2018 Little Easy Bean Network - Join Us In Saving Amazing Heirloom Beans

[Beanfan]

@flowerbug
I am in the Pacific Northwest, so we have a somewhat maritime climate but can get some unusual cold from the east. First frost here could be Oct. 31, it has been Dec. 20 one year which injured some trees that were not able to harden off gradually.

I will just have to hope MCP can manage to mature, right now the pods seem to be plumping up well but have to finish and dry down.

 

[flowerbug]

I have an outcross that I have been growing since 2013 that has a seed coat similar to "Pale Grey Lavender", and another bean I got from a lady in Pennsylvania and grew this year called Giant Nilgiri. After I get all my photos of beans done you will see them all here. Will probably start posting my 2018 grow outs late next week.

always ready for bean pictures! i will have some too eventually once i get them dried out and ready to go. usually more of a winter project for me to final sort and gloat over all my little pretties.

 

[flowerbug]

@flowerbug
I am in the Pacific Northwest, so we have a somewhat maritime climate but can get some unusual cold from the east. First frost here could be Oct. 31, it has been Dec. 20 one year which injured some trees that were not able to harden off gradually.

I will just have to hope MCP can manage to mature, right now the pods seem to be plumping up well but have to finish and dry down.

they are still green and not much plumping going on. we've had so very little sunshine for the past three weeks (and gobs of rain). no hard frosts yet, but once in a while now the overnight temperatures are getting into the high 30sF. the plant is still flowering in places.

no idea what i'll get from it. i'm trying to be patient... ha...

 

[Decoy1]

Lima beans. My U.K. climate is basically maritime with moderate rainfall (58mm per year) and summer temperatures in the 60s and70s for three or four months.
I haven’t tried growing any Lima beans yet but wanted to ask whether varieties are very variable in their requirements and whether there are recommendations for any which might thrive more easily in my conditions.
Also I’ve succumbed to buying some very pretty red Madagascar beans from eBay. I think they’re probably unlikely to do well but wondered whether in a good summer I might get a little yield from them. I gather they’re perennial but whether they’ll survive our winters (usually down to only about 16 degrees) I have no idea. Would welcome any thoughts.

 

[aftermidnight]

A question for you seed savers...

Would it help to remove all the pods from a cluster of pods that don't have a chance of making seed before the weather turns. lf all the nourishment goes into the one or two pods that are swelling would it make a difference?

Annette

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know, Annette. I tried that once on one that went all of my long season. It took forever to bloom and set pods. Then the vast majority of the pods did not swell. When they dried up no seeds had started. A few had seeds start but they did not develop at all. So I took all but a half dozen of the best looking pods off that plant. I got no seeds.

But that was a segregation, not an established variety. Maybe it was not meant to make seeds after all. Let's see what others say but what do you have to lose if they are not going to make it anyway?

 

[aftermidnight]

@Ridgerunner I can already see seeds forming in a couple of the pods when back lite by the sun so thought if I took the other pods off all the energy would go into helping the seed mature. They wouldn't go to waste we'd eat em'.

 

[Zeedman]

A question for you seed savers...

Would it help to remove all the pods from a cluster of pods that don't have a chance of making seed before the weather turns. lf all the nourishment goes into the one or two pods that are swelling would it make a difference?

Annette

It might... or it may just trigger the plant to return to a vegetative state & begin putting its energy into new growth. It might actually be more effective to stress the plant, perhaps by removing not only some of the pods, but a good portion of the leaves as well. That is basically what usually happens here naturally, when the first light frost damages some of the leaves, but the pods & stems survive. Ripening always goes into overdrive at that point.

Lima beans. My U.K. climate is basically maritime with moderate rainfall (58mm per year) and summer temperatures in the 60s and70s for three or four months.
I haven’t tried growing any Lima beans yet but wanted to ask whether varieties are very variable in their requirements and whether there are recommendations for any which might thrive more easily in my conditions.
Also I’ve succumbed to buying some very pretty red Madagascar beans from eBay. I think they’re probably unlikely to do well but wondered whether in a good summer I might get a little yield from them. I gather they’re perennial but whether they’ll survive our winters (usually down to only about 16 degrees) I have no idea. Would welcome any thoughts.

Sorry to say, but I've grown the Madgascar lima, and I don't think it will succeed there. It requires a long warm season, and just barely matured here. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try though... part of the joy of gardening is pushing the envelope, and proving naysayers wrong. You might have better chances with a short-season bush lima (such as Henderson) in a sheltered location. Or... use large-seeded common beans or runner beans as you would limas. Runner beans for that purpose are one of the last surviving vegetables in my garden right now, I'm almost hoping for the freeze to arrive, so I have an excuse to finally pick them.

 

[flowerbug]

Lima beans. My U.K. climate is basically maritime with moderate rainfall (58mm per year) and summer temperatures in the 60s and70s for three or four months.
I haven’t tried growing any Lima beans yet but wanted to ask whether varieties are very variable in their requirements and whether there are recommendations for any which might thrive more easily in my conditions.
Also I’ve succumbed to buying some very pretty red Madagascar beans from eBay. I think they’re probably unlikely to do well but wondered whether in a good summer I might get a little yield from them. I gather they’re perennial but whether they’ll survive our winters (usually down to only about 16 degrees) I have no idea. Would welcome any thoughts.

i really don't know myself as i've only grown two kinds of lima beans so far. it is up into the mid-90s at times here. 58mm of rain doesn't sound right to me for anyplace in England? did you mean 580mm instead? (that would be closer to what an average year for us is like - but this year we're easily double or triple that).

if i went out there now i'd be surprised if they weren't flowering again. they seem to keep going as long as the hard frosts don't get to them.

 

[flowerbug]

A question for you seed savers...

Would it help to remove all the pods from a cluster of pods that don't have a chance of making seed before the weather turns. lf all the nourishment goes into the one or two pods that are swelling would it make a difference?

Annette

it's a good question, but i would say that the effect may only be limited to pods near leaves that remain. the further away a pod is from leaves the more time it would take for the energy in the sap to travel. at least that is my guess.

my own experiences with pulling pods off plants here (the ones that are empty and not forming beans) is that i do it to make future picking easier on myself and to give the worms something to munch on. i'm not sure if it stimulates more growth or flowering either. it seems so weather related to me for some plants. they can have what looks like a full crop only to have the pods all empty or the beans not fully formed. the Early Warwicks and Coco beans are like that here this season. i think a few pods finally did produce a few seeds, but nothing like the number of pods that formed.