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

journey11 · Aug 29, 2014

I picked and snapped 5 gallons of a combination of Top Crop, Powder Stars, Appaloosa and Sallee Donohoe wide-podded white greasy beans today and will can them tomorrow. Pulled up plants from 4 kinds of beans for dry seed that were ready. Gotta refer to their name in my notebook, got them ID'd by row number right now. Several more nearly ready to pull too.

aftermidnight · Aug 29, 2014

This year I'm growing some pole beans, seed bought at a farmer's market high in the Andes in Ecuador, received these in trade earlier this year. The seed was 10 years old but I did get a good many of them to germinate. I have no idea what kind they are but about half of them are flowering and producing beans, so at least these ones are not daylight sensitive. There was several different patterned seed coats in the mix and being old seed you couldn't tell what color they really were but I have harvested a few dried pods and the seed coats are mostly purple with swirls of a lighter shade.

They're about the size of pinto beans, definitely not a snap bean, I picked and steamed one, the pod was as tough as shoe leather but the tiny immature bean inside was tender and sweet, I should try another as a shelly. Most likely these are used as a dry bean. Any how it's been an interesting experiment.

The ones that haven't flowered, their seed coats looked slightly different, I was hoping they would have started flowering by now but it looks like the ones planted out in the garden aren't going to, possibly day length sensitive. I do have a couple of plants in the greenhouse but I'm battling spider mite, I keep spraying with safer's and they seem to be hanging in, so maybe these will produce something when the days get shorter.

Annette

Blue-Jay · Aug 30, 2014

Hal said:
@Bluejay77 What on earth is that one gigantic bush bean at the front of the photo that makes the others look tiny?

That dark green foliage and tall bush plant that makes all the others around it look like miniatures is called "Rose D' Eyragues". I obtained it from the private collection an employee of Garden Organic in the U.K. Pods were still pretty green at the time I was getting all this rain so I left this one in the ground to mature more. It's a cranberry or horticultural looking seed, but I noticed earlier this year some other colors in the pattern I hadn't noticed before. The original bean supply was purchased from a market in Paris. I grew it 2 years ago in our terrible heat and drought, and by looking at the plants then I had no idea that it would grow this large. The plants then were very tiny and the seeds were also quite small. The name translated from French to English is Pink Of Eyragues. Eyragues is a province in the south of France. I am very interested in seeing how this seed turns out.

Hal · Aug 30, 2014

Bluejay77 said:
That dark green foliage and tall bush plant that makes all the others around it look like miniatures is called "Rose D' Eyragues". I obtained it from the private collection an employee of Garden Organic in the U.K. Pods were still pretty green at the time I was getting all this rain so I left this one in the ground to mature more. It's a cranberry or horticultural looking seed, but I noticed earlier this year some other colors in the pattern I hadn't noticed before. The original bean supply was purchased from a market in Paris. I grew it 2 years ago in our terrible heat and drought, and by looking at the plants then I had no idea that it would grow this large. The plants then were very tiny and the seeds were also quite small. The name translated from French to English is Pink Of Eyragues. Eyragues is a province in the south of France. I am very interested in seeing how this seed turns out.

This is kind of ironic, last night before bed I was actually looking at that bean on the association Kokopelli site and thought it might be an interesting horticultural type.
I'm guessing being a French cultivar would likely cause it to struggle with heat and drought, how are the pods holding up with all of the rain?

Hal · Aug 30, 2014

aftermidnight said:
This year I'm growing some pole beans, seed bought at a farmer's market high in the Andes in Ecuador, received these in trade earlier this year. The seed was 10 years old but I did get a good many of them to germinate. I have no idea what kind they are but about half of them are flowering and producing beans, so at least these ones are not daylight sensitive. There was several different patterned seed coats in the mix and being old seed you couldn't tell what color they really were but I have harvested a few dried pods and the seed coats are mostly purple with swirls of a lighter shade.

They're about the size of pinto beans, definitely not a snap bean, I picked and steamed one, the pod was as tough as shoe leather but the tiny immature bean inside was tender and sweet, I should try another as a shelly. Most likely these are used as a dry bean. Any how it's been an interesting experiment.

The ones that haven't flowered, their seed coats looked slightly different, I was hoping they would have started flowering by now but it looks like the ones planted out in the garden aren't going to, possibly day length sensitive. I do have a couple of plants in the greenhouse but I'm battling spider mite, I keep spraying with safer's and they seem to be hanging in, so maybe these will produce something when the days get shorter.

Annette

Ecuador is right next to Peru, chances are the day light sensitive ones much like Nuna would like a 12hr day and 12hr night and cool temperatures due to elevation.
If they do flower please take note of the day length if you could please.

Blue-Jay · Aug 30, 2014

Hal said:
This is kind of ironic, last night before bed I was actually looking at that bean on the association Kokopelli site and thought it might be an interesting horticultural type.
I'm guessing being a French cultivar would likely cause it to struggle with heat and drought, how are the pods holding up with all of the rain?

The pods of this one seem to be holding up very well to all the rain. The pods seem too immature, hard, and impermeable right now. They seem to shed water well. When most of the pods yellow out and we still have a lot of moisture in the soil I'll just pull up the plants and hang them up on those poles and dry them way up off the ground. I've got a lot of dry stuff now. I'll be going to the bean plot tomorrow and clipping off a lot of dry pods. I may even free up some pole space to hang more plants.

the1honeycomb · Sep 1, 2014

FINALLY !!!!! I have Woza beans that are dry picked 4 pods today couldn't wait! the pods are about 6-7 in when dry they are yellow with a reddish series of streaks, the pod shrinks around the seed which is about the same size as the Orca. the beans also have red streaks on them, they are whitish, and very easy to get out of the pod.
Istill have some lazy house wife on the front fence but I don't see alot happening there.

the1honeycomb · Sep 2, 2014

Well my lazy housewife beans are finally drying I am not impressed. Only 3 pods from one plant 10 beans total I have one other plant still producing pods about 6 in the vines short easily hulled not a fave

journey11 · Sep 4, 2014

@Bluejay77 , I got lots of lovely beans off of Molley's Zebra and Star 2054 today. I'm leaving for a week of vacation tomorrow, but I will set them out to dry a little more and pack them up and send them to you when I get back, along with their notes. I think you will really like the Molley's Zebra in particular. I was very impressed with them.

Blue-Jay · Sep 5, 2014

journey11 said:
@Bluejay77 , I got lots of lovely beans off of Molley's Zebra and Star 2054 today. I'm leaving for a week of vacation tomorrow, but I will set them out to dry a little more and pack them up and send them to you when I get back, along with their notes. I think you will really like the Molley's Zebra in particular. I was very impressed with them.

Ok, Thanks Journey for all your efforts. Looking forward to seeing the new seed.

Enjoy your week on vacation.

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