2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[meadow]

If you list seeds in the Exchange, you get placed on the auto-ship list.

That may have changed. Everything I saw (as a new member, so maybe there was something I missed) said that members must request the Yearbook once, and then it will auto-ship each year after that.

 

[meadow]

To add to that, in an effort to ensure that seed being offered by them (and stored off-site) is true-to-type, a seed crop is often grown again for evaluation, before the seed is released for the Yearbook. That evaluation grow out is not necessarily in the year following the seed crop.

Ah! Now it makes more sense why they would send Lazy Wife's Pole Bean that had 55% germination (when it was tested in 2015), but their description mentions a crop in 2017. This is one of my 'dilemma beans' - I didn't intend to grow them out this year, but feel like I need to refresh the seeds.

Thank you for explaining how SSE works! Very interesting.

 

[Zeedman]

That may have changed. Everything I saw (as a new member, so maybe there was something I missed) said that members must request the Yearbook once, and then it will auto-ship each year after that.

There are tiers of membership. Those who join at the digital-only level do so at a reduced rate... but must pay extra to receive the print Yearbook. Non-listing members who join at the regular rate can receive the Yearbook free, but must request it. My understanding is that listed members automatically receive the Yearbook... but who knows, that may have changed. I would have been on their auto-distribution regardless; but did call to verify that it would be sent this year, since I renewed at the Senior membership level.

 

[heirloomgal]

On top of having one of the best days ever, I got some new beans today too!



@Zeedman I wonder if you've heard of these or grown them. You sort of inspired me to be a little more adventurous with soy beans so I requested a few from a really nice bean lady south of me. She sent '2216/18' (why do they give these beans such terrible names!?) and also 'Ugra Saja'. One of them, I can't recall which, has a crazy super high protein content. I'm feeling more muscled up already!

 

[heirloomgal]

It's a little more complicated. Members only send seeds to SSE if they request some. As a rule, members list their available seeds in SSE (both online, and in the annual print Yearbook) then take requests & ship their own seeds directly. SSE itself is not involved in those exchanges. Where it perhaps differs from SoDC is that SSE as a non-profit organization grows their own backups for many varieties, and maintains them in their seed bank - if the variety meets their Accessions Policy. With limited exceptions, they only list their seed in the Exchange if no other member is offering that variety for the current year. Since many of those who originally donated to their seed bank no longer offer seeds, the number of varieties SSE offers as a lister has steadily increased (to 5059 listings this year).

It is admittedly a huge undertaking for SSE to grow & maintain 20,000+ varieties, only a percentage of which can be grown each year for renewal. To add to that, in an effort to ensure that seed being offered by them (and stored off-site) is true-to-type, a seed crop is often grown again for evaluation, before the seed is released for the Yearbook. That evaluation grow out is not necessarily in the year following the seed crop. I confess that system has occasionally been a source of frustration for me, when I observe a variety which interests me while visiting Heritage Farm, and am waiting for that seed to be offered. And waiting. And... Regardless, I have only the highest respect for the preservation staff, which gets a difficult task done each year, and has often bent over backwards to be helpful.

SoDC does not, I believe, grow any seed as an organization. But as a member, do you send any seed in to them, to be held as backup? Is any seed offered by SoDC itself (perhaps for regeneration) or only my its members?

As far as I can see, no they don't offer any seed themselves. There does appear to be a feature on their homepage where you can 'adopt' a seed variety (I think) but it costs a couple hundred dollars or something. I haven't quite figured what that is about, since that seems a little steep, and what would that mean? Bit confused on that one.

 

[Zeedman]

On top of having one of the best days ever, I got some new beans today too!



@Zeedman I wonder if you've heard of these or grown them. You sort of inspired me to be a little more adventurous with soy beans so I requested a few from a really nice bean lady south of me. She sent '2216/18' (why do they give these beans such terrible names!?) and also 'Ugra Saja'. One of them, I can't recall which, has a crazy super high protein content. I'm feeling more muscled up already!

I could provide you with as much information on those two soybeans as you want - considering I am probably the original source. There are photos & descriptions of both in the 2021 bean thread. Both are in the most Northern-adapted soybean maturity group (000) and will grow anywhere you can grow dry beans. My guess is that your source obtained them through Victory Seeds, who obtained them from a grower in Colorado, who obtained them from me. Victory still offers a couple of mine; but may not be growing much of their own seed, since their soybean selection has diminished greatly.

On a more serious note... this is a great example of how variety names can become corrupted as they pass through multiple hands. The correct name for one of those soybeans is GL 2216-84. That would be the one with the very high dry protein content (57.9%). Victory Seeds is most likely the source of the error, since they list it as GL 2216/18 in their archive:
Victory Seeds soybean waiting list
Ironically, they also list USDA PI 603149 in the variety description... which had they checked, would have revealed the correct name. I see other misspellings there (including An,dunscaja, which I also grew last year) so I'm almost afraid to comb through the entire list.

Misnaming (or renaming) is a pet peeve of mine. I spent a year going through the late Robert Lobitz's database & GRIN data to clean up all of the errors in SSE's soybean listings, and just recently (with SSE's help) found documentation to correct a cowpea that had been traded under the wrong name for over 15 years. Such misnaming not only causes a cultivar to be circulated under different names, it disconnects seeds from their proper history. Typos can happen; but since a seed company can promulgate errors widely, they should be extra careful to catch those. I'll be communicating with Victory to politely suggest corrections to their listings.

Oh, and where do such odd soybean names come from? Many of the soybeans in the USDA's gene bank were transferred from other gene banks; in the case of GL 2216/84, that is the accession# assigned by the seed bank in Gatersleben, Germany. It was originally collected (presumably by them) in North Korea.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Dalmatin - Bush, I know there are a couple beans named Dalmatian; @Bluejay77 is this your own named variety (ABCW) or the synonym of Jacob's Cattle?

This is a bean I got from someone in Europe. Different than my Dalmatian.

Sulphur - Bush, same as China Yellow on ABCW?

I got this version from someone in Michigan. I don't know how much or if it will differ from China Yellow

 

[Blue-Jay]

The Seed Savers Exchange description reads, "One of the 1,186 beans given to SSE in 1981 by bean collector John Withee of Massachusetts. Named for Carrie Belle Stallard of Wise County, Virginia. This variety dates to at least the 1930s." I'm still waiting for this to be restocked on their site.

I do have the bean. I have plenty of this seed. Oddly this bean is hardly requested from me. PM me your address and when I get home in early April. I will send you some.

Thanks for including a little bit of this beans history.

 

[Zeedman]

(Not sure how to flip this...)

You should be able to rotate the image by clicking on it to open your editor. I did so by copying your image to my desk top:

 

[Jack Holloway]

@Boilergardener I ordered from SSE on January 19th and just got an email saying the seeds shipped this morning, or most likely, the label was printed this morning. One lettuce, two corns, one bean (Lina Sisco's Bird Egg) and one pepper. This was from the "commercial" side and not the member exchange.