2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[Pulsegleaner]

I'm hoping someone might be able to explain how Ugandan Bantu 'works' for lack of a better word? I know it's a diverse population of seed coats - but does each type reproduce itself? Do they flop back and forth through generations, or each distinct & stable? I'd really like to know how this variety has come to include that diversity?

Collected more pods from Ugandan Bantu today, which got me wondering in the first place. I recall planting the small round purple seed but not the other kidney shaped ones. Is it the variety, a cross, natural variation?
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@Zeedman I LOVE Solwezi!!! Even pinker than I imagined it would be! Ooooh, I am enjoying these pink speckles. I checked out the name, turns out Solwezi is a town in Zambia.

I think Bantu just has very jiggly genes, given the fact that the reverse happened to me (planted many colors, got only solid purple round back). HOW it flips around so much (not just in seed coat color and pattern, but also in seed shape) I have no idea.

Same thing happened with Fort Portal Mixed (different from Fort Portal Jade). every color went in, only purple came out, on plants that (with one minor exception) were all identical.

 

[flowerbug]

speaking of FPJ i got the last pod off the plant today (both potted plants are now done) and there were two nice seeds so i have those to add to my gains.

yesterday i got dry pods picked and today i'm going through them and seeing how they're doing.

Viola is a relative of Purple Dove (via Robert Lobitz) and it has come in 5th from the beans planted June 10th (behind Sunrise, Purple Dove, Piz Z and Venda).

Of the June 5th beans, New RedW was about tied with Dark Red (a Red Ryder selection which i probably won't plant again) for first place and then i've gotten some Koronis Three Island pods but the seeds are not consistent so i'm not sure how many i'll get back from that planting - i do have enough to keep going with them so we'll see how the rest turn out, there's more pods yet.

i love this time of the year.

 

[Zeedman]

This was an interesting find - found them on the Solwezi plant! Outcross I imagine?

The seed I was originally sent was all the grayish-purple in the first photo you posted; but when grown, there was WIDE variation between plants. Not sure if Solwezi was originally a land race, or if the seed had been heavily crossed at the source. Some pods were purple, some green with stripes, and some all green. Seed color, DTM, and yield all varied widely as well. Plants with the grayish-purple seeds were both earliest & highest yielding (VERY high) so I selected for those.

There are probably still some recessive traits present, but I don't remember any brown seeds that could have resulted in that pattern. I checked the garden map for that year (2015); I was growing a brown-striped variant of "Scotia" pole in my front-yard pots, on the other side of the house & about 150' away. My guess is that a very busy bee crossed the two. "Solwezi" may be one of those overly promiscuous beans that crosses easily.

Oddly enough, I had an almost identical experience with a runner bean (Tarahumara Tekomari) that I was sent some years back, where the seeds I was sent were all identical - but when grown out, produced widely varied flower color, seed color, DTM, and yield. In that case, I was able to trace the seed back to Native Seeds / SEARCH, which verified that the variety was indeed a land race. The "gray" in my grow out was the most productive (and the largest seeded) so I selected for that. After 3 generations, it appears to be mostly stable.

 

[flowerbug]

i found some Dapple Pink pods among those i picked yesterday so i now have some of those that have repeated for sure.

 

[flowerbug]

Viola may work as a shelly bean, but i have a question about what you'd consider a shelly bean to be?

the reason to consider it for shelly status would be that the beans come out of the shell much easier at the stage where there is some moisture and even green left in the pod as compared to when they are dry when they are harder to get out of the shell.

to me a shelly bean is one that you can eat after the seeds are plump in the pods but perhaps the most important aspect is that the bean are easy to remove from the pods and of course the flavor when cooked has to be acceptable, but i'd see no reason they wouldn't be. i haven't got enough to test that out yet.

when i was shelling out Sunrise a bit ago i was also considering that it might also be a good shelly bean. the pods come open real easy and the beans are a light pink color. i then think of Red Ryder and wonder why i'd never tried that as a shelly bean because it too has that characteristic (but the seeds are a much brighter red).

dang, now i wish i had more energy and my body would let me go out in this hot/humid weather and pick more beans to experiment with. i should have some Sunset, Sunrise, etc. beans and i won't have time to pick again until later this week unless tomorrow turns out better for weather than the forecast indicates.

 

[jbosmith]

I may not have any critters trying to eat my beans, but the end of this row got pulled out and smooshed when a bull got out and .. decided to knock them down and lay on them while he ate my mulch hay bale. What a jerk. Bright side: you can get a good idea of how I grow them in plastic mulch!

I picked about 4 gallons of dry pods from this row of Seneca Allegheny this weekend. Let the shelling begin!

 

[flowerbug]

Sunrise at shelly stage (light pinks to almost white):

[edit, lightened up picture as it was too dark]

 

[Zeedman]

For shellies, I prefer the larger beans... but there is no reason small-seeded beans can't be eaten that way. If there are still beans hanging when the freeze comes, I will harvest ALL that are in shelly stage, regardless of variety or seed size... most are at least fairly good. I make a point of cooking them separately though, since cooking times may vary, and a few (such as "Garafal Oro") don't soften easily.

 

[jbosmith]

For shellies, I prefer the larger beans... but there is no reason small-seeded beans can't be eaten that way. If there are still beans hanging when the freeze comes, I will harvest ALL that are in shelly stage, regardless of variety or seed size... most are at least fairly good. I make a point of cooking them separately though, since cooking times may vary, and a few (such as "Garafal Oro") don't soften easily.

I don't intentionally pick anything as a shelly but always have a lot after the first frost in my zone 3 gardens. It's usually a small enough percentage of the total that I freeze them until I'm ready to can beans and then mix them in a little at a time.

Last year with its crazy late fall was the exception to this. I don't think I had a single shelly bean.

 

[meadow]

@Bluejay77

At what point can bean plants be pulled to hang upside down to continue drying the pods?

Something has eaten all but 2 leaves and one puny pod from a Marfax plant. The plant next to it has also been partially (mostly) eaten.

I couldn't find evidence to figure out 'who' has done this. Both plants had been lying on the ground (remember how I said Marfax was under a heavy load but the wire was holding them up? Well not any more. I'm having to tie them up), so I suppose a slug wouldn't be out of the question but there were no slim trails.

Anyway, there is at least one plant that has yellow pods with beginning to yellow stems. The rest are a mix of green and yellow pods.

I'm heading back out to investigate leaf-by-leaf in the hopes of finding the culprit... but it's beginning to get warm and not sure how long I can be out in the heat.