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

[flowerbug]

i think i only have one network bean left to grow out here and i'm not sure how it will go this season, but i'll give it one last chance. i'm pretty sure i've returned some of them already but not ever a full amount. Montville...

 

[flowerbug]

I got a package of beans from @Blue-Jay yesterday and I am so excited!

it's like Christmas when the bean pods start drying down and you can see what nature (and your efforts) has provided. well of course too @Blue-Jay and all the seed care-takers before them too! it's a series of adventures for those beans and the people and the stories they could tell.

This year, I will be growing for the network:

• Beurre Dore
• Malathini
• Natal Coffee
• Deuil Fin Precoce
• Grune Aus Den Karpaten
• Kitoba

Looking forward to a great growing season!

same here! i hope they all do well for you!

i'm actually surprised by how well things worked out last year even if a few beans did not produce a huge return at least i did get something. that long hot dry spell had me worried for a long time but i kept on top of my watering and the garden soils have gradually improved enough that i'm getting better results each season. just once in a while i find a particular bean that doesn't like it no matter where or how i plant it.

 

[BeanWonderin]

I do a germination test on them every few years to see how they are doing.

Very interesting, @Blue-Jay. Do you keep track of the germination success rate to see if it has dropped off for any of the varieties over the years? Are the numbers for this year only, or an average over the years? What is your standard sample size?

 

[Blue-Jay]

Very interesting, @Blue-Jay. Do you keep track of the germination success rate to see if it has dropped off for any of the varieties over the years? Are the numbers for this year only, or an average over the years? What is your standard sample size?

This set of beans I did the first germination test in 2018. Then I did this same set in 2019, 2020, and 2021. I have gone three years now since I tested them. I wanted to see what might be the oldest age I could get germination out any of these beans. My average germination test size in 15 to 20 seeds. Some of the varieties have droped off a lot in the last three years. Some of the beans it is the luck of the draw on the seed as a couple of them actually showed a higher germination rate than they did three years ago. Some of the varieties haven't droped in germination percentage since I started doing this in 2018.

Out of two limas that I have been testing Purple Eye has held a high germination rate right along starting in 2018 it has gone 100%, 100%, 70%. 80%, and 100%. Only three of the 17 beans tested out at 100% this year so they are dropping off a little steeper. My Soldier bean is another that has been holding a steady 100%. I'm sure it will eventually sucumb in time. I think this kinda goes to show you there is always hope for old seed. You can always presprout old seed and plant the ones that have grown. Some of thse beans with a higher germination rate the seedllings also look vigorous and sprout all at the same time. I'll probably do this again in another two years.

 

[flowerbug]

mebbe two weeks from now i'll be able to risk my earliest bean planting (i use extra Purple Dove seeds for this because i have plenty of them to use and they seem to be resistent enough to cold weather snaps that i have a reasonable chance of getting them through light frosts if i cover them). we'll see what the weather forecast looks like then. until then, i continue to daydream about beans...

 

[Blue-Jay]

It sure doesn't look like we are even close to any kind of plantable weather here this morning. I bet we have at least two inches of snow on the ground. Streets and driveways are all melted. I just looks like winter today. Yuk !

 

[Blue-Jay]

Two years ago I sent sevral white pole beans to my bean farmer aquaintence in Twin Falls, Idaho. His company is called Gentec. He just now sent back his return on those beans. One of the beans Soissons Large White produced a black and white bean and I was amazed how much the off type looked like Skunk. He regrew this black and white bean again this past summer. He refrers to the bean as Soissons Field Cross. The bean produced mostly black and white beans again and threw off a small number that were white and even had the same seed shape as Soissons Large White. The Soissons off type even seems to mimic the seed shape of Skunk. I thought his return of this black and white beans was pretty interesting. Below are photos of both the Soissons off type and Skunk. I broke the Soissons up into three sample packets of about 15 seeds. There just happens to be two reddish redish seeds in this batch that I wouldn't grow out because of the color difference.


Soissons Off Type - Pole..................................Skunk - Pole

 

[heirloomgal]

It sure doesn't look like we are even close to any kind of plantable weather here this morning. I bet we have at least two inches of snow on the ground. Streets and driveways are all melted. I just looks like winter today. Yuk !

Same here. It snowed big wet snowballs and was blizzardy all afternoon. Feels like January now that everything is white again.

 

[jbrobin09]

I did a little germination project this past week. I have had about 17 bean varieties I've been keeping in baby food jars on a shelf in my cool basement since 2012. This seed has never been kept in a freezer. I do a germination test on them every few years to see how they are doing. The results are fairly surprising on many of them. Some varieties fair better with age than other. Considering they are all 12 years old except one the germination I thought was amazing.

View attachment 64741 Super Bean 2013 Pole Germination 60%
View attachment 64742Davis wax bush. 2012 Germination 26%
View attachment 64743Eden Prairie Dry Bush 2012 Germination 65%
View attachment 64744 Florida Speckled Pole Lima 2012 Germination 13%
View attachment 64745 Gillenwater Dry Semi Runner 2012 Germination 60%
View attachment 64746 Illinois Wild Goose Pole Dry Germination 43%
View attachment 64742 Improved Golden Wax Bush 2012 Germination 80%
View attachment 64748 Nova Star Pole Dry 2012 Germination 65%
View attachment 64749 Osborne & Clyde Pole Dry 2012 Germination 93%
View attachment 64750 Provider Bush Snap 2012 Germination 95%

Wow 65%+ germ rate is amazing after 12 years!

 

[TEAMVALOR786 SACTrial Lab]

Hi, I am intrested in registering for this network. Can you advise me on how to do so?