2020 Little Easy Bean Network - An Exciting Adventure In Heirloom Beans !

[Grizzlyhackle]

No worries about your question, this forum is pretty flexible. When you've been here awhile though, a question in the wrong place might get you placed in Question Quarantine. (Just kidding! )

There is a Mottled Sieva that is similar to the white Sieva, but has purple spots & slightly smaller seeds. If that is the lima you grew, some seeds would have the reverse pattern, with white spots over purple. I have grown both varieties, and IMO they are equally productive.

It may just be that most seed companies have not yet updated their listings for the 2021 season. But if they are truly out for 2021, this would not the first time that Sieva has disappeared from the seed trade. Several years back, the same thing happened. Because I grow & maintain Sieva, my exchange page listing (in another forum) showed up on search engines, and I was inundated with people asking for seeds. I only had a little over a pound of seed, but gave out all that I could. Sieva returned to many companies two years later.

Back then, while the majority of the seed companies had obtained their seed from a single grower, there were still a few companies which grew their own seed. I've taken a quick look at those, none of those have it listed as in stock - yet. If they don't show up within a month, contact me here via PM, and I we can arrange a trade.

By the way, in the course of my search, I observed that Landreth's is using a photo of a fava bean, and calling it Sieva. Trueleafmarket is showing a white-seeded common bean, and calling it Henderson lima If I have a pet peeve, it is supposedly professional seedsman misrepresenting their offerings with completely erroneous photos. They should know better, and when I see such errors in a seed company, it calls their competence into question.

I saw that on Landreth and wondered if it was a fava bean. I agree I'm in quality control and nothing bugs me worse than seeing something wrong. I will keep looking and keep you in mind, thanks for the offer. I don't have much to trade but we'll work out something.

Those purple beans were weird. All the seed was the same off white color when planted. The ones I shelled out maybe 2 dozen pods had a purple hue on the edge. Just a few were all purple. I was surprised I liked them. I don't like Christmas beans, tried them one summer. I ate them but...
Have you ever heard of Dr.Martins. They are huge. Company in PA sells them for $5 for 25. They start off with 5 or 6" pods and big beans. I don't use much fertilizer if any and the pods get shorter maybe 2 or 3 beans as summer wears on. I picked up until November then it got cold. I was going to save the last batch of Seiva. Then the time change and it got dark too early, rained too often. Never made it out there. SESE usually has them. Got the catalog Monday and didn't see them. That's what caused me join on here.

 

[Zeedman]

Dr. Martins is a huge lima, maybe the largest. The seed is hard to find, and it appears that not many gardeners grow it. From what I've read & heard from others, it needs a long season. I suppose I'll try it one of these years, maybe I can trick it into believing it's further South.

 

[Grizzlyhackle]

Dr. Martins is a huge lima, maybe the largest. The seed is hard to find, and it appears that not many gardeners grow it. From what I've read & heard from others, it needs a long season. I suppose I'll try it one of these years, maybe I can trick it into believing it's further South.

I was wrong on that price I quoted. It's 6.99 for 10 seeds. Supposed to be a Lancaster pa heirloom. Even here in zone 7 I start them bare root in the house then transplant around Memorial day. Probably way to cold where you're at⛄

 

[Zeedman]

Uzice Speckled Wax - Pole Yellow Podded - Serbian variety with wide flattened pods. I've been told it's a pole variety but having grown it twice. I've yet to see it climb on anything. Obtained from Richd Lloyd in Washington state in the winter of 2013.

Veitch Wonder - Bush Dry. European variety never very much grown or well known in America. However I maybe changing that. My 2019 crop was sold out almost before the 2020 crop was dried. Not as productive as most modern dry varieties but I will keep growing it because to me it's so pretty. Hybrid of common bean(Phaseolus Vulgaris x a runner bean Phaseolus Coccineus) from the James Veitch Nurseries of Chelsea-UK-Anno 1900-1910. Found in 2015 by the Belgian Seedhunter Lieven Decrick in a Colombian Genebank.


Uzice Speckled Wax...................................................Veitch Wonder

Uzice Speckled Wax isn't a strong climber for me either, bearing most pods within the first 2-3 feet - but bearing heavily in that zone. Richard stated that it was a strong climber for him though. I like the fact that it is dual-use, the large seeds make good shellies & are easy to shell. The bean originated in 2007 from a Gardenweb member in B.C. named Alex. I tried looking up our old conversation, but it appears GW has deleted everything more than 5 years old... including the entire "exchange" sub-forum. Fortunately, we also exchanged some emails that are still in my Mail archive. Two of his beans had no name that he knew of, so we named them after the Uzice region of Serbia, where they were found. I believe @aftermidnight traded with him as well. We did two really great trades, I still grow several of his beans & peppers.

Edit: I found a photo of Uzice Speckled Wax pods in my archive, from the initial trial. This was before Alex & I agreed to a name, I had tentatively identified it as "Serbian Yellow Pole" in the photo. The other wax bean, Tisa, is a named variety also from Alex.

Veitch Wonder is very interesting, if it is in fact a runner bean X common bean cross. The seed coat pattern seems to support that conclusion. Were there any other supporting traits, such as the appearance of the immature pods or flowers?

 

[Zeedman]

I was wrong on that price I quoted. It's 6.99 for 10 seeds. Supposed to be a Lancaster pa heirloom. Even here in zone 7 I start them bare root in the house then transplant around Memorial day. Probably way to cold where you're at⛄

Yes, when I've found seed, it was always pricey, and for not many seeds. I'd like to think that I'd have a chance growing Dr. Martin; I start limas as transplants too, and successfully maintain 11 varieties. The only lima that has ever failed for me was a very large Mexican lima (about the same size as Dr. Martin) which was photo-period sensitive, and regardless of being started early, didn't even bloom until mid-September. Pennsylvania is close enough to my latitude that photo-period sensitivity should not be an issue.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Veitch is about 95 days for the first dry pods to appear then about 3 weeks for the remainder of the rest of the crop to have dried out. Sequentially of course. By the time of the 3 week drying period you will probably have finally harvested the last dry pods from the plant. It's maturity time is close to a lot of bush dry beans that I grow although it's not the earliest of my bush beans.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Veitch Wonder is very interesting, if it is in fact a runner bean X common bean cross. The seed coat pattern seems to support that conclusion. Were there any other supporting traits, such as the appearance of the immature pods or flowers?

I'm not sure what you mean my immature pods and flowers. I have noticed on some plants you can ocassionally get a pod that develops shorter than the rest on the plant and never fills out with any seed. I haven't noticed anything like that on Veitch Wonder.

 

[Zeedman]

I'm not sure what you mean my immature pods and flowers. I have noticed on some plants you can ocassionally get a pod that develops shorter than the rest on the plant and never fills out with any seed. I haven't noticed anything like that on Veitch Wonder.

Immature runner beans pods generally have a rougher external texture than most common beans. I was also questioning whether the flower size, color, or structure of the flower raceme bears any resemblance to those of runner beans (such as the larger "indeterminate" flower clusters of runner beans). In an inter-species cross, you would expect to find some traits from both parents. The seed coat pattern is apparently one of those, but I was wondering if you had observed any other distinctive traits that you would not normally find in common beans.

 

[Zeedman]

With @Bluejay77 's forbearance, I will be stretching the definition of "bean" a little. These are cowpeas & yardlong beans that were grown this year.

Bush Sitao BS-3 - from SSE's Heritage Farm. Originally developed by the Bureau of Plant Industry, Philippines. "Sitao" is the Filipino name for yardlongs & cowpeas meant to be eaten as immature pods. I would categorize it as semi-bush, the runners are much shorter than the rambling vines of most cowpeas. The straight, light green 8-9" pods are usually borne in pairs, have a slightly sweet nutty flavor, and a firm cooked texture. The 60 day DTM for pods is shorter than vining yardlong beans. The firm, straight pods are well suited for use as dilly beans, and the dry seed yield is respectable enough for it to be used as a dry bean as well. It was severely stunted by weed pressure this year, but still produced two jars of dilly beans, and 9 ounces of dry seed.


CES-18-6 (Paayap) - also from SSE's Heritage Farm. Originally from the Institute of Plant Breeding, Los Banos University, Philippines. Germination of the 2015 seed was nearly 100%. Semi-bush habit w/ short 2-3' runners. The dry pods are tan, containing 13-14 somewhat flattened tan seeds with a black hilum. The very vigorous plants were least affected by the weed pressure, and produced 15 ounces of dry seed.


Green Dixie - bush / semi-bush, from SSE's Heritage Farm. 75 days. Light green 8-9" pods containing 10-14 light green peas with a brown eye over the hilum. The peas are very round, resembling dry green soybeans in appearance. It too stood up well to heavy weed pressure, especially since it was the last to get weeded. 16 ounces of dry seed.

MN 150 - true bush habit, a special release from Heritage Farm's seed vault. A purple-hulled variety developed by Professor Dave Davis of the University of Minnesota in the 80's. Stout upright bushes with deep green leaves, and 7-8" pods which ripen to deep purple. Bi-colored brown & tan seeds, 10-16 per pod. There has been an identical bean circulating in seed saving circles for years as "MN 157" (I've grown it) but that most likely appeared as a typo somewhere in the past, since there is no record of an MN 157 being developed. 65 days to dry, and yielded 1# 14 oz. of dry seed.


Sierra Madre yardlong - pole, a gift from a Filipino friend, originally from East-West Seed Co., Philippines. 70 days to pods. Like many pole yardlong beans, it is a reluctant climber, and sometimes needs training to get started. Deep green, very long pods (most 20-24") are nearly as wide as conventional snap beans, and exceptionally slow to develop fiber. The cooked flavor & texture are the closest I've found to a snap bean. The two-toned dry seed is unusually beautiful for a yardlong bean. The vines bore heavily this year, we froze a lot, gave a lot away, and harvested 16 ounces of dry seed.


Taiwan Black yardlong (no photo) did very poorly; unlike all the other cowpeas/yardlongs, it did not recover from the severe weed pressure. Pod quality was poor, and the 5 ounces of dry seed collected is shrunken & much smaller than normal. I will regrow it under better conditions.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Zeedman,

What I vaguely recall about Veitch Wonder the plants seem very much like any other P. Vulgaris plants