2019 Little Easy Bean Network - Come And Reawaken The Thrill Of Discovery

Bluejay77 said:

@Ridgerunner,

So far what I have of Karachaganack is a semi runner. They send out runners and climb about 3 feet maybe more. I'll have to see what they do this year. I'm going to start growing my semi runner beans in hog panels. I think that will keep them off the ground and give me more and much better quality seed. I have both the rounded and longer shaped seed. Now a true bush in that seed coat would be neat to have also. If they remain true through three grow outs they are considered stable. I wonder what you will wind up naming it. If I don't get any true bush ones without runners I would like to get some of your seed for the bush. Will see what happens as I do plan on growing it this year. Would be neat if the Bush one shows up here also. This year will be the third grow out of Karachaganack for me. Hope I don't get any off types except for a bush one. Perhaps I should only plant the rounded seed also.

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My Karachaganak climb, twine around things as they go. It varies a bit where I plant them but they typically get 6' to 8' high, somewhere between a half runner and a pole. I would not call production great but it's pretty good. Instead of all the production at one time it seems to stretch out a bit. This was my second grow-out, I lost last year when I moved.

I've used some good names on beans that don't stabilize so I hate to use one on this bush. I have a special name in mind for the next nice unnamed bean that does stabilize so why not a working name of "Kara Bush"? Imaginative, I know.

I plan to plant this bush bean as soon as I get over this summer cold, hopefully later this week. If you want to grow it this year I can send you a few seeds. They still need to dry a bit for storage but I'd expect great germination. Let me know.

There seems to be variation in the growth type in my Karachaganack even with just a few plants. I don't recall any differences in the seed I planted but I wasn't expecting any so wasn't on the look out for it. Anyway, all were slow to climb and so far some still are not.

My off-type Refugee are also not climbing yet, I hope they do as I don't want bush beans. Even right now without any heavy pods a storm last Wednesday laid the bush vines down in the mud and it's been raining ever since. Not likely I'll get much from bush beans this year, this happens way too often which is why I'm phasing them out.

Hog panels are great for rows of semi-runners and it just takes one steel t-post to hold them up. My big rows of semi-runners this year however are growing on regular 4 foot tall woven wire. I have 25 feet of Refugee, 25 feet of snap bean mix, and 50 feet of dry bean mix. I didn't plant my full size pole type mix this year.

@Ridgerunner,

Thanks for the offer of seed for this year, but I don't have any room for another bush bean in my plots. Will have to be another year. I'll let you stablize them first. Kara Bush is a neat name for them. Or just Kara.

When I put up the hog pannels I will stupport them with two steel t-posts. One at each end. That should really help take care of any wind load that the plants might create.

Got to finish my 2,200 plus off site pole bean planting today and want to get my south flowerbed planted in pole beans today and my two bush bean Nursery plots in my backyard planted today.

https://redbrandstore.com/collections/field-fence
This is what I had on hand. We had to repair out old cattle fencing in our 4 acres of turnout for 8 years before we refenced with metal. I still had some stored, so I used it this year. It is similar to hog panels. I have left the old fencing go that separates us from our good neighbor just south of us, and only a small portion is still usable. Later this month I plan to remove/recycle it, just bent up from vegetation and rusty. The leftover on the roll will replace some of it. After the gardening season is over the two 20+ ft long cut panels I put up for the tomatoes, etc. south of the garage will be moved. I need for the area to look better, and to keep in Eva in the yard. Plus, the original cattle fencing had barbed wire on the top, and that is never safe.

Ridgerunner said:

A little better description of what I've tried with Karachaganak for you and @flowerbug . I tried them as snaps, too stringy after cooking. Just horrible texture, you cannot chew them up. I have never tried them as shelley beans, where you harvest the immature seeds. The beans are a reasonable size, maybe they would work. I only use them as dried beans.

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thanks. i don't have those anyways, but i'm always curious. and yes, i've done my share of chewing through some fiberous beans... some taste good, but after a bit i'll spit out the strands.

we picked up over two more inches of rain between last night and this morning. i hope this is it for a while... radar looks clear for at least a few hours.

After I stopped trying to figure out what the heck GNOPS was ,
I enjoyed that really nice list! Must be too tired tonight!

PhilaGardener said:

After I stopped trying to figure out what the heck GNOPS was ,
I enjoyed that really nice list! Must be too tired tonight!

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haha... the numbers on the left say how many i planted, i left space to type in how many germinate if i can figure it out. the problem with the formatting is that i copy and pasted and the spacing of the font didn't work.

i've edited and tried to change the font so it does line up right, but i'm not sure why that isn't being reflected in what i see after i save it. perhaps after i sign out clear the cache and reload it again it will be ok... hmmm...

ok, that didn't do any good, but if you want to see the font reflected correctly you can reply to the post and it shows up much better (not sure about other browsers than firefox) but you don't have to actually post a reply. just to view it better.

checked out the gardens this morning for sprouts and germination rates in the two of the earliest plantings.

most look ok so far and have their first leaves spread out. a few are later than others. as usual - can't count them as failures yet.

the one notable exception is the Victoria Brown Eyes. the sprouts don't look right. i'm not sure if they were chewed on, cut worm, chopped by Mom or failed from too much moisture at just the wrong time (recent rains). no obvious tracks in the garden or any digging around so i kinda doubt it is chipmunks. i replanted one in an obvious bare spot and then put two other seeds in a completely different location (with more sandier soil than the first planting). we'll see what happens next...

today is sunny so that will get more signs of beans poking up through the ground. rains forecast for the next few days. sunshine Friday and perhaps Monday. this isn't enough light to really get things producing well, but at least it's not rain all week.

i'm making rounds once in a while to keep an eye out for critters.

I’m having a heck of a time getting Kutasi princess and Mona Lisa germinated. I’m going to replant some seeds today and might start some in cells. I got a couple plants of each I believe, but I want a full trellis. :/