2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

[Zeedman]

There is some similarity in look between our beans, and the only lead I had on them from my friend was that they were from NS/SEARCH. So this is a development. Possibly related or a selected line?

Given that you have determined that NS/SEARCH is part of your bean's history, 'Tarahumara Purple Star' is probably another strain or selection derived from their original runner bean land race. If so, you will probably have some white-flowered plants mixed in with the dominant red-flowered plants. That original seed was so diverse, many different strains could have been selected from it. As Carol Deppe once stated, all seed saving is breeding, whether that breeding is intentional or not. Climate, disease, and personal preference all affect which plants survive, which have the highest yield, and which seeds are replanted.

This is a photo of seed from my first Tarahumara Tekomari grow out. The seed has aged, the "red" was actually the normal runner bean purple & black.

I selected away from the purple (small seeds, long DTM), the white (I already have several white varieties) and the smaller gray seeds. What I was selecting for was the large, gray, lima-like seeds, which were not only unique, but from the plants with the highest yield. The photo below is the 3rd generation, the dry version of the pink shellies I posted earlier... I will continue to select for large seed size & yield:

To actually preserve the collective genome of a land race takes a large population, a conscious effort to preserve even apparently undesirable traits, and a little luck. Even then, growers in two separate geographical areas - or even the same location in different years - would probably end up with two different strains. The Hopi limas are a similar situation. I am attempting to preserve as much as possible of the original multi-colored land race; others in the seed saving community have segregated the different colors as pure lines.

 

[Zeedman]

I can't help but express huge thankfulness for this forum, and being able to solicit everyone's refined understanding and experience. This is just so great Bean heroes

No heroes here, just a bunch of has-beans.

 

[flowerbug]

looking at the bean pictures, reading stories here on TEG and thinking back to how i think i finally got Mom to understand my bean love. she has always loved picking rocks on the beaches here in MI and we have some spots we like to go as often as we can get away. so one time she was asking me why i wanted to plant so many different kinds of beans and i said it was just like how she felt picking rocks, to me the tactile part of shelling beans and the different colors and shapes, all together with being outdoors, it just fits me in many ways. to sit and run my hands through a pile of beans just feels good. she gets it now. she's always appreciated the different colors and shapes and the eating of them too, but that i think was the right way to get it across to her.

if it is in the middle of the winter and i feel a bit out of things, getting some beans out and mixing them together and then sorting them back out again or doing some other tactile thing like that does help. of course along with dirt therapy of taking care of my worm farm here in the room. saying hello to my buddies.

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal,

On your post #88 your beans certainly look to me just like what is called a Runner Bean, Phaseolus Coccineus. If after planting the seed in the soil and when the plants emerge if their cotyledons remain in the soil they are P. Coccineus.

I thought your photos were easy to look at especially when you click on them to view the larger version. Your third and fourth photos in the lower part of your post are interesting. I've never seen coloration on Runner beans quite like that. Very pretty beans.

I could probably plant a couple to see right away then. It'll be quite a surprise for me if they are indeed a runner bean since they seemed so such like the other poles I grew that year. However, I've only ever grown two runners, Sadie's and Scarlet, and maybe not all P.Coccineus have the same kind of vine and pod development since I have relatively little experience with them. Yet the bean coloration is very like the P. Coccineus beans I've grown. The bean though, comparatively, is so tiny? Here is Tarahumara and Sadie's -

 

[heirloomgal]

Given that you have determined that NS/SEARCH is part of your bean's history, 'Tarahumara Purple Star' is probably another strain or selection derived from their original runner bean land race. If so, you will probably have some white-flowered plants mixed in with the dominant red-flowered plants. That original seed was so diverse, many different strains could have been selected from it. As Carol Deppe once stated, all seed saving is breeding, whether that breeding is intentional or not. Climate, disease, and personal preference all affect which plants survive, which have the highest yield, and which seeds are replanted.

This is a photo of seed from my first Tarahumara Tekomari grow out. The seed has aged, the "red" was actually the normal runner bean purple & black.
View attachment 38849

I selected away from the purple (small seeds, long DTM), the white (I already have several white varieties) and the smaller gray seeds. What I was selecting for was the large, gray, lima-like seeds, which were not only unique, but from the plants with the highest yield. The photo below is the 3rd generation, the dry version of the pink shellies I posted earlier... I will continue to select for large seed size & yield:
View attachment 38850

To actually preserve the collective genome of a land race takes a large population, a conscious effort to preserve even apparently undesirable traits, and a little luck. Even then, growers in two separate geographical areas - or even the same location in different years - would probably end up with two different strains. The Hopi limas are a similar situation. I am attempting to preserve as much as possible of the original multi-colored land race; others in the seed saving community have segregated the different colours as pure lines.

That is interesting....now I'm really curious to grow this bean again. Your upper photo looks a bit like mini Sadie's Horse Beans, in that there is so much variation. Sadie's has has pure white seed, beige seed with brown speckles and the pinks with different black speckles and marks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Ever since I saw that @baymule was considering trying to stabilize a segregation in her beans I've thought about putting this together to demonstrate how it works. I'm sure others go about it differently. I'll apologize ahead of time for the quality of the photos, especially the early photos. You will probably be able to tell when I got a phone with a good camera.

In 2016 I got a bunch of Will Bonsall outcrosses from Russ. One of these was WB #39. When I got them I could tell by looking that there were already two different beans in that packet so I called them 39-A and 39-B. I believe they were supposed to be bush beans.

When I planted the 39-B's I got five different segregations. As you can see the photo quality is horrible. The brown bean in the middle is the bean I planted. It doesn't look like any of these segregations. I called the tan with dark stripes on the top right Jas, a half-runner climbing bean. I called the black bean to the left Banzala, a bush bean. Every time I planted these they repeated. I consider them stabilized. I put these in here just so you know it is possible for them to stabilize. Otherwise this might get discouraging.

Another packet I got from Russ was WB #27. I got four segregations when I planted it. Again none looked quite like the bean I planted, which is in the middle. I called the one on the bottom Raspberry Ripple.

When I planted Raspberry Ripple in 2017 I got six segregations. I know my numbering scheme is messed up so take note. Try to come up with some kind of system to avoid my mistake. I called #5, the black bean on the left, Tallulah's Treasure. Another mistake. Don't use a name you like until the been is stabilized. Until then use "working names". Tallulah's Treasure was a very prolific bean. I like prolific. The way I planted these I could gather beans from different plants. 3B appeared to be the same bean as #5 but #5 was much more prolific so I saved all the seeds from #5. The 3B seeds were eaten.

I moved from Arkansas to Louisiana in 2018 and missed the entire growing season. So I planted Tallulah's Treasure in the spring of 2019 and got these segregations. I finally got the message, these were called TT-A, T-B, and TT-C. Much easier to put on the ID stake.

I have two growing seasons down here but waited until the Spring of 2020. I planted TT-A and got these segregations. The bean I planted to get these is in the middle. It may look a little different from the TT-A in the photo above. As Zeedman mentioned, they tend to get darker in storage.

In the fall of 2020 I planted TT A2 and got these four segregations. I plan to plant TT A2 A and TT A2 B this spring to see what happens.

Occasionally Russ will mention in a bean show that one appears like it will never stabilize. I kind of understand. Some stabilize immediately. Some, well, I'll keep trying.

I have planted others in this line that I did not show the results. This is an unbroken line from the first WB #27 until today. I counted 21 segregations from WB #27 in this line only. I do have other lines working. One of these shows promise of replicating the original Raspberry Ripple. But it has a long way to go.

 

[heirloomgal]

@Ridgerunner

I really want to learn the finer details of growing beans and selecting them if crosses appear, so this is a great post that I can learn from. I have to read it over a couple times, to really absorb the information because all those segregating lines can be a bit boggling for me at this stage. That is quite something that you can get two seasons out of one year; for stabilizing a bean variety that must really be a benefit. In Ontario we are nearly frozen solid from Nov-Dec until April, usually. What fun that would be to have two harvests!

When I was browsing @Bluejay77's Bean Collector's Window this fall, there were a number of beautiful beans in the network pages of 8 & 9 that really caught my attention. Reading your post now, I think many of those beans may be your selections! I distinctly remember a bean called Rising Fawn, which is not only eye candy but the name is lovely and very memorable. Hopper Hollow, Karachagank, Raspberry Ripple, Tartan, Cock 'N' Bull - all really, really beautiful bean varieties. I love all their names too (I love an evocative and unforgettable bean name!) Those are really special for sure. Are they all stable, or close to stable now? I see you wrote that Raspberry Ripple segregated in 2017 into 6, did it continue to segregate? Also, there is a blondish beige brindle coloured bean in the 3rd pic from the bottom, under the name Tallulah Treasure - that is a stately bean too. Very eye catching. Sort of a Jaclyn Smith type of bean, classy & elegant.

In Louisiana, when you garden and grow big bush bean plants, do you have to be cautious about working around the bushes given that critters can be hidden under there? One of my favourite shows was in Louisiana 😍, so I had a bit of a glimpse into the wildlife populations there.

 

[baymule]

@baymule

I really want to learn the finer details of growing beans and selecting them if crosses appear, so this is a great post that I can learn from. I have to read it over a couple times, to really absorb the information because all those segregating lines can be a bit boggling for me at this stage. That is quite something that you can get two seasons out of one year; for stabilizing a bean variety that must really be a benefit. In Ontario we are nearly frozen solid from Nov-Dec until April, usually. What fun that would be to have two harvests!

When I was browsing @Bluejay77's Bean Collector's Window this fall, there were a number of beautiful beans in the network pages of 8 & 9 that really caught my attention. Reading your post now, I think many of those beans may be your selections! I distinctly remember a bean called Rising Fawn, which is not only eye candy but the name is lovely and very memorable. Hopper Hollow, Karachagank, Raspberry Ripple, Tartan, Cock 'N' Bull - all really, really beautiful bean varieties. I love all their names too (I love an evocative and unforgettable bean name!) Those are really special for sure. Are they all stable, or close to stable now? I see you wrote that Raspberry Ripple segregated in 2017 into 6, did it continue to segregate? Also, there is a blondish beige brindle coloured bean in the 3rd pic from the bottom, under the name Tallulah Treasure - that is a stately bean too. Very eye catching. Sort of a Jaclyn Smith type of bean, classy & elegant.

In Louisiana, when you garden and grow big bush bean plants, do you have to be cautious about working around the bushes given that critters can be hidden under there? One of my favourite shows was in Louisiana 😍, so I had a bit of a glimpse into the wildlife populations there.

I think you directed this towards @Ridgerunner. He is in Louisiana.
Please don't get flustered or embarrassed, you are doing a fine job of navigating your way around here.

 

[heirloomgal]

Last of my bean pictures for the 2020 growout....my time to take up space with downloaded material on the computer I'm using has expired, for now, so here is the last of the photo bomb/dump.....before I press delete tonight...

Blauhilde

Tongue of Fire

Mr. Fearns
(this one is not much to look at but DANG the beans were divine!)

Low's Champion (pic #2 showing eyes)

Agate
(I grow as a soil replenisher)

Beerfriend
(same)

Some PR work to create future bean growers 🌍

Forelle Fleiderfarben @ 2016
(not a good bean for my area really, DTM is too long, but it didn't do too badly, certainly was a unique colour though)

Should have shrunk all the photos I posted...ooops, learning curve!

 

[heirloomgal]

Photos from my first dry bean grow out...memories And before I grasped what adequate lighting was

Anasazi

Herrenbohli (strange! mini shellacked beans anyone?)

Good Mother Stollard

Tiger's Eye

Flagg/Chester

Vermont Cranberry

Hanna Hank (I think...)

Mennonite Stripe (I think...)

Maine Yellow Eye (I think...it was from a Nova Scotia bean company)