2025 Little Easy Bean Network - Growers Of The Future Will Be Glad We Saved

[ruralmamma]

Now that the network beans are all in the ground and doing well, I've been going through my seed stash and selecting mostly new-to-me varieties to fill in any empty spots in the garden. I have a few half runner varieties that have a pretty short maturity date and adding several bush beans to the mix as well including some from @flowerbug. I've asked my parents to save the cardboard flats canned cat food comes in so I'm prepared come harvest time.

Also will be looking into a label maker as I've noticed the Sharpie has already started to wear on one of the plant stakes after a few weeks. Thank goodness I made an illustrated map too.

 

[Blue-Jay]

So if the virus were to present itself, the best course of action would be to eradicate the plants and destroy the seed as well? If it was determined to be seed borne of course.

Yes this would be true you would destroy the plants just automatically without any further thinking. Most likely the virus is seed borne and you would destroy those too.

 

[flowerbug]

Yes this would be true you would destroy the plants just automatically without any further thinking. Most likely the virus is seed borne and you would destroy those too.

glad to say i've not seen much of any bean plants with leaves like that here through the years.

 

[heirloomgal]

OK, got some photos to show of Slavonski Zeleni. I believe some of the seeds had mosaic, but I'm not sure if it's all yet. I've already pulled a couple, but there are a few whose baby leaves still look good so I'm waiting for them to grow a bit more before I terminate.

Older leaves are cupped and funny looking, but newer ones not so much right now.

If they young ones turn cupped too, I'll pull them. And that would be it for Slavonski Zeleni

I will share with you what the Ontario bean agronomist told me back in 2021 I think it was, because I asked about mosaic when we spoke on the phone. I don't know if this might be different from one location to another, these people deal only within this province. (It's a big sector though because Canada is a leading exporter of beans worldwide, so they grow on a very large scale.)

They tell me the primary transmission of mosaic to plants here is a very specific bug, I can't recall the name though. It wasn't aphids. It was a bug often found in areas that surround crop fields, and I do recall that it jumps. I asked about the touching with hands and soil contamination too and she said that it's a non -issue. Mostly because she said mosaic does come up to some degree in commercial bean growing, but all the infected plants get tilled right back in along with all the other plants in the fall and the spots are clear the following year. She said it if it remained in the soil in the areas where mosaic infected plants had been tilled in the mosaic cycle would continue, but it doesn't. Plants grown over soil where the decaying mosaic plants are grow fine and aren't affected. According to her, commercial bean growing would be much more complicated or even impossible if they couldn't till mosaic infected plants because the fields are so huge. All the bean plants no matter the condition have to be tilled back in. So, while I did wash my hands after I pulled out some of Slavonski plants because I'm paranoid, I'm not worried about the soil. The row where I grew Slavonski last year has a different bean there now, and the leaves are just perfect on all of them.

I'm almost finished taking photos of the rest of the network beans, and I'll post those this week. All the rest look perfect, thank heavens!

 

[flowerbug]

@heirloomgal i'm not sure those plants are infected as it looks maybe more like either heat stress or some other issue. they don't look mottled or mosaic to me... could it be some other disease? sure, but it would not be one i would worry about here. mainly because i have poor enough soil in parts where i'd not be able to tell the difference between what you are showing and what might be normal.

 

[Blue-Jay]

OK, got some photos to show of Slavonski Zeleni. I believe some of the seeds had mosaic, but I'm not sure if it's all yet. I've already pulled a couple, but there are a few whose baby leaves still look good so I'm waiting for them to grow a bit more before I terminate.

These three photos look good. At this point it doesn't look like they have Mosaic at all. Hople it stays that way.

 

[ruralmamma]

The only time I've ever had any plants that looked remotely like mosaic was back in 2020 and I blamed that on a bag of herbicide tainted Black Kow manure I added to that bed when I filled it. That was the only bed I added it to and the only bed with any issues. When I started researching whether or not the composted manure could be to blame, I came across several reviews of gardeners having the same issue with it. I haven't bought a bag since.

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal i'm not sure those plants are infected as it looks maybe more like either heat stress or some other issue. they don't look mottled or mosaic to me... could it be some other disease? sure, but it would not be one i would worry about here. mainly because i have poor enough soil in parts where i'd not be able to tell the difference between what you are showing and what might be normal.

I didn't think of the heat, yeah that could be a factor too. It has been very hot. The older leaves are what look questionable to me really, not as much the newer ones of the remaining plants, so time will tell. I need to also factor in that some of my water, say from the rain barrels, is a bit compromised. Because the water is running down the shingles into the eaves troughing to the barrel, it would have some small amount of chemical introduction from the shingles. The small plants might have a harder time with that, but as the plants get bigger they get over it. It's possible anyway. Despite the bad look of the older leaves with some mild cupping and not smooth texture, they seem to growing fine so far. I plan to wait and see. And hope, because I'd really like to have that Slavonski Zeleni bean in my collection.

 

[heirloomgal]

The only time I've ever had any plants that looked remotely like mosaic was back in 2020 and I blamed that on a bag of herbicide tainted Black Kow manure I added to that bed when I filled it. That was the only bed I added it to and the only bed with any issues. When I started researching whether or not the composted manure could be to blame, I came across several reviews of gardeners having the same issue with it. I haven't bought a bag since.

I do think that the way plants look with mosaic is the way they look with a few kinds of contamination. Its the look of an introduction of something that affects the plants ability to grow properly, and I think that can be caused by multiple things. A viral introduction like mosaic, or a toxic introduction like herbicides.

 

[flowerbug]

... I need to also factor in that some of my water, say from the rain barrels, is a bit compromised. Because the water is running down the shingles into the eaves troughing to the barrel, it would have some small amount of chemical introduction from the shingles.

new shingles? perhaps a bit of a concern at first but after they've been on for a while and through some rains that doesn't bother me. i'm sure we get a lot more contamination from things brought in on the winds (dusts from farm fields and various sprays).

If there had been a long hot and dry spell and you took the rain off the roof and put that in the rain barrels instead of letting it bypass it could be an issue, but with older shingles that have been weathered enough it would not concern me at all. bird poo is fertilizer they provide it all the time very directly in the gardens here. the water rejecting gadgets are more for people who use their roof runoff for drinking water (which i don't think is very common in the USoA).