the yield per plant may be lower; but the yield per row foot would be maximized. In the end, the choice of spacing may come down to whether you are short on seed, or short on space.

For seed saving purposes, I usually only plant one row of beans per variety, with plants of different species in the adjacent rows for isolation purposes. But if it a food crop, I plant double rows 24" apart. That seems like wide spacing, and the double rows could probably be spaced 16-18" apart with little reduction in yield... but the wider spacing has advantages. I find that if the leaf canopies overlap, it increases the chances of rodent damage (a serious risk in my area). Also, closer row spacing can increase the chance of disease problems, especially under wet or humid conditions... the wider spacing increases air flow through the canopy, which helps to reduce the chances of foliar diseases.

 

[heirloomgal]

That spacing requires more seed, and the yield per plant may be lower; but the yield per row foot would be maximized.

Wow, this is genius. I hadn't thought of that. My thinking would have concluded less beans on the plant = lowered total yield. But you're right, it doesn't really work out that way. My biggest concern in growing beans this year is to get seeds to full maturity; however, second concern is to fit in as much as I can. I have a lot I'd like to grow. I'm trying to balance between maximizing space & ensuring the beans mature. I've never grown pole beans on actual poles before too, I've only ever grown them on a wire trellis. So, I'm a bit unsure of how to do it this way, correctly. I still haven't 100 percent decided on the single pole method, or making a wooden swing type frame and running strings down along it's length.

 

[BeanWonderin]

Wow, this is genius. I hadn't thought of that. My thinking would have concluded less beans on the plant = lowered total yield. But you're right, it doesn't really work out that way. My biggest concern in growing beans this year is to get seeds to full maturity; however, second concern is to fit in as much as I can. I have a lot I'd like to grow. I'm trying to balance between maximizing space & ensuring the beans mature. I've never grown pole beans on actual poles before too, I've only ever grown them on a wire trellis. So, I'm a bit unsure of how to do it this way, correctly. I still haven't 100 percent decided on the single pole method, or making a wooden swing type frame and running strings down along it's length.

I've also never grown pole beans on poles before. I've grown them on corn stalks and on chicken wire stretched between t-posts. This year after Christmas I was thinking about what to use and it occurred to me that a lot of people were getting ready to throw out their Christmas trees, so I hooked up the trailer and collected a bunch. Once the snow melts, I'll lop off the branches leaving little stubs for the beans to grab onto. The only problem is, most of them aren't longer than 6 feet so the beans might outgrow them.

I guess these would be good for growing Christmas Limas?

 

[flowerbug]

I've also never grown pole beans on poles before. I've grown them on corn stalks and on chicken wire stretched between t-posts. This year after Christmas I was thinking about what to use and it occurred to me that a lot of people were getting ready to throw out their Christmas trees, so I hooked up the trailer and collected a bunch. Once the snow melts, I'll lop off the branches leaving little stubs for the beans to grab onto. The only problem is, most of them aren't longer than 6 feet so the beans might outgrow them.

I guess these would be good for growing Christmas Limas?

free poles and free organic material, all good things there IMO.

 

[Blue-Jay]

2021 Germination Test Results

This is the 2013 Group. The 2013 seed crop began freezer storage the year it was grown just as soon as it was dry enough. There was some 2013 seeds that were put into inventory baby food jars right away on my basement shelves. Some of these varieties were not requested much over the years and some of the seed in these containers has sat since then without being stored in the freezer. Compare that to some of the much more requested beans of the 2020 seed crop where a new seed sample is being removed about every three weeks. Sacre Bleu had 7 packets stored in the freezer as of late November 2020. I have already removed 5 of them.

..............................................................Germination %

1. Bird Egg #2........................................26
2. Bird Egg..............................................71
3. Black Coco.........................................93
4. Black Star - Lima............................ 73
5. Black Turkey.................................... 93
6. Brittle Wax.......................................100
7. Brown Eyed Goose.........................93
8. Buffy..................................................100
9. Champagne......................................60
10. Choctaw.............................................95
11. Comtesse De Chamborrd.........100
12. Comtesse De Chambord 226...100
13. Contender........................................100
14. Cream Six Weeks.............................80
15. Dwarf Red..........................................93
16. Evening Moon...............................100
17. Falcon...............................................100
18. Forelle Fleiderfarben..................100
19. Good Mother Stallard..................80
20. Goose Cranberry........................ 100
21. Hanna Hank.....................................80
22. Horn's Speckled - Lima...............66
23. Junin.................................................100
24. Kenearly.............................................93
25. Maine Sunset.................................100
26. Magpie.............................................100
27. Maria Zeller - Bush........................86
28. Mariazeller - Pole...........................86
29. Marico..............................................100
30. Midnight Black Turtle Soup.....100
31. Nova Star........................................100
32. Orca.....................................................93
33. Orca - Spotted................................80
34. Papa De Rolla..................................93
35. Pawnee.............................................100
36. Peinsipps Zwefarbige...................60
37. Purple Face.......................................95
38. Red Calico - Lima...........................72
39. Rockwell..........................................100
40. Rose Creek Beauty.........................93
41. Slovenia III.........................................53
42. Stevenson's Lima..........................100
43. Stevenson's Black Eye.................100
44. Stevenson's Blue Eye...................100
45. Super Bean......................................100 This bean has sat without any freezer storage in a jar.
46. Uncle Willies...................................100
47. Uzice Speckled Wax.......................66
48. Taylor...................................................73
49. Vermont Yellow Eye.....................100
50. White Robin......................................93
51. Yellow Bird.........................................50
52. Yellow Orange..................................86