2017 Little Easy Bean Network – Everything Beans, Post It Here & Join The Fun

[Blue-Jay]

@Ridgerunner I still haven't as yet harvested any seeds from the Karachaganaks that I planted. I did get a big surprise when harvesting one of my original beans "Choctaw" this year. I got quite a good supply of a bean it threw of this year that looks just like the Karachaganak seed.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That is interesting, hopefully that one will stabilize. That original is a really striking bean color and pattern. There is just something about that tan in the black.

I don't think that pattern is totally unusual, the separate white and colored areas. Tartan, one I grew last year from the 38's, is about the same pattern but is brown instead of black. I grew it again this year and it repeated so I don't plan on sending you any seeds from it. This is last year's seeds. The Karachaganak is from the 39's so a different ancestry.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Ridgerunner,

What is with the color on your Karachaganak? Is that the color you are getting this year or is that color from being washed out and faded from a lot of rain?

The black color in the eye patch from last season made the tan mottling in the eye patch look almost gold.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's the question isn't it, was it growing season? It was a cooler and wetter than normal growing season, grass stayed green practically all summer which is very unusual around here, but the last measureable rain I've had was August 17. I watered them some but it's been pretty dry for most of the curing season for them. By cooler the highs were normally around the upper 80's instead of the mid 90's or higher, maybe that made a difference. Weatherwise it's been a pleasant summer for around here. I guess I need to grow them again and see what happens, maybe it was just the growing season. I was going to grow them again anyway. I'm really looking forward to see what you get, especially after your Choctaw.

To me that eye looked three dimensional, like the tan was floating under the surface. In the very short time I've been growing beans I've had some really nice ones, but there was something special about Karachaganak last year. It's still a very nice bean but that something special is missing this year. Hopefully it is just the growing season.

Most of what I planted are finishing up but I have a few I got out late. I'll be watering those again today since our 50% chance of rain yesterday wasn't measureable here. I haven't gotten anything from the late ones yet. I have very few surprises this year, totally different from last year when everything was a surprise. Still there will be a few new ones.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I spoke too soon it was not Choctaw that threw out the karachganak looking bean but another of my orignal beans called "Purple Face". I'll get photos up one day.

 

[saritabee]

Wahoo, I got my first couple dried beans off the Cleopatra vines! They're nice because, even though the pod coloring makes it hard to tell by sight whether they're dry enough, they beans rattle in the pod when they're dry, so you can kinda harvest by feel.


There are a number of beans with this Rattlesnake-style coloring on the pod, and also a number of beans that started out green and then picked up a watercolor purple tinge (none of those are ready to pick yet). I think the latter are probably going to be true Cleopatras -- they've got the red-pink vine, the purple blossoms, and the same purple-wash pod. These Rattlesnake-y ones might be a new segregation... lighter purplish-beige color, fewer black spots, and a cream-colored hilium. But I'll see what they look like when I have a bigger sample size.

Journey11, do you remember if your bean pods kept the purple tinge all the way through to the end? (Or did the pods start getting spotty at the end?)

Here's the link to the description of the Cleopatras from last year:
https://www.theeasygarden.com/threa...-heirloom-beans-from-extinction.18995/page-48

 

[Blue-Jay]

@saritabee,

Your Cleopatras look a little bit different than Journey11's last year. Very neat looking. Lighter looking and more sparsely marked. I like them. I'll have to try growing some Cleo's next year and see what I get.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Anybody ever wonder what 2544 beans might look like? Some people might wonder why anyone would take the time to count 2544 beans, it wasn't fast.

Anyway, these are the beans I took off of one plant from the grow-out of the solid black beans I found in last years Bluejay beans. For those that don't know, Bluejay is a snap bush bean first grown and named by Russ. I got some seeds from a mail order seed company in Canada (with proper export license) and grew them as a snap bean. I found some solid black beans when I was saving dried beans. I planted a few solid black ones this year and got some very vigorous pole beans. I'll get into the others of these I planted later but this specific pole bean plant topped out on my 12' high trellis and wanted more. A very vigorous plant. The bean is not suitable as a snap bean unfortunately. After sorting and discarding any that were not suitable for seed or to eat I counted 2544 beans from this one plant.

When I was taking photos to post of the quart jar I took some with a flash and some without. When you look at them these beans are solid black. Before they totally dry out, if you open a pod you can see some purple on the bean but when it dries they are pretty much solid black. On a few beans you can see a purple tint even after they totally dry but not that many.

This first photo was taken without a flash. As you can see the beans are black.

The photo with the flash really surprised me though. On a lot of them the purple comes through pretty clearly. I thought that was really interesting.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Hey @Ridgerunner !

Something for you to get excited about. Below are some of the Karachaganak that I have recently harvested and allowed them to dry better for awhile. When first harvested the colored area of the seed looked a bit blue but upon some drying they now look black. I think when the mottling in the black darkens with age it will probably look gold against the black. Also took a photo of the typical pods that I've been getting. Does this pod shap look like what you have been typically seeing. The beans grew as a semi runner this year. not a high climber some to only about 30 inches. Many of the seeds look very rounded. I like the way they look. I think there is one plant that is producing the same colors and pattern but the seed looks just a bit elongated. I think you sent me just the right seeds last year.

I'm having some of the best drying weather I've seen in my life. Just about every single pod I pick off any variety looks nearly blemish free. I've taken a ton of pod photos this year they are such beauties.

Karachaganak - 2017 Style

Karachaganak pod - 2017

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm glad you are getting some good results on Karachaganak. I only grew two, both of those were not very vigorous plants but probably reached about 8'. Productivity was pretty low. If you look back at my post on the last page the #1's were shaped like your photo, pretty round. The #2's were bigger and more elongated.

That pod looks similar. Not many beans per pod.