2023 Little Easy Bean Network - Beans Beyond The Colors Of A Rainbow

[nune]

I would love to trial growing beans indoors with that method, but the problem is that the organic soil I use can attract gnats. Any way to get rid of those gnats?

 

[Triffid]

@nune A relatively thick layer of a fine, quick-drying mulch could work. It might even surpress the knats if they are hatching from the soil. Something with the consistency of Strulch is what I'm thinking... A layer of wool felt might also be an option.

 

[BeanieQueen]

I also don't have your address label matched with your real name and screen name. When seeds are returned and I put away seed in the freezer with new location labels. I pull out all the return packet labels and save them. I went through the little stack of labels i have for this past season and there in not one marked with Germany on it. So your package has not come back yet. It could be that the USDA inspectors are very busy in Linden, New Jersey inspecting small seed lots packages that have come back into the U.S.

Ah, thank you. At least there is still hope. At the post office I had been scolded by the employee to wit regarding the small size of the parcel (I used the very cardboard box you had used for sending to me). I already regretted not having taken it back home and put it in a bigger one, but I did not think of that at this very moment.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Ah, thank you. At least there is still hope. At the post office I had been scolded by the employee to wit regarding the small size of the parcel (I used the very cardboard box you had used for sending to me). I already regretted not having taken it back home and put it in a bigger one, but I did not think of that at this very moment.

Why are you being scolded for using a small box. I send beans in that size box all over the world and I don't think I have ever lost one yet.

Some people take the box your beans come and turn it inside out and then there a no labels on that part of the cardboard. The little tab that connects the box end with one of the sides they undo that tab and flip the box inside out and reglue the tab. once your glue dries and you have used packaging tape to reclose the box it's like a brand new box.

I just know why you would be scolded for that size of box.

 

[heirloomgal]

Up pops a variety name that the last person it was sent to never returned any new seed. Your photo looks more like Solwezi #2 on my website (page Net 8). The Solwezi photo I have is a more elongated seed and slightly kidney shaped. Interesting you did your photo with all the eye of the beans turned away from your camera. Sometimes that is a revealing marker. I wonder if your Solwezi is the same as the one I don't have anymore.

Here's a pic with the

I can send you some of these if your interested @Bluejay77 . I planted 4 seeds and the vines were super vigorous, almost too much so, and it turned out that most of the pods I harvested had beige seeds with brown flecks. I have no idea how many were outcrosses of the 4, since once they all jumble up on the pole there is no telling the plants apart. This was the ratio, outcross on the left, true to type Solwezi on the right (that's a 375ml jar). There isn't much, but I can share with you what I have.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I can send you some of these if your interested @Bluejay77 .

No thank you anyway. You keep what Solwezi you have. I think my Solweizi #2 might be the same thing. I wonder if this was even a stable variety to begin with. The shape of your beans and the eye ring is spot on for Solwezi #2. The difference in color shading could be the difference in our two cameras that were used. It's a very nice looking bean.

 

[BeanWonderin]

if you do want to lighten pictures up there are programs that can do that (and even if you don't have a pc to run them they're probably available on-line someplace to use). on my pc i use GIMP, but i'm running Linux and it's a different world than the MSWindows world or the Macs.

Gimp also runs well on Windows . And I have recently started using a program called RawTherapee which complements Gimp and seems to be a very good photo editor. Both free / open-source.

 

[Artorius]

I'll be trying this method myself, to get a cross out of Pink Tip Greasy and a day-neutral variety. It's clear to me now that it is very photoperiod sensitive, not flowering until 4th September, and by sowing in April/May the nights are already too short for its liking.
Do you have to use growlights for these February beans? I'm guessing you harvest by summer and then plant the seeds for a 2nd crop?

I have not tried to grow typical pole strains in this way, only bush, semi-runner and low half-runner. Under greenhouse conditions, beans grow very strongly. I sow seeds only once, one seed in a 3-4 liter pot. I usually harvest the pods twice, sometimes three, depending on the variety. After the first harvest, I start feeding the plants with fertilizer for geraniums. I don't use additional lighting. My windows are on the south side of the building and the plants seem to get enough light.

 

[Zeedman]

I would love to trial growing beans indoors with that method, but the problem is that the organic soil I use can attract gnats. Any way to get rid of those gnats?

The fungi the gnat larvae feed on need moist conditions, so water less frequently to give the soil time to dry out. You can water with a weak solution of hydrogen peroxide; if you wet the soil to the point of soaking with that, it will kill most of the larvae. Repeat as necessary (it took me 3 applications). Sticky fly tape, and bowls with a solution of cider vinegar & dish soap, can trap hundreds.

 

[BeanieQueen]

Why are you being scolded for using a small box. I send beans in that size box all over the world and I don't think I have ever lost one yet.

She said such small boxes can easily get lost in that half-automated transportation process and showed me a gauge with the preferred min/max measures (but only when the parcel had already its shipping label sticked on and had been paid), and yes, afterwards a friend also told me that when something small falls from that conveyor band in the distribution center, there is nobody who would stoop down and put it back on the band. Stuff lies there forever in corners and nobody cares.
Well. We will see. From now on I surely will use taller boxes for overseas shipments at any rate.