2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[jbosmith]

I love all this squash varietal awareness! Being someone who is really into all the nuances of different varieties within an edible species (also why I love LEBN!) I so enjoy the observations, trials and harvests of others. ❤ Squash probably won't ever be grown in my own gardens much because I just don't have enough space. So I live vicariously.

I don't grow often grow a lot of viney types anymore, but I had some quack grass sneaking into one garden and wanted to cover it with landscape fabric for the year, so it gave me some room to play.

I was kicking myself 2 days ago that I pulled out most of my poles, given that the frost didn't ultimately come down when it was threatening. But, it will rain for 3 days straight now, so yup, I guess I made an inevitable decision in the end.

I can't believe how much gardening can be like gambling.

I've done this more times that I can count, and also waited too long far too many times. I harvested sorghum this morning, and in the 'just a few more days' I gave them, the chipmunks found a bunch of the seeds. Jerks.

 

[heirloomgal]

Oh no! Funny how those little guys turn into such little looters at end of season. I'm growing the White African sorghum this year, and heads are still not mature. But they grew hugely tall, over ten ft, so I'm thinking they won't risk climbing all the way up there. But that's a hope, not a certainty..

 

[jbosmith]

Oh no! Funny how those little guys turn into such little looters at end of season. I'm growing the White African sorghum this year, and heads are still not mature. But they grew hugely tall, over ten ft, so I'm thinking they won't risk climbing all the way up there. But that's a hope, not a certainty..

Speaking of late season pests, I just noticed movement on one of the bunches of sorghum heads, shook it and .. weevils! In my house! With the beans! If anyone needs me tonight I'll be sitting on front of the bean rack, shotgun in hand, and a watchful eye on the hardwood floor around us.

Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration but it did motivate me to get a pint or so of each bean in jars with paper towels rubber banded on to keep seed stock safe. I'm not actually too worried because I deal with weevils from my community garden plot fairly often, and they don't crawl far. Still, better safe than sorry!

ETA: The sorghum is now drying in an outdoor shed.

 

[Jack Holloway]

Speaking of late season pests, I just noticed movement on one of the bunches of sorghum heads, shook it and .. weevils! In my house! With the beans! If anyone needs me tonight I'll be sitting on front of the bean rack, shotgun in hand, and a watchful eye on the hardwood floor around us.

Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration but it did motivate me to get a pint or so of each bean in jars with paper towels rubber banded on to keep seed stock safe. I'm not actually too worried because I deal with weevils from my community garden plot fairly often, and they don't crawl far. Still, better safe than sorry!

ETA: The sorghum is now drying in an outdoor shed.

Would dusting them with a food safe diatomaceous earth help at all?

 

[jbosmith]

Would dusting them with a food safe diatomaceous earth help at all?

Maybe? Good thought! I even have some. If I find time to thresh it soon enough I can just freeze it but otherwise I'll definitely keep this in mind!

 

[Blue-Jay]

I made an interesting discovery yesterday when I went picking pods at the pole bean plot. I always have planted one variety around two poles. Every two poles is another variety. Sometimes I make changes in the garden diagram and forget to make the change on my computer so I can print out the most recent diagram. Well when I planted Karachaganak the next two poles north of that was two poles of Gila River. The Karachaganak plants I know were stunted and died eventually and it seemed that one of the pole planting of Gila River didn't grow. I also had done a lot of replanting of seed after the early June cool wet spell. So when I took a couple of pods off what should have been the only Gila River planting that grew. Then opened one of the pods. I said that's not Gila River. I had harvested some of the seed off that same planting over a week ago and and had the same reaction and said to myself what is that. So when I got back home to see the seed I harvested over a week before and saw the coloring developed more as it had darkened. I realized I had planted another two poles worth of Karachaganak. Two poles worth stunted and died. One poles worth never grew and only one plant grew on the last of the poles that I had planted to Karachaganak and forgot that I planted four poles worth of that bean. The seeds are the long version not the rounded seed and it's the climbing version. So I am getting some fresh seed of Karachaganak. In my bush bean planting I did get a small amount of Karachaganak bush. Yay! I'm happy about this and I can replant Gila River next year.

 

[heirloomgal]

Speaking of late season pests, I just noticed movement on one of the bunches of sorghum heads, shook it and .. weevils! In my house! With the beans! If anyone needs me tonight I'll be sitting on front of the bean rack, shotgun in hand, and a watchful eye on the hardwood floor around us.

Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration but it did motivate me to get a pint or so of each bean in jars with paper towels rubber banded on to keep seed stock safe. I'm not actually too worried because I deal with weevils from my community garden plot fairly often, and they don't crawl far. Still, better safe than sorry!

ETA: The sorghum is now drying in an outdoor shed.

Not laughing at your pain jb, but the visual imagery up there was just soooo evocative. Your a brave man to deal with those so calmly, the thought of them give me night tremors. And I've only heard of them, not seen 'em.

 

[heirloomgal]

I had only one very unusual, perhaps unlikely, bean grow out this year. Now that I've pulled the pole up, it's leaves have all fallen, and am storing it I can see what's reallyy going on. I'm surprised that this got past me, but somehow I managed to plant 4 plants for network bean Tremonti did Trebua. I intended to thin one since I usually plant 3, but must have forgotten as things went along. Anyhow, every plant appears to have produced different seed, though one seed type (which amounts to only a couple dozen seeds) might just be reversals from the correct form (white with black specks). The 1st to mature appears to be the correct version, then there's a later maturing purple podded one with all white/cream cutshort seeds. Huge production, I'm going to take a weight for them. One of the seed types is pure black, and it didn't produce much either. I'll post pics when we get some sun.

One thing I notice about these cutshort types, the 'cut' end always look browned? That is, if they're not black.

 

[jbosmith]

Not laughing at your pain jb, but the visual imagery up there was just soooo evocative. Your a brave man to deal with those so calmly, the thought of them give me night tremors. And I've only heard of them, not seen 'em.

When I was a kid we'd occasionally get a box of cereal or some flour with weevils in it, and finding them in your beans is nothing like finding them in a half eaten bowl of cereal.

 

[Zeedman]

When I was a kid we'd occasionally get a box of cereal or some flour with weevils in it, and finding them in your beans is nothing like finding them in a half eaten bowl of cereal.

Yeah, milk has a way of flushing them out.