Saving Yard Long Bean Seeds

[Ridgerunner]

Can I save the seeds of yard long beans if I have regular beans (lima, blue lake) growing in the vicinity? Supposedly, it is a different genus. Maybe the info below will help.


Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae (alternately Leguminosae) used for human food or animal feed.


Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis, the yardlong bean, is also known as the long-podded cowpea, asparagus bean, snake bean, or Chinese long bean.

This plant is of a different genus than the common bean. It is a vigorous climbing annual vine. A variety of the cowpea, it is grown primarily for its strikingly long (35-75 cm) immature pods and has uses very similar to that of a green bean. The pods, which begin to form just 60 days after sowing, hang in pairs. They are best if picked for vegetable use before they reach full maturity. The plant is subtropical/tropical and most widely grown in the warmer parts of Southeastern Asia, Thailand, and Southern China. Yardlong beans are quick-growing and daily checking/harvesting is often a necessity. The many varieties of yardlong beans are usually distinguished by the different colors of their mature seeds.

 

[bills]

Good question! I know I save bean seeds from my Scarlet runners, but the other beans I have growing nearby are all the bush type.
You may or may not get a hybrid. Let a few dry out and plant them next year, to see what happens.

I know that if you have a few varietys of squash growing nearby one another, the seeds won't be true to the parent plant.
I ended up with a zucchini/speghetti cross one year, not a great combination..

 

[patandchickens]

Conventional wisdom is that beans hardly ever crosspollinate. And by that I mean *similar* beans like 2 varieties of pole beans. Only a super paranoid person bags or isolates their beans.

Thus I would not even worry about purity (unless you are super paranoid) for two varieties of normal beans, let alone worrying about a cross between yardlong and normal beans.

Summary: go for it

Pat

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thanks. I did not expect it to be a problem, but I figure the only silly question is the one not asked.

Now, would anyone be interested in a few yardlong bean seeds. I have several that produce the green yardlong beans and a few that produce the red.

PM me if interested.

 

[injunjoe]

Thanks. I did not expect it to be a problem, but I figure the only silly question is the one not asked.

Now, would anyone be interested in a few yardlong bean seeds. I have several that produce the green yardlong beans and a few that produce the red.

PM me if interested.

These beans sound cool could you post a picture if it is not to late.

The question comment reminds me of my dear Dad/best friend.

He would say "He who asks questions is fool for five minutes, he who don't is fool for life".

Thanks that brought back some great memories!

"No workie, no eatie" Also Dad when he wanted something done!

 

[Ridgerunner]

These beans sound cool could you post a picture if it is not to late.

I'm letting these go to seed.

 

[injunjoe]

Hey Ridge thanks I have never had these type of beans.

Do you dry them or use them fresh, for eating I mean, I know you are using these for seed saving, but all season?

Thanks for posting some pictures.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can stir fry them or boil them like green beans. You harvest them like green beans, gathering them before they make the bean or turn white and pithy inside. You do not let them get to full length. The beans themselves grow very fast once they start and do not keep well on the vine at all. You have to pick them often.

In your climate I'd expect them to grow well but make sure you wait until the ground really warms up to plant them. I made the mistake of planting them too early and only one bean came up. Even when I replanted them in warmer weather, the germination rate was really poor. Still, it does not take a lot of plants to make a mess for the table. And, yes, mine lasted all season, but I had an unusually wet and cool summer. I don't know how they will handle hot and dry.

Check out this site for some more info.

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/yard-long-bean/Detail.aspx