2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[flowerbug]

In 2012 we had a very, very hot dry summer. Painted Pony produced only half it's seed with fully formed seeds. I have a pole bean doing that to a large extent this year. It maybe some beans are stressed about something in the enviornment. Heat, drought, soil type something. Painted Pony has not had poorly formed seed everytime I've grown in since 2012. I'm getting a lot of shriveled seed this year amongst a lot of pole bean varieties. I have a few beans that have produced well formed seed every single pod I've shelled. Grown in the same soil and went through all the same envirormental changes. I have several varieties that have such poorly formed seed I didn't not harvest any of their seed this year. Every single seed of these few varieties are severely shriveled. Some sort of stress has occured for some of these beans.

Appaloosa and Painted Pony are similar in that regards. i've had a good year this season with Appaloosa (i now only grow out one of them each year because of space limitations) and only a few pods had the partially formed seeds. they're clean and edible just not right for seed saving or giving to others for growing out.

on the whole each season there are usually a few beans that just don't do well. i had previously thought that Pizarecka Zlutowski was a keeper and planned on putting it in my normal rotation but now i'm not. the season for it is very quick and if you hit a hot spell when it is pollinating you'll not get many seeds formed.

 

[heirloomgal]

@meadow In my gardens I've found the number one cause of malformed beans is improper root development, where the root system cannot support the full growth of the plant's seed development, try as it might. That can be caused by a bunch of things. The bean agronomist I spoke with in 2021 told me that root rot is a large but overlooked cause of failure for beans to thrive and make good seed. And it's causes are many, though drought is usually at the top of the list and dry to wet extreme conditions.

The other root compromiser is bean seed flies. It's commonly thought they only attack seeds and seedlings, but they also attack older plants, eating at their roots. Wet and cool periods for bean plants can cause them to get attacked by the little monsters even when older. That will cause badly formed beans and empty pods if the attack is severe enough. Root rot, same - empty pods in the worst scases. I have a wee story to share in a bit about a variety I planted this year and how it was ravaged. Though I was sad for my loss, it was a bit fascinating how a single variety was so affected among the others.

Why some and not others in these cases has to do with differences in varietal resistances to root rot, and that bean flies 'like' certain beans for how they smell much more than others.

 

[meadow]

This is what the incomplete seed coat looks like (except most look like a thin coat rather than the abruptly bare that this bean displays):

Is this what everyone means when using the word 'malformed' or 'not fully formed'?

I'm having difficulty using those terms when the bean itself is the correct size and shape, and the defect is confined to the seed coat.

This is a picture of a Tarbais bean, by the way.

 

[heirloomgal]

Is there another photo you could post? I only see a little brown spot... malformed beans to me are either not properly filled out or not in the correct shape, big on one end small on the other, or lumpy.

 

[Paul G]

Beautiful beans. In 2019 I grew Succotash, it was so incredibly different and looked so much like purple corn. I didn't get to eat many since I had not many plants and production was on the lower side. I think I might try it again in 2023 and see if I get a better harvest. Do you find it productive in your gardens?

I LOVE Gout de Chataigne D'Echenans! I grew that one last year. The original seed I planted was beige, and I was harvesting dry pods from another variety called Kaiser Friedrich, which had purple seeds, with it. Well, when I shelled all those pods out I mixed them up because all the GD'E were now purple - not beige. I collected a huge jar of great seed....for both together.

Any ideas for how I might ferret out Gd'E in the future? Telltale characteristics?

Have you seen @Bluejay77 ''s Fagiola Viola Assiago? Gorgeous! I grew Zwolse Paarse (I think it translates to Sultry Purple )this summer and it's just a gorgeous purple too. Blue and purple beans... .

From what I remember they are productive. But they are quite long to mature. All my other beans are almost ready to harvest, while these not.

Firsts years growing DC'E, there were mostly beige, brownish. They weren't on a trellis but crawling on the ground and couldn't mature enough. Now they are on a trellis I no longer have this issue.
Specific traits? I would say the shape is very characteristic. It's very circular yet slightly flattened. The edge is more less colored than the two faces.

Of course, I saw Fagiola Viola Assiago! I hope to grow them next year (finger crossed). Blue and purple wow!, sounds like a corn that I just harvested (hopi turquoise).

 

[Blue-Jay]

Is this what everyone means when using the word 'malformed' or 'not fully formed'?

If that is a thin spot in the seed coat I wouldn't worry about that. The bean is still growable. I know a Seed Saver Exchange member who saved a bunch of beans with split open seed coats. You probably seen that before. He saved the seed all winter like he did the rest of his seed. Then planted some of this seed in the spring this year. Surprise, Surprise those seeds grow just like normal beans that have their seed coat fully formed around the seed.

 

[Paul G]

Ohhh these are all beauties! Welcome, Paul! Is Succotash named for the Narragansett dish?

I'm not sure who came first. I read that it is from the Narragansett Indian tribe of Rhode and that it was used for their traditional dish. But I can't say if the variety was named after the dish, or the dish after the variety, or if what I'm writing makes sense lol.
Thanks for the welcome

 

[meadow]

Is there another photo you could post? I only see a little brown spot... malformed beans to me are either not properly filled out or not in the correct shape, big on one end small on the other, or lumpy.

I'm sorry, but there is no other photo; I found that one online.

Imagine that a tannish seed is dipped into white paint to form a coating (a "seed coat" if you will). Then the "little brown spot" is a place where the paint is either missing entirely, or so thin that the seed's tannish color shows through. You'll sometimes see this with chocolate covered nuts or raisins.

 

[meadow]

If that is a thin spot in the seed coat I wouldn't worry about that. The bean is still growable. I know a Seed Saver Exchange member who saved a bunch of beans with split open seed coats. You probably seen that before. He saved the seed all winter like he did the rest of his seed. Then planted some of this seed in the spring this year. Surprise, Surprise those seeds grow just like normal beans that have their seed coat fully formed around the seed.

Thanks, that is interesting to hear the results of their grow-out. I guess that makes sense too, because the cotyledons are still fine it is just the outer skin that is damaged. I wouldn't expect those to store as well though. hmm.

 

[flowerbug]

@meadow In my gardens I've found the number one cause of malformed beans is improper root development, where the root system cannot support the full growth of the plant's seed development, try as it might. That can be caused by a bunch of things. The bean agronomist I spoke with in 2021 told me that root rot is a large but overlooked cause of failure for beans to thrive and make good seed. And it's causes are many, though drought is usually at the top of the list and dry to wet extreme conditions.

The other root compromiser is bean seed flies. It's commonly thought they only attack seeds and seedlings, but they also attack older plants, eating at their roots. Wet and cool periods for bean plants can cause them to get attacked by the little monsters even when older. That will cause badly formed beans and empty pods if the attack is severe enough. Root rot, same - empty pods in the worst scases. I have a wee story to share in a bit about a variety I planted this year and how it was ravaged. Though I was sad for my loss, it was a bit fascinating how a single variety was so affected among the others.

Why some and not others in these cases has to do with differences in varietal resistances to root rot, and that bean flies 'like' certain beans for how they smell much more than others.

also consider the seed source, as in, if you've grown and harvested the seeds and know how they've been treated and stored then you can eliminate bad harvest, handling or storage issues. other times i've had seeds given to me that were, old, broken, infected with fungi, etc.