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

[jbosmith]

I contest that. It is pretty self evident that only an edamame soybean can be given that name. (Or a lentil - but names are meant for people, and who actually grows lentils in their garden? )

I technically grew lentils once, and I'm glad I did, but I took one look at the pods and said, "Well that was fun". I think I might have picked one or two to show people and that's about it.

I really appreciate that you take pictures of the dry plants along with the seeds. I always have good intentions of doing that, and then find myself madly picking pods as fast as I can before a long wet spell or hard freeze.

This is great to know about Ezonishiki; I tried Cha Kura Kake this summer and found the production rather sparse. Sparse enough to wonder if it's a variety worth pursuing further. I think I may try EZ instead this upcoming year.
However, I did read a really disturbing article about fish and soybeans recently (isoflavone in particular), so now I'm kind of wondering if I should even keep going with soybeans.

Creating all-female catfish without the use of hormones

The prospect of ongrowing only female – and therefore faster-growing – catfish could be a step closer.

thefishsite.com

For what it's worth, I had decent luck with Cha Kura Kake, except that I completely missed the window for edamame. I swear it started making pods and roughly 4 minutes later they were drying down! It's early enough, and our weather is unpredictable enough these days, that I think it has value to northern growers. Ezonishiki also did well for me.

I think you'll have a hard time finding anyone outside of the low carb, all meat crowd that says soy is bad in sane quantities.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I technically grew lentils once, and I'm glad I did, but I took one look at the pods and said, "Well that was fun". I think I might have picked one or two to show people and that's about it.

Exactly. That's sort of the problem with lentils, rice beans, moth beans, horse gram and the other field legumes; they really are only worth growing if you can grow a LOT of them, enough that harvesting en masse is practical (since the ultra tiny pods make hand picking any significant number absurd,) and the amount you will get back is enough to actually DO something with. Sort of like how growing small grains is always simply going to be a curiosity for me, no matter how well they grow and how productive they are, I don't have the space to grow enough to get enough to ever actually be able to use then for FOOD in any meaningful manner (I once worked out that, if I was to replace ALL of my lawns with wheat and got a bumped crop, I'd get back enough grain to make ONE smallish loaf of bread. At least with popcorn or sweetcorn they are consumable in forms that work for one or a few ears (I may play around with flints and flours, but I know that it'd take someone with more room than me to make them crop feasible for anything beyond ornamental purposes.)

 

[jbosmith]

Exactly. That's sort of the problem with lentils, rice beans, moth beans, horse gram and the other field legumes; they really are only worth growing if you can grow a LOT of them, enough that harvesting en masse is practical (since the ultra tiny pods make hand picking any significant number absurd,) and the amount you will get back is enough to actually DO something with. Sort of like how growing small grains is always simply going to be a curiosity for me, no matter how well they grow and how productive they are, I don't have the space to grow enough to get enough to ever actually be able to use then for FOOD in any meaningful manner (I once worked out that, if I was to replace ALL of my lawns with wheat and got a bumped crop, I'd get back enough grain to make ONE smallish loaf of bread. At least with popcorn or sweetcorn they are consumable in forms that work for one or a few ears (I may play around with flints and flours, but I know that it'd take someone with more room than me to make them crop feasible for anything beyond ornamental purposes.)

I did the same thing this year with chickpeas. Sure, they're bigger, but with 1-2 seeds per pod they're hardly worth the time it takes to pick them by hand.

I enjoy growing wheat but it tends to sit around in heads until the next time I plant it Quinoa is also fun to grow, just because it's so easy (essentially lambs quarters) and can grow in the margins, but it's tendency to sprout in the heads if it rains at the wrong time makes it tough to depend on.

 

[flowerbug]

a gray and greenish color with the all white hilum (similar to Flair). only these four seeds found. may be a challenge to grow again. it is likely that Flair and this one are out crosses of Purple Dove and Lavender.

the same hat marking but with the hilum darker more like Purple Dove. the color is distinctly darker than most Purple Dove.

gray and some hat marking along with the color being almost burgundy in the darker area. other markings on the seed coat.

distinctly larger, darker and rounder than Purple Dove, some patterned markings on the seed coat.

this might just be the same as Fluffy, but a different group of seeds, i can't quite tell yet.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I did the same thing this year with chickpeas. Sure, they're bigger, but with 1-2 seeds per pod they're hardly worth the time it takes to pick them by hand.

sort of the same with me, except most of mine were desi types, so they were a lot SMALLER than regular chickpeas. I found out the answers to the questions I wanted to know, are there chickpeas that stay green when mature (yes) and are the Velcro and moss seed coat traits inheritable ones (Velcro yes, moss no), but that was about it. Most of the ones I got back weren't even really worth saving, I only kept the produce of two pants (a green Velcro and a small reddish desi with unusually rounded seeds that looked like it had potential for better hulling).

I enjoy growing wheat but it tends to sit around in heads until the next time I plant it Quinoa is also fun to grow, just because it's so easy (essentially lambs quarters) and can grow in the margins, but it's tendency to sprout in the heads if it rains at the wrong time makes it tough to depend on.

I used to simply take the nicest looking heads I got each year and stick them in a vase as a dried flower arrangement, but I had to stop that when we got Juniper, since he is OBSESSED with chewing on grain heads, and I 1. don't want him getting sharp awn bits in places that could hurt him and 2. Don't want him to destroy our valuable antiques, since it turns out he will jump to the mantlepiece over the fire (where we keep some VERY valuable items) to get at a vase of grain, or knock over a table.

 

[Boilergardener]

Fairy Crutchfield- Network bean, bush. Was on Russ's list last year of special seeds needing a grow out. Grew great, a little larger plant type than other bush beans I've grown, and a touch later maturing like a standard pole dry bean. Did well this year in a slightly dryer year,I was happy with the lack of disease. I had a almost total loss of 1st planting due to my enemy the seed corn maggot. I had 3 plants that made it thru and I spotted in the remaining seeds. Collected a small jelly jars worth. I thought it grew better/disease resistance than my favorite bean Early Warwick. Not sure of the history on this bean I believe it was an "old heirloom cranberry bean" would be interesting to know more!

 

[Boilergardener]

Network pole dry bean - Yooni's Enie Bona. You can see the variety in seed coat quality, some beans I pulled pretty green (like swelled green pods) and let to dry, they are more pale. others were fully dry on the vine, they were the rich darker color. I would assume both will germinate fine? Might be a good test. This variety I replanted a lot of due to seedcorn maggot also. I did grow some in pots like was suggested on this thread, to avoid the seedcorn maggots if they were still around, worked terrific. Some disease on some pods/seed but low amount of culls. I thought the variety was good, interesting history on it is why I grew it, a Amish or Mennonite family heirloom from northern IN. Grew fine, good yielding pole bean.

 

[heirloomgal]

I just love the color of the seedcoats in your photos @Boilergardener. Great to hear you had success with the starter pots for your beans, I've had pretty good luck with that too though in 2023 I was surprised when I lost about a dozen in the pots. They had laid maggots that went into the stems and the starts wilted (and I threw them into a plastic garbage bag), but all in all it was a small loss considering how many pots I had. I'd rather they wilt and die than get stunted in the ground really, so I can use the space for something more productive or even try again with new seed.

Have you ever tried ashes or coffee grinds? Once I lost my first few pots to the little buggers I went to Costco and bought a big Maxwell House can and gave each bean pot a couple tablespoons. That seemed to stop any more loss. When I planted the last few seeds in empty spots in ground I covered with either the ashes or coffee grounds and I ringed the bean transplants with the coffee too. It seemed to have an effect, but I may also have missed the fly cycle, I'm not sure. I plan to do more experimenting with the coffee and ashes in 2024. I may even cover the top inch of my starter pots with coffee and then plant into that. I was also considering buying some nematodes to plant alongside the beans, an expensive option though.

 

[Boilergardener]

I just love the color of the seedcoats in your photos @Boilergardener. Great to hear you had success with the starter pots for your beans, I've had pretty good luck with that too though in 2023 I was surprised when I lost about a dozen in the pots. They had laid maggots that went into the stems and the starts wilted (and I threw them into a plastic garbage bag), but all in all it was a small loss considering how many pots I had. I'd rather they wilt and die than get stunted in the ground really, so I can use the space for something more productive or even try again with new seed.

Have you ever tried ashes or coffee grinds? Once I lost my first few pots to the little buggers I went to Costco and bought a big Maxwell House can and gave each bean pot a couple tablespoons. That seemed to stop any more loss. When I planted the last few seeds in empty spots in ground I covered with either the ashes or coffee grounds and I ringed the bean transplants with the coffee too. It seemed to have an effect, but I may also have missed the fly cycle, I'm not sure. I plan to do more experimenting with the coffee and ashes in 2024. I may even cover the top inch of my starter pots with coffee and then plant into that. I was also considering buying some nematodes to plant alongside the beans, an expensive option though.

I have not done coffee grinds or ashes, or anything really other than sulfur fertilizer products. The my garden has high soil test values for about everything other than sulfur. I am lazy and don't work under weeds and old plant fodder in the fall like I should, apparently the plant tissue attracts the insects to lay the eggs. I need to work under the fodder. Never had an issue until a year or so ago with the SCMaggots I neglected to do rototilling that like I wanted to again this year.
On your Nematode idea I'm sort of confused? My understanding of soybean cyst nematodes is they are bad for row crop production soybeans, and other crops too I've pulled soil samples for them and sent them into a soil test lab in my garden and I don't have high egg counts with the clay soil . Ive seen them in sandy fields planted to soybeans. They cause a yellowing and dead tissue on soys. Dry beans also? Idk. I'm not familiar with purchasing nematodes for a garden? Maybe there's a beneficial one? Idk. The nematodes came to America via soy beans from China originally.
I tried sevin in like a granule form one time that is spread and it didn't work for seedcorn maggots for me. Another possible solution i might look at the labels of over the counter bug sprays that can be bought at a farm store, maybe something could be sprayed in seed trench or soil applied. Bifenthrin or sevin dust in furrow? Not sure

 

[flowerbug]

i'm pretty sure i've never seen the sort of damage done by cornseed maggots.

most of my gardens are fairly heavy clay soils and i'm not sure if that makes a difference or not for them.

maybe because i do very little cool weather planting but also perhaps because for the most part when i'm done with a garden all of the garden debris is usually buried down at least four to six inches. rarely is anything left on the surface. it actually is not due to a preference of mine as i would much rather leave some mulches on the surface but Mom considers it untidy looking so for her a cleaned up garden in the fall looks bare dirt with nary a twig or leave to be seen.

i have had some plantings not make it due to poor seed quality or predation from various critters but nothing like the pictures i've just been looking at.

i don't use any mulches, ashes or coffee grounds when planting and rarely have green manures available or any other things. what i do tend to use for fertilizer is the worms and worm compost but that is usually buried 4 to 6 inches deep or more (and i've found that the beans don't sometimes do well with it the first season so it works better when the beans are rotated into a garden where the worm compost was used the previous few years).