2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[Zeedman]

wow, that's a large difference! 30 days would likely put a plant into the frost zone here. why such a large range and not something more like 15 days?

Each successive soybean Maturity Group is about 10 days later than the one before it. Those Maturity Groups are:
000
00
0
Then the Roman numerals
I
II
III, up to X (with X being tropical)

Because soybeans are somewhat photo-period (daylength) sensitive, there is not a direct correlation between Maturity Group and DTM. I've tested that several times, by using early transplants vs. later direct seeding. Flowering began at nearly the same time, and at most, the transplants only gained 1 day for every 2-3 days started early. The last time I tried this, with transplants started 2 weeks earlier, dry down was nearly identical.

In my zone, the highest Maturity Group which I can reliably grow to maturity is Type II... and more often than not, those are a race against frost. This year, I planted a Type II soybean 3 weeks late, (was really crossing my fingers there ) and it still matured at about its normal time.

Several years ago, I tried to grow a soybean in a higher Maturity Group than is recommended for my zone, (Type III) using transplants. Contrary to expectations - especially given my success with growing long-DTM pole limas through the use of transplants - it didn't help. The plants were exceptionally bushy, but still didn't bloom until very late in Summer, and the pods were not even close to maturity when frost arrived. Having seen this excessive foliation in other tropical vegetables I've grown (such as hyacinth beans, rice beans, and some yardlongs) I've come to associate that with the response of short-day adapted varieties to the longer Summer daylength at my latitude.

An interesting observation. Normally, the USDA climate zones are irrelevant for vegetable gardening, because those only refer to Winter hardiness. However, those climate zones also generally follow the dates of first frost. The USDA map for recommended soybean Maturity Groups tends to follow climate zones, rather than latitude. Assuming that all soybeans of a given variety & planted at the same latitude will flower at the same time, those grown in warmer climates - such as the U.S. East Coast - will have more time to mature before frost. Presumably that would apply to gardeners close to the Great Lakes as well.

 

[ducks4you]

English, Doc, English!

 

[Zeedman]

English, Doc, English!

Beans & soybeans good. Frost bad.

 

[Zeedman]

But..........the pods seemed fishy. Sometimes the pods wrinkle and sometimes not on the same plant depending on the drying conditions and if they change. So maybe it's that?

Looks like the source seed has crossing. Hopefully you can select & purify it in a few generations. The pure strain is fat, glossy seed - beautiful. I really hope I can fit this into a grow out one of these years.

 

[heirloomgal]

Hopefully you can select & purify it in a few generations.

Do the white seeds in the photo not seem like the true Lazy Wife? From what I recall that was what the original seed planted looked like? I had 3 Lazy Wife plants altogether, I'm thinking at this point (though most pods aren't shelled yet) only one plant was crossed....?

 

[Zeedman]

Do the white seeds in the photo not seem like the true Lazy Wife? From what I recall that was what the original seed planted looked like? I had 3 Lazy Wife plants altogether, I'm thinking at this point (though most pods aren't shelled yet) only one plant was crossed....?

Yes, the round white seeds are how the true Lazy Wife is supposed to look. If the other seed colors in the photo - and their different pod texture - are from seed planted as Lazy Wife, they are either crosses (most likely) or a very improbable mutation.

 

[flowerbug]

English, Doc, English!

i understood it. are you moving your lips when you read?

DTM is Days to Maturity not Dance the Malagueña

 

[flowerbug]

Do the white seeds in the photo not seem like the true Lazy Wife? From what I recall that was what the original seed planted looked like? I had 3 Lazy Wife plants altogether, I'm thinking at this point (though most pods aren't shelled yet) only one plant was crossed....?

those crosses sure are pretty!

 

[heirloomgal]

In the hope of avoiding (or reducing) sprouting, I planted Grandma Gina on the South side of a pole building, where the vines would get a lot of reflected heat. The seeds in pods that dried on the vine didn't have splitting; but all seed was deformed. Pods harvested while still moist & brought in to dry under a fan all had either sprouting, or deformed seed. Sad to say, my grow out is so bad that I am just trashing the entire lot. Never had a bean perform so poorly - in a year when all other beans did well. I'm actually going to burn all vines & pods, rather than turn them under.

There is a poster on another forum who also grows Grandma Gina, and complains of the same issue. The problem is likely genetic, although I can't positively rule out seed-borne disease (hence my burning of all debris). I've only grown one other bean with even close to this level of bad seed (Champagne) and it would at least have 1-2 good seeds per pod.

I'm sorry to hear they didn't succeed. When I grew GG''s last summer they were wonderfully healthy plants, and almost TOO healthy in their vigour to sprout the developing seeds. I didn't have any malformed seed at all, just some (about 1/2) seeds that were not dry, and only just colouring up as they sprouted, just like Artorius described. The pods were SUPER fleshy, the fattest I've seen I think. I guess I should be grateful I got so many good seeds from it considering what a difficult variety it is to grow.

I read about a bean phenomenon called domestication syndrome, and I think that been has it. Makes sense because it is such a Rolls Royce type of mega romano type green bean. Hyper selected I'm sure for super thick, super huge pods.

 

[heirloomgal]

This is my concern in growing soy in my cold gardens, and those gardens have a similar climate to @heirloomgal's. This all gives me a lot of hope! I'm also jealous of both those swirls and the yield. My Ezonishiki gave me around 6 oz from the same number of plants.

I didn't direct seed them though! I treated them like bean royalty in my zealousness to succeed! But still, I believe you could grow these as well if you're willing to spoil them a little. Well, a lot maybe. I think having transplants, and pulling them out to dry undercover at first threat of frost, helped a lot to bring them across the finish line. Also, I spaced the plants @12 inches apart. That sped them up I'm sure.