2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[flowerbug]

@heirloomgal the issue i'm having is only with one bean planting and none of the other bean varieties are affected. i don't think it is the bug you are referencing. i do see isolated cut worms and damage from roving critters, but nothing in quantity which would make me think i have an infestation.

 

[Triffid]

I caught a few of these bean fly maggots in the act a couple of years ago. Pot-sown beans were coming up blind, pulled a few and found them munching on the heads of the ones still underground. Looked just like onion fly maggots. Fortunately haven't seen signs of them since.

 

[Boilergardener]

After looking through some of my pest ID books and corn and soybean field guide book at work i believe that Seedcorn Maggot = bean seed fly.

they are the same insect according to a google search, im guessing Europeans call it bean seed fly and The American Agriculture universities such as Purdue, iowa state, illinois, pick your favorite land grant University, etc, call it seedcorn maggot. If you search it on your web browser the universities basically say that insecticide treated seed will take care of the problem for farmers. i spread some sevin dust but in prill form before i planted the network beans and still got the seedocrn maggot damage.

 

[Triffid]

@Zeedman Thanks to Russ I'm growing Uzice Speckled Wax this year and it's good to know they also make good shellies in addition to the edible pods. I've been hoping to try more beans as shellies as I'm in love with the Appalachian beans where you eat both the pod and ripe green seeds. Shelling peas are the gardeners' staple here; I wonder why shelling beans never caught on. 🤔 Do you have a photo of the Uzice bush bean?

 

[flowerbug]

all finished planting the beans. other than putting in some bare spots that didn't germinate. today and yesterdays list of beans planted was pretty long, but that is because i planted a mix of beans in 6 & 1/2 rows (which is 5 double rows and 1 row of 3 lines because that was where i ran out of room and didn't want to waste the space. it probably will mostly get eaten by critters anyways, but we'll see what happens).

(3) Huey, (5) Purple Dove, (5) Yellow Eye (ES), (3) Lima, (3) Victoria Brown Eyes then the mix had more Purple Dove, Commodore, Conserva, Improved Golden Wax, Top Notch, Spotted Pheasant, Venda, and White Refugee. i don't know how well those beans in the mix will do as some of them were older so i included plenty of Purple Dove because those seeds were fresh plus we like them fresh, shellies or dry.

this is a nice garden to finish with because i never know how much of it will get eaten by critters as it is outside the fenced area where most of the other beans are at, plus it's a big garden so whatever is in there is pretty much considered a bulk bean even if some of them get picked for fresh eating. the mix is mostly fresh eating beans too so if that works it will be a bonanza bean year for us and we've not really eaten many wax beans in the past few years so it would be nice to have some more of those for a change.

 

[Triffid]

A longer than average bean filled post for the record; just realised I haven't listed which varieties I'm growing this season. Network beans marked with an asterisk. Plus some pictures of crosses and offtypes 🤤

French, climbing and dwarf
Atlas (wax), Aurie de Bacau crosses F2, Babcia Aniela (D), Barksdale (wax)*, Brown Tobacco Worm, Crochets de Savoie (blue-seeded), Eddie Sim's Travelling, Fortner Family Greasy, Gialét, Hodson Silver Wax (D), Laughing Arlie Greasy, Lil Daisy*, Mazlenk Visok Dolgi Stroki (wax), Mountaineer White Half-Runner, Myrtle Allen, Non-Tough Half Runner, Old Joe Clark, Ortner Speck, Petit Carré de Caen, Paarse Johan, Petit Gris, Petit Gris Variant, Phil's, Pink Tip Greasy*, Quatre-au-Mètre, Robert Hazelwood, Rockwell (D), Sallee-Dunahoo Family White Greasy*, Striped Bunch, Užice Speckled Wax, White Seeded Cherokee Trail of Tears, White Simpson Greasy, Wide Pod White Greasy*, Cherokee Greasy, Cherokee Long Greasy, Noir de Belgique (D), North Carolina Long Greasy Early, Frye's Golden Goose, Frye's GG Offtypes, Frye's GG Dwarf Offtype (D), Romanian x St. George F2, Saint Esprit d'Oeil Rouge (D), Veitch's Wonder/Nain de Veitch (D)

Runners
Aeron Purple Star, Blackpod (longer reddish variant from last year), Judión, Piękny Jaś Wrzawski, Salford Black

The Aurie de Bacau crosses were discovered in 2021. The F1 seeds were identical in appearance, as expected, but the resulting plants produced 3 distinctly different pods. So the cross must have involved pollen from several different varieties. The pod on the right is AdB; pod second from left had parchment; the other two had none-to-very little parchment. The seeds from the purple pods are the milky coffee colour that is so common in purple-podded varieties. The seeds from the greenish pods have the same khaki tones as their mother.

The Petit Gris variant was from one surviving plant (also 2021 season) so currently unknown whether this was a cross or mutation, but shall soon find out. The growth habit, blossoms, and pods all matched the descriptions of Petit Gris, but the seeds were about 3x the size and blue with a beige mottled pattern instead of grey with a brown eye. Is the fact that the seeds are so much larger than the original a give-away that this is a cross?

Some variability in Frye's Golden Goose. On the left are the original seeds from Gales Meadow Farm.
Seeds in the middle are fresh, from last year's crop, so the colour is brighter.
Cream seeds on the top-right are the 'FGG Dwarf Offtype' which appears to be stable after a couple of generations. This year I have enough seeds for a better assessment of growth, and hopefully taste for the first time. I do know that the pods are completely free from parchment, and 'creaseback' - the pods develop to be thick and filled out all around the circumference, with an indentation or crease along the suture strings (am I using the term correctly?).
On the bottom-right are some offtype seeds which I picked out of the original seed stock. What will come of them is anyone's guess. The 'FGG Dwarf Offtype' came from a seed very similar in appearance to the squarish brown one on the top-left of that offtype pile.

The Romanian x St. George F2 is a vulgaris x coccineus cross discovered by a friend last season. Currently all the plants are growing well, mostly epigeal cotyledons but a couple had hypogeal cotyledons. Some odd leaves here and there; they seem a little confused by their own genetics at times. No pictures yet I'm afraid.

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal the issue i'm having is only with one bean planting and none of the other bean varieties are affected. i don't think it is the bug you are referencing. i do see isolated cut worms and damage from roving critters, but nothing in quantity which would make me think i have an infestation.

It may not be @flowerbug , though delia platura doesn't really cause infestations like, say, aphids or spider mites. They are the kind of pest where you get a few here and there, mostly. I don't think they are drawn to one bean variety versus another, they will choose to lay eggs over a bean seed based on the weather of your planting day/period. In my case this year, it took me about a week to get all the beans in and the beans planted during the initial 2 planting days were affected. There was a cool wet spell after that planting, and I continued with the rest of the bean seeds once it warmed up. The rest were fine from that point on, the weather kept the soil warm and dry for those.

 

[heirloomgal]

After looking through some of my pest ID books and corn and soybean field guide book at work i believe that Seedcorn Maggot = bean seed fly.

they are the same insect according to a google search, im guessing Europeans call it bean seed fly and The American Agriculture universities such as Purdue, iowa state, illinois, pick your favorite land grant University, etc, call it seedcorn maggot. If you search it on your web browser the universities basically say that insecticide treated seed will take care of the problem for farmers. i spread some sevin dust but in prill form before i planted the network beans and still got the seedocrn maggot damage.

Yes, this is what I found too. The name tends to go by the crop the person is trying to grow! I think because the US grows so much corn - a favourite for delia platura it seems - it is referred to by that name, But onion growers call it onion maggots, and some people seem to just call them 'root maggots'. The bugs I guess aren't very picky!

 

[Boilergardener]

Yes, this is what I found too. The name tends to go by the crop the person is trying to grow! I think because the US grows so much corn - a favourite for delia platura it seems - it is referred to by that name, But onion growers call it onion maggots, and some people seem to just call them 'root maggots'. The bugs I guess aren't very picky!

Thats interesting. In my Purdue scouting book that pic is from it has a picture of the seedcorn maggot boring through soybean plants lol. Good to know.

 

[heirloomgal]

Thats interesting. In my Purdue scouting book that pic is from it has a picture of the seedcorn maggot boring through soybean plants lol. Good to know.

Is the soil in your garden sandy @Boilergardener ? I ask because I've read that these bugs are drawn to certain types of soil matter. Wondering if it's true.