2024 Little Easy Bean Network - Growing Heirloom Beans Of Today And Tomorrow

[jbrobin09]

You might want to try spacing your rows at about 8 feet (244 cm) apart and in the middle 4 feet (122 cm) plant a row of flowers like Zinnias. The flower pollen might dilute the bean pollen enough to cut down on crossing a lot. I save my Zinnia seed for planting with beans.

I once was looking at a book in a library about bean seed production. It said that seed companies would space there bean fields at least a mile apart minimum to prevent crossing of two different varieties.

I do interplant with loads of other plants, and have lots of bees (when the dandelions bloom you can’t take a step without risk of stepping on a bee!) so maybe that’s why I don’t see crosses. Very interesting! I will keep that up.

 

[heirloomgal]

I have had surprisingly good yields from those tepary beans posted above. Not as good as P. vulgaris beans, likely because the plants are smaller and each one doesn't yield that much individually, whereas I can get 1/2 pound from 6 common bean plants. But considering that they're a scorching heat adapted species I did okay with them.

I used to keep a perennial garden full of bee attractive blooms, and when I started experimenting with annual flowers even more showed up. So much so, that I actually stopped growing the annuals as much and the perennials are now mostly gone. I loved the orange zinnias I grew in 2023, they are beautiful plants, but man they were just covered in bees and even more so the closer to fall we got. I started to worry that what I called my distraction plants might be drawing bees as oppose to keeping them away from the vegetables. I think though my yard is way smaller than most of the bean growers here on the thread, so I have to be more careful than most with drawing insects in. So far, the rates of crossing has been quite low for how much I grow so I'm happy with that.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Blue Coco - Pole Snap. Left Photo. Purple poddes snap bean in about 72 days. Can be harvested at 3" as filet beans, remain tender to 5" without getting stringy. Supposedly tolerant of both heat and drought. French heirloom with likely primary origin in the Rio Coco area of Nicaragua and Honduras. Networik Bean that is not on the website. Was grown this year by a grower in De Soto, Wisconsin.

Borlotto Di Seluggia - Bush Dry. Right Photo. Cranberry type bean from northern Italy grown in the Seluggia area. Commercial variety in Italy. If you remember when I picked up a 30 pound bag of Joseph Simcox beans in February of 2023 at Karen Golden's house in Highland, Michigan. A bag of beans that Joseph had brought back from overseas from various countries. This bean is one of those surivors. Go to the website and see the old photo of this bean and compare it to this new photo. I will eventually update the photo on the website. I did germination tests on all those beans and eventually had to dispose of 35 varieties that no longer had germination from age. This years grower is from Janesville, Wisconsin.


Blue Coco............................................................Borlotto Di Seluggia

 

[Triffid]

Speaking of decoy flowers, if this hasn't already been mentioned... Phacelia tanacetifolia is the mother of all bee distractions.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Phacelia tanacetifolia

What is this and is it planted from seed? Is it an annual? What does it look like and how large does it grow?

 

[Neen5MI]

What is this and is it planted from seed? Is it an annual? What does it look like and how large does it grow?

One of the many common names for this plant is Bee's Friend. According to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, it's an annual, 1-3 feet tall, propagated only by seed. I can personally attest, it self seeds PROLIFICALLY. I grew it years ago when I was keeping honey bees. I've eliminated it from my landscape, or I'd happily send seed your way.

 

[ducks4you]

Speaking of decoy flowers, if this hasn't already been mentioned... Phacelia tanacetifolia is the mother of all bee distractions.

Very Pretty! It would go well in my wildflower plot. I had to hunt to find a dealer who I was familiar with who sold the seeds. NOT gonna buy the seeds from Amazon or Etsy!

Lacy Phacelia Seeds | Flower Seeds in Packets & Bulk | Eden Brothers

This lovely ornamental produces clusters of lavender/blue blooms that are highly attractive to bees and butterflies! Lacy Phacelia is a quick growing wildflower, often used as a cover crop, but highly valued for its lovely bloom and fern like foliage. If you are looking to attract pollinators...

www.edenbrothers.com

 

[heirloomgal]

Saw the funniest term yesterday, it was from a thing called The Guardian and while I'm horrified that publications like this are promoting cursing into the mainstream (so I won't link to it, I'll screenshot it) they made me laugh out loud with this -

I dunno, I have to admit I think I'd like the idea of being a Leguminati. Definitely don't want to be one of the other kind though.

 

[Zeedman]

Saw the funniest term yesterday, it was from a thing called The Guardian and while I'm horrified that publications like this are promoting cursing into the mainstream (so I won't link to it, I'll screenshot it) they made me laugh out loud with this -

View attachment 71052

I dunno, I have to admit I think I'd like the idea of being a Leguminati. Definitely don't want to be one of the other kind though.

Yes, I've gotta admit there is a seductive appeal to beans. It all started with that original Bean Dealer, who sold Jack those magic beans. Obviously we haven't changed much since then... still trying to pawn off exotic beans to the unsuspecting.

 

[Zeedman]

Poll: how far apart do you plant your vulgaris bean varieties to ensure uncrossed seed? I am reading 10-20ft, but I also took a webinar from the Seeds of Diversity group and the bean breeder kept mentioning how difficult it was to cross beans. So what spacing do you use between varieties, and do you see a lot of crosses?

I use 20-30 feet between different varieties, with other flowering plants between. Those could be long-blooming flowers which are good nectar or pollen sources (such as zinnia, cosmos, or flowering mallow). You can also use flowering vegetables, like cucumbers, squash, luffa, bitter melon, and okra. I really like trellises of pole limas as barriers; the flower very heavily, and are good nectar sources. The bees are swarming those when in bloom. I can only grow one lima without crossing, but may divide that into several rows spaced between different beans. I've had very few bean crosses using this method.

Provided the growing season is long enough, you might be able to grow two beans in close proximity using time isolation. I've done that using a short DTM bush bean, and a longer DTM pole bean... the first seeds from the bush bean, and last seeds pf the pole beans, are less likely to cross. You can also stagger varieties by starting some early as transplants, and direct seeding other varieties later.