2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[heirloomgal]

I found this comment by Mike Reeske interesting (a farmer working with UC Davis on the UC Rio Zape bean):


He also responded to someone asking if Anazapi (accidental cross between Anasazi and Rio Zape) was suitable to grow in their particular climate. He said that Rio Zape was from the mountainous foothills of Northern Mexico, and that Anazapi needs 90-100 days of warm summer weather to bring it to harvest. I wonder if that is why Rio Zape hasn't produced well for Northern Network Bean growers?

But it was interesting (to me) to see what they went through to get the Matterhorn/Rio Zape cross to be just as delicious as the original Rio Zape.

Do you think they are refering to the great taste as a green bean, dry bean, or both?

 

[meadow]

Do you think they are refering to the great taste as a green bean, dry bean, or both?

No, that was me referring to the taste*! lol! And it is as a dry bean. Not sure if that one is eaten both ways? I'd be surprised if anyone would be willing to short themselves on the dry beans to eat them green.

*what they said was something to the effect that UC Rio Zape retains the culinary quality of the heirloom

 

[flowerbug]

... I'd be surprised if anyone would be willing to short themselves on the dry beans to eat them green.
...

haha! we'll usually have to tell ourselves to not eat too many of certain fresh beans because i do want some seeds for harvest and replanting. that is one of the reasons why i plant so many PD's because we really want to eat a lot of them as fresh beans.

 

[heirloomgal]

Since you asked about the Sarconi beans listed on the website. I asked the person that I obtained them from what was the origin of these beans they had sent to me. Below is from this growers email that I received this morning.

The Sarconi beans come from a company that produces dry beans in Italy
that is called Sarconi. I have sorted through some packages of them and
kept the most interesting and also tried to grow them. I am sure that
some were outcrosses - there was just a single bean of that type in 2kg.
I don´t think that they care if everything in a mixed bean package is
true to type. Some were heavy yielders, some weren´t.

So the grower got them from packages of mixed beans which you can grow or make soup with them and they could originate from maybe anywhere in Italy. They might not even be authentic Sarconi landrace beans.

Thank you so much @Bluejay77 !

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal if you are interested in Italian beans check out this link

L'Italia dei Legumi

Home >L'Italia dei Legumi

www.legumichepassione.com

This is, in my opinion, the best site for traditional Italian varieties. You will find here not only beans, but also other legumes. Just click on the selected map.

And this is a link to Domenico Belisario's website. This is one of the most famous growers from the Sarconi area. Here you will find descriptions of many of the beans he grows.

Prodotti - BELISARIO

PODOTTI

www.fagiolibelisario.it

I don't know, maybe you've seen these websites before.

Thank you @Artorius !

 

[Zeedman]

No, I purchased them from Salt Spring Seeds. Out of curiosity I emailed Dan about it, and he said he had never had something like this happen before with the Tanya's Pink Pod.

so if you do not want any further pole beans at all from that line, don't plant those seeds that came from that pole bean plant.

But don't be surprised if you still get a pole plant or two, since the flowers on the pole may have crossed again with the flowers on the bushes. Unlikely, unless your bees are very active... but a possibility.

 

[Branching Out]

Thank you @Artorius !

Is it just me, or is this site only in Italian?

 

[Branching Out]

But don't be surprised if you still get a pole plant or two, since the flowers on the pole may have crossed again with the flowers on the bushes. Unlikely, unless your bees are very active... but a possibility.

I am in fact wishing to see if I can grow it out as a pole bean-- so if I get more pole plants that would be a good thing!

 

[meadow]

Is it just me, or is this site only in Italian?

If you aren't getting a little dropdown option to translate in the upper right corner of your browser screen, then you could always copy/paste the url into google translate.

 

[meadow]

Just thinking about Mike Reeske's comment about UC Rio Zape breeding: "To regain all of the original qualities of the Rio Zape bean, the hybrid seeds are planted, and their pollen is used to cross-pollinate a normal Rio Zape parent."

So that final step of using the hybrid seed to pollinate a true Rio Zape will result in beans that look as much like Rio Zape as possible, since true Rio Zape is the mother plant.

There is a slight difference in coloring between UC Rio Zape and Rio Zape, which was explained (somewhere, sorry can't recall where at the moment) by the shorter growing time of UC Rio Zape (true Rio Zape is a little darker).

@Branching Out I don't think anyone has mentioned recently (and hopefully someone will speak to it), but a bean needs to breed true for something like 3 generations in order to be considered a stable variety.