Who's the bean expert?

[Hal]

Wow, great responses, Folks! It's been warm, humid and breezy here in central NC. The nights have been in the mid to high 60s and days have been anywhere between 83 to 95 for the past few weeks. My soil pH is right at 7. I haven't had to water very much because we've been getting summer showers and t-storms in the late afternoon. I'll have to water tonight because we've not had rain now for the past three days. Now since I originally posted this I do see my bush beans are finally starting to put on some pods. I'll probably go out this evening and see if there's enough to pick. But I still can't find a single butterbean. I see lots of blooms and they haven't been dying and falling off or I'd see those too.

Thanks, everyone for your input!!! That's why I hang around here.

I poked around to find the cut off temperature which is generally 90 and over will cause flower and pod drop. I'd say once you get below 90 consistently you will get your pods setting no problems.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Hi JimWWhite,

In your original post you said you didn't add fertilizer because you know the extra nitrogen causes your beans to flower but not set pods. However you said you worked in two bags of cow manure and worked it in before you planted. Do you know what is added to your soil when animal manure breaks down? Answer=Nitrogen. Beans are light feeders and your cow manure may have been just a bit too much. Your tomato plants would love the cow manure as they are heavy feeders. Composted manure would probably be alright for beans as the amount of nitrogren is greatly reduced. I have used composted manure on my beans without any ill effects, but not fresh manure. Perhaps as the season progresses the amount of nitrogen will be reduced and your butterbeans might start setting pods. Just let them grow and see what happens.

 

[JimWWhite]

Guilty. Not fresh, but it was well rotted, composted manure. And last week when I posted this plea for help I couldn't find bean one anywhere. But just tonight I picked two large metal bowls full of bush beans. Probably nearly 10 pounds. Unbelievable. Teresa said she'd put them up in quart jars tomorrow. And now I've found the first of my large speckled butter beans on their vines. Not mature enough to pick yet but I'm thinking next week maybe some butter beans. The only thing was when I found a couple of them I popped one in my mouth and started chewing on it like I would the bush beans. Mistake. Oh man, I couldn't wait to get it out of my mouth. Nasty.

 

[Hal]

Guilty. Not fresh, but it was well rotted, composted manure. And last week when I posted this plea for help I couldn't find bean one anywhere. But just tonight I picked two large metal bowls full of bush beans. Probably nearly 10 pounds. Unbelievable. Teresa said she'd put them up in quart jars tomorrow. And now I've found the first of my large speckled butter beans on their vines. Not mature enough to pick yet but I'm thinking next week maybe some butter beans. The only thing was when I found a couple of them I popped one in my mouth and started chewing on it like I would the bush beans. Mistake. Oh man, I couldn't wait to get it out of my mouth. Nasty.

Do not eat any of the Lima beans raw, they are the most toxic of the lot. I guess they have an inbuilt taste deterrent!

 

[JimWWhite]

You can be sure I won't be doing that again. Yuk! But on a lighter note, Teresa put up 6 quart jars of the bush beans this morning. I think that is so cool. She wants to try a recipe she found in one of her books to make pickles of some of the next picking we get. It looks like they will have beans, garlic, cayenne peppers and probably some dill. Looking forward to those.

 

[Hal]

You can be sure I won't be doing that again. Yuk! But on a lighter note, Teresa put up 6 quart jars of the bush beans this morning. I think that is so cool. She wants to try a recipe she found in one of her books to make pickles of some of the next picking we get. It looks like they will have beans, garlic, cayenne peppers and probably some dill. Looking forward to those.

It is always good to have some beans stored for winter, a little taste of the warmer months to keep your taste buds happy.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've got a bunch of canned green beans left over but I'll still can more this summer. Green beans are probably the most common vegetable we eat in the winter, corn being a close second. But I also canned dried beans by the pint. It's so easy to just open a can of already cooked dried beans instead of going through the soaking and cooking process.