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

[Blue-Jay]

[QUOTE=" @Bluejay77, my two African beans' harvests are finally all dried and jarred and just awaiting a few days in the freezer before they're ready to return/store. I grew them both in containers so I could keep them away from my already in-ground beans and help prevent crossing.

Hereboontjie: I hadn't grown one of the larger-seeded limas before, just willow leafs and sievas, so I'm not sure if these are variety or "type" differences, but Hereboontjie had much thicker, stiffer stems than other limas I've grown, and didn't twine or climb as readily. Pods were big and thick-walled with a lighter green edge, and borne in clusters. About 10 weeks from planting to flowers, and another ~5 weeks to the first dry seeds. It's currently setting a second batch of young pods, which are slated for Halloween eating. I like the "vampire bites" (bowties?) on the seeds.

Heavenly Gold: 2 of the 3 seeds germinated, and then outgrew their poles and went 6 feet up the side of the porch before being checked by powdery mildew. Flowers were vivid yellow in bud and white when open. Pods were yellowish-green, wide and flattened, and turned greener and got purple streaks and blushing as they aged. To my surprise, the ripe seeds were bright purple & white, not at all like the red & white ones I planted! Water-damaged/old starting seeds, I guess. Heavenly Gold actually looked very much like Lilaschecke in all respects, which I also grew this year for the first time. I didn't try either so can't comment on any culinary differences. 8 weeks from planting to flowers, 2 weeks after that to snaps, and another 3 weeks after that to dry beans.

[/QUOTE]


Hi @sea-kangaroo !

The Hereboontjie seed looks so nice.

I also thought Lilaschecke when I first saw the Heavenly Gold seed. I grew Lilaschecke last year and got very similar pods from them. If my memory serves me well Lilashecke seemed to produce most of it's pods near the ground and it didn't seem to be that strong of a climber. Next time I grow them I might try to grow them like I do my half runners on the ground with out support like a bush bean. The Heavenly Gold seed looked really dark too, and I was wondering if it was even going to grow.

Thanks to you too for such a great job and well done.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Sea-K I grew Volta and Timbavati from Russ's African selection. Both were nicely colored orange or pinkish red when I planted them as you can see back in the third post in this thread but they turned out white when I harvested them. I think something in the soil affects the colors.

I'm one of those that had total absolute failure on one of the five varieties I tried to grow. No germination at all. But Russ is a gardener as well as a gentleman. He understood. I don't like it, but I don't feel guilty.

Hi Ridge,

If everyone who got those brightly colored beans. Like bright orange, and bright pink or bright red. Go back and reread my original posts when I put up the photos of those beans. Those beans that looked like that had an anti bacterial coating on them to aid in germination. Sort of protects them from soil bacteria as the germinate. I fully expected all those beans to turn out to be white seeded. I was not surprised at all. I think this fellow who sent me this African collection bought some commercial varieties he might have known were going to be dropped by African seed companies.

However some varieties seed coat colors are affected by different soils and changes in the weather in a growing season. The changes though are not so drastic that you wouldn't recognize them when you harvest their new seeds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thanks, Russ. I feel better now. I thought that was a pretty drastic change. And I'm glad I planted them with another variety in between them. Just looking at the harvested seeds I couldn't tell the difference between Volta and Timbavati, though the Volta was a little more vigorous in growth.

 

[aftermidnight]

I grew a pole bean this year, 'Paul's Polish Purple' the seed looks identical to the purple with white blotch seeds above. I'm wondering if it's really 'Lilaschecke' just with a different name. It's a wax bean, the yellow pod had a few red or near red streaks when mature. Are there other varieties of beans with this same colored seed coat?
Annette

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Lots. My FPM/AV is more or less this color (minus the blotch) but a longer, more kidney shaped seed. Bantu is close (maybe a little pinker/redder) From what I have seen, bright purple beans aren't all that uncommon

 

[baymule]

Too bad all these beautiful don't keep their coats of many colors after they are cooked. That would be a beautiful bowl of beans!

 

[sea-kangaroo]

I went back through my photos to see if I could spot differences between Heavenly Gold and Lilaschecke, and when I put them all next to each other they do actually have some noticeable differences in the pods. Heavenly Gold's are more steaked and (oddly) less yellow than Lilaschecke. Both of them grew to about 6 feet and set pods all up and down the vines, but HG was a much stronger, bushier climber. Have a look (sorry the photos are kind of gigantic):

 

[buckabucka]

Hi @buckabucka,

Got your seed return yesterday. They are just beauties. Thank you so much for your care of these beans. I had no idea that the Solwezi seed I sent you would come back looking like it did, really a pretty bean. That's why it's so nice to get these beans refreshed. We can now see what they really look like in their prime. I think what I actually sent you was one called Solwezi Variant perhaps. Do you still have the original packet the seeds came in? I will also check the African collection for the beans that didn't get grown this year to see if the Solwezi Variant is still here.

I think I probably do have the original packet, ......somewhere......I can poke around later. The color surprised me as well. I thought I planted kind of a brown bean. But the beans are lavender and gray. A few had a brownish area on them. If I find the packet I will let you know!

 

[buckabucka]

@Bluejay77
Found the packets. It does, in fact, say "Solwezi (color variation or off type?).

 

[Hal]

@sea-kangaroo Awesome photos, I like the comparison. I planted Heavenly Gold today as luck would have it.