The 2014 Little Easy Bean Network - Get New Beans On The Cheap

[Blue-Jay]

Hi Marshall,

Not VIOLET SUNSHINE, but "Shortwave Sunshine" LOL. Anyway I planted over 60 Shortwave Sunshine seeds this year and some are climbing like pole beans. Really strong climbers. I think they are going to be a snap bean. I'll send you some of the ones that have become pole types this year.

Ringwood is a bean that came out of White Robin last year. I didn't grow that one this year.

Blue Aspen is not Related to Choctaw. Blue Aspen came out of Crow River black and grew Crow River for the very first time last year and that's when I found Blue Aspen. Crow River was already outcrossed when I got the seed, and the person I got it from never ever had Choctaw. So those two never grew next to each other.

Dalmatian never grew near Chocolate, and Chocolate was another I grew for the very first time last year. The Dalmatian outcross had to happen before I ever knew the Chocolate even existed. Remember the Dalmatian outcross happened two seasons before. You found the Dalmatian outcross last year in '13 so the cross happened in '11, and that was even before I reacquired Dalmatian again. The two people that were growing Dalmatian (keeping it alive for me all those years) never had Chocolate in their bean collections. You really can't tell the parentage of new seedcoats by the color. Color genes in beans can do all sorts of things. I'm not sure even professional bean breeders can predict what they will get all the time even when they know the new beans parentage.

When you get everything harvested hope you will put up some photos. I would imagine everyone might like to see all the new pretties. For me I have to wait a month plus to see what I get out of some of the same ones you grew this year.

 

[baymule]

Glad to see you @marshallsmyth been wondering about you! Just figured you were busy with your summer camper duties. Hope you get your internet back up and running soon!

 

[journey11]

We've missed ya, @marshallsmyth . I hope they get your internet fixed soon. Wanted to tell you your Powder Stars have been one of the nicest specimens in my garden this year, strong and healthy. The first planting is close to blooming now.

 

[digitS']

Yeah, @marshallsmyth !

I'm not sure if your Safeway Cluster tomatoes are staying healthy but the dehybrid Lemon Boys look great!

In the bean patch, the Tiger Eyes are big and strong.

Steve
planning to plant Tyfon Holland greens tomorrow for a fall crop

 

[Hal]

Howdy all,

I haven't fallen off the edge of the world.

My internet service has been down for a few weeks and only get online for a few minutes in town on wifi.

Saw a bit there about Junin. Today I harvested a few seeds of Junin outcross, VIOLET SUNSHINE.

Wow, they are pretty, like candy. Much like mama Junin, but a peppermint red with almost violet swirls.

Russ, I've been getting a pretty good harvest in spite of the drought and heat. Only lost a very few, 3 or 4, varieties I think, and a few, 3 or 4 others only got a replacement amount. I'm not at home to get the exact names of those.

I really am doing pretty good on most of them, by far. Those that did not do well I have more to try again on next year.

NOW THE EXCITING NEWS!!!

Holy berjeebers, some of those outcrosses are absolutely amazing! some off the top of my poor brain include,

a super nice white seeded prairie patch with real wide pods for snap and smallish seeds in them, similar to gold of bacau only green ot meraviglia di venizia.

wondermere outcross, one of them is a splendid classic bush with borlotti colored pods that are 9 inches long, and candy swirled pink horticultural seeds. Super good, nicely productive.

RINGWOOD, did not say it is an outcross, but it is, for certain. I think 90% sure it crossed with a purple podded bean. One has beige seeds and green pods, and is a good upright DETERMINATE true bush. Growing well among the pole beans, somewhat shaded.
Another Ringwood is making deep reddish/purple pods with jet black seeds. 2 other ringwood plants ao far have green pods not yet ready.

Choctaw is having problems in the heat, but 2 of them are hanging in there. True blue seeds.

I am guessing blue aspen is related to choctaw. One of them also made real pretty blue seeds. Another one is making them like the planted seeds.

Shoshone's pods are slow ripening as are sandpiper's.

Oh, 2 black supernova bred true, but i think 2 others got outcrossed in my garden last year, making pods that are more like Dalmatian's, and they have silvery sheened black seeds.

Speaking of Dalmatian, the outcrosses from those are making me wonder if some variety like chocolate was the dad.

so much more going, sure i forgot a whole lot.

I'm online every 5 days or so until i get my satellite service fixed

I'm glad you have done so well with the drought going on! Great news on the Black Supernova.

 

[the1honeycomb]

Russ your beans are in the mail! hope they are up to your expectations! maybe sending more soon
Thanks for the chance to play and win!!

 

[Blue-Jay]

Wow Honeycomb !

Those are early beans. When did you plant them? I will let you know when they arrive.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Thanks for the last update on the Armenian Black bean plant, it looks like it's doing well.

For an update on the Prescott's Old Family Heirloom bean - all three plants are still with me and loaded with pods. Another month or so and I expect to be seeing some drying down pods. I do have a mild infestation of Mexican Bean beetles, but they're mostly distracted by the rest of my crop and I've been making sure that the beetles don't even touch the Prescott's Family Heirloom beans.

And a question for either you or Marshall - about how often do you run across natural bean crosses? I did a huge mass planting of dry beans from all kinds of different sources this year (we have a lot of bumblebees) and am very excited to see if anything interesting comes out of it.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Hi SeedO,

I see some evidence of bean crossing just about every single year. The more bees you have the more chance of crossing you will have, and a higher of percentage of crossing too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've got Lazy Housewife Red (pole) growing in two places. In the first, the one I'm growing for Russ's seeds, I wound up with only two plants through not great germination and a cutworm. Those are making pods right now. One is pure green but the other has some splashes of red on the pod. I'll try to keep them separate when I gather them and make notes of which is which although they are so close together that may be a challenge. Those were over the top of my 12' high trellis and starting back down but a strong wind came through yesterday and shredded the leaves. The seed pods are still there and I'm confident leaves will grow back, so I don't envision any problems getting plenty of seeds for Russ from these.

In the other area where I'm growing Lazy Housewife Red for me and as a back-up for Russ, I've had a groundhog eating the leaves off from ground level up to a couple of feet high or more. He didn't kill the plants, just kept the leaves eaten off. He was doing other damage too, but I got him yesterday. Groundhogs are hard! I'll pay attention to the pods on these when they start to make and see what happens with them, see if there is a prevalence.

The other three bush beans I have, Volta, Mahlathini, and Timbavati, are all doing well and making pods. I only have two Mahlathini plants so those are both going to seed. From the way they are growing I suspect they are more for dried beans or possibly a lima type anyway instead of green beans. I've got enough Volta and Timbavati to have split areas and have had just one mess of those mixed as green beans. Since that was a first picking they were kind of uneven. I'm withholding judgment on them until I try them a few more times. They were OK but not great.