2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[Zeedman]

What is the optimal spacing for Piękny Jaś? I'm assuming the vines ramble a lot.

I planted them 12" apart in the row last year, on a 6' trellis. The vines did get heavier at the top than most pole beans, but not to the point where I had to cut them back.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Some recent bean mail. From a paying bean customer in Kentucky. Sent me three varieties that this person has grown and one of them has been in their family for over 150 years.

Sulphur a semi runner. Not the traditional light yellow round pea sized bean that we think of as Sulphur. I have seen this before where there are tan beans some people refer to as sulphur.

The second bean from this person in Kentucky is one called "Butcher Knife" a pole snap bean. The seeds remind me alot of Weaver. I wonder if grown in the same season how much alike they might be. The seed seems to be about the same color and shape as Weaver. If you compare the Butcher Knife bean with the Weaver photo on my website these are darker but that's probably because they might be older.


The third bean from this Kentucky gardener is one called "Old Red Stick". A snap bean they claim has been in their family for at least 150 years.

 

[Blue-Jay]

My bean farmer friend in Twin Falls, Idaho sent me several beans recently. He seems to have all sorts of contacts. He got some new breeding work from the University of California at Davis. They have done some work with Good Mother Stallards. They have transferred an I gene into the bean. The I gene makes a bean resistant to BCMV. They have maintained the GMS seed coat color and pattern. The seeds don't seem as round but more oval. UC of Davis also got a hold of a strain of Good Mother Stallard from a seed saver that is already resistant to the Mosaic Virus. They decided not to fiddle with that bean but leave it alone as it is. The new breeding that they came up with has two beans with a similar name to them. One is Canario Gmsx3 and Canario Gmsx6. Both of them are pole beans.


Canario Gmsx3................................................................Canario Gmsx6


Good Mother Stallard - BCMV Resistant

 

[Blue-Jay]

My farmer friend has his bean growing business called Gentec Inc. He sent me two other beans that he has grown. Both marrow type beans but one of them is named French Navy. Supposedly early in the state of New York according to a bean packaging company he got them from, but not early for Gentec in Idaho. Another bean called Munhall another marrow bean that stays together in the cooking process but the seed coat wrinkles a lot. The plant breeder he talked to said if a bean wrinkles when you grow it and after it dries will hold together well when cooked. The bean is called Munhall and is very productive. Both of these beans are bush types. I went through all these beans yesterday and weeded out the poorest looking specimens. I weeded out just about every single wrinkled beans of Munhall so I think this photo looks like are are pretty smooth. Those beans went into my bean soup making canister.


French Navy....................................................................Munhall


Also a new bean I got from a growers at the Appalachian Seed Swap in Pikeville, Ky last month. First Saturday in April.

A native bean called Awahsohs Bear. Seed looks a lot like Ram's Horn and Flood. Same coloring and markings. A little darker seed likely from the age of the seed. This bean is said to originate with the Mashantucket Pequot. Western Pequot nation along the Niatic River in Connecticut. Ram's Horn the second photo for comparison.


Awahsohs Bear

Ram's Horn

 

[Boilergardener]

I am very excited to plant the network beans i recieved last fall, I think 10+ varieties. I also purchased some 1x2 pine strips and cut a point in the end to use as Pole bean poles this year per your instructions. The question i have is how does one effectively get them in the ground? @Bluejay77 i wasnt sure if you used a large hammer, post hole pounder which i dont think will work, or pre dug holes etc. I remember you pounded then 12-17 inches in the soil, put 2 screws in them also to hold the bean plant as it grows up the pole.

 

[Artorius]

What is the optimal spacing for Piękny Jaś? I'm assuming the vines ramble a lot.

In Polish plantations, the spacing between plants is 50 cm. Spot sown seeds, 2-3 pieces each. Piękny Jaś grows very high and expands strongly to the sides.

 

[flowerbug]

I am very excited to plant the network beans i recieved last fall, I think 10+ varieties. I also purchased some 1x2 pine strips and cut a point in the end to use as Pole bean poles this year per your instructions. The question i have is how does one effectively get them in the ground? @Bluejay77 i wasnt sure if you used a large hammer, post hole pounder which i dont think will work, or pre dug holes etc. I remember you pounded then 12-17 inches in the soil, put 2 screws in them also to hold the bean plant as it grows up the pole.

he's mentioned using the flat side of a hammer to do it. for pounding poles here i have a four pound sledge hammer. not fast or easy sometimes (when it slips out of your hand it can hurt when you bonk yourself with it), but it does eventually work.

 

[Blue-Jay]

! I'm putting it to use with my green beans and can see that it makes a lot of sense

@Bluejay77 i wasnt sure if you used a large hammer, post hole pounder which i dont think will work, or pre dug holes etc. I remember you pounded then 12-17 inches in the soil, put 2 screws in them also to hold the bean plant as it grows up the pole.

I use the flat side of the head of a carpenters hammer to drive my pole steaks into the ground. I drive them about 12 to 14 inches deep. It has always worked well for me.

 

[Zeedman]

he's mentioned using the flat side of a hammer to do it. for pounding poles here i have a four pound sledge hammer. not fast or easy sometimes (when it slips out of your hand it can hurt when you bonk yourself with it), but it does eventually work.

Ouch.

I couldn't drive wooden stakes into my ground here... too many rocks. DW & I made a whole rock garden, from all the stones we dug up the first few years. All I use is metal poles, which won't shatter if I hit something. But even with them, I use either a pole driver (for T-posts) or a 12" length of pipe - with screw on pipe cap - to pound smaller poles. The pipe helps keep the pole straight, and provides a good flat surface to pound on. No chasing a dodging pole with a hammer (which often leads to the ouch).

But the main reason I would recommend placing a capped pipe over a pole to drive it is safety. The pipe will catch any flying splinters; and if properly sized to just fit over the poles, may even reduce damage to the stakes. You still have to watch for debris when pulling the pipe off, and be careful not to bonk yourself if lifted above head height. The piece of pipe doesn't weigh much, and is less dangerous than the hammer which drives it. For wooden stakes, this is the best & safest option.

But if using a much heavier pole driver, you REALLY need to be careful when lifting it off of a tall pole. For my 6.5' trellis poles, I've learned to flip it up & over... and be prepared to dodge quickly if I lose my grip.

If pounding directly on ANY pole with a hammer, be sure to wear eye protection - especially pounding metal-on-metal. If you ever need to get an MRI, that forgotten metal shaving/splinter could give you a very rude awakening. Talk about "ouch".

 

[flowerbug]

Ouch.

I couldn't drive wooden stakes into my ground here... too many rocks. DW & I made a whole rock garden, from all the stones we dug up the first few years. All I use is metal poles, which won't shatter if I hit something. But even with them, I use either a pole driver (for T-posts) or a 12" length of pipe - with screw on pipe cap - to pound smaller poles. The pipe helps keep the pole straight, and provides a good flat surface to pound on. No chasing a dodging pole with a hammer (which often leads to the ouch).

But the main reason I would recommend placing a capped pipe over a pole to drive it is safety. The pipe will catch any flying splinters; and if properly sized to just fit over the poles, may even reduce damage to the stakes. You still have to watch for debris when pulling the pipe off, and be careful not to bonk yourself if lifted above head height. The piece of pipe doesn't weigh much, and is less dangerous than the hammer which drives it. For wooden stakes, this is the best & safest option.

But if using a much heavier pole driver, you REALLY need to be careful when lifting it off of a tall pole. For my 6.5' trellis poles, I've learned to flip it up & over... and be prepared to dodge quickly if I lose my grip.

If pounding directly on ANY pole with a hammer, be sure to wear eye protection - especially pounding metal-on-metal. If you ever need to get an MRI, that forgotten metal shaving/splinter could give you a very rude awakening. Talk about "ouch".

i normally have glasses on (plastic type so they're safety glasses compared to actual glass) so i'm pretty good in that regards. when i don't have my glasses on outside it feels wrong with the air hitting my eyeballs now so i don't usually do this. mowing is perhaps the time when i don't wear glasses the most because if i'm sweating a lot i don't like the glasses to have sweat coming down inside them.

if i had to pound on a lot of posts every year i'd certainly upgrade to something else and your ideas are well worth remembering in case that happens. thanks! right now i'm not doing any more fencing (i hope - our old fence around the vegetable gardens is leaning and may come down but i'm trying to pretend it's ok for now head in the sand is ok if you know you're doing it? ) at least not planning for this season... we'll see how the fence crumbles (instead of the cookie ).