2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[flowerbug]

This is what the incomplete seed coat looks like (except most look like a thin coat rather than the abruptly bare that this bean displays):

View attachment 52533

Is this what everyone means when using the word 'malformed' or 'not fully formed'?

I'm having difficulty using those terms when the bean itself is the correct size and shape, and the defect is confined to the seed coat.

no, to me those are minor issues for seed eating quality and while i may not consider a marked bean as prime seed saving or sharing quality, some beans do mark each other by how they are formed and compressed within a pod. if you've ever seen cut-short (not short cut) beans packed into a pod they may have square ends or odd shapes jammed right next to each other. sometimes they may even have a bit of discolor or different seed coat. one of my favorite beans to grow here Yellow Eye sometimes will have some beans that have a bit of a brown or tan mark if the beans have gotten bigger and pressed up against a neighbor. i tend to select beans that don't do this so it's not a trait i'm after.

by deformed or malformed i mean out-right lack of seed coat completely covering the inner parts of the bean, sometimes with bits of cotyledons sticking out, sharp or not. sometime i will save some seeds and get a picture of them.

This is a picture of a Tarbais bean, by the way.

 

[heirloomgal]

I'm sorry, but there is no other photo; I found that one online.

Imagine that a tannish seed is dipped into white paint to form a coating (a "seed coat" if you will). Then the "little brown spot" is a place where the paint is either missing entirely, or so thin that the seed's tannish color shows through. You'll sometimes see this with chocolate covered nuts or raisins.

Oh! Chocolate covered raisins, now you're speaking my language! Lol
I haven't seen that I don't think meadow, but it looks like, as Bluejay says, something minor. Oh, the quest for perfect bean specimens befuddles us all! Lol

 

[heirloomgal]

More bean weighing today! Seems especially fitting as tomorrow is our Thanksgiving, and it'seems time to be grateful for the harvest. 👩‍🌾

Sunset Runner, 10 plants, just over 4 lb's.

Forelle Fleiderfarben + it's one outcrossed seed, 5 plants, pole.

Mrs. Fortune, pole, 3 plants. Matured so nice & early! Wonderful bean.

Seda Kravicka, pole, 3 plants. Network bean. Ooh, Ooh, oooh, I love this bean. Shells like a dream! Was nearly all direct seeded too, and STILL matured all its bean pods. I think it's possible that the person who named this bean as well as whomever named Ruzova Kravicka had a sense of humour. I think kravicka means cow, and cow in each case here is preceded by a woman's name it seems....🤔

Uzice Speckled Wax. 3-4 plants. Huge plant! Some of the seed is not super well formed, but given that it was a good harvest there is still lots of seed that is okay. A wee bit longer of a season this year would have really helped this one, it was also in slight shade. One of the few beans that doesn't like to dry in less than perfect conditions it seems. But has potential to be a super producer for sure.

My Forelle F. × Tarahumara Purple Star cross - a better pic with my ancient camera app

An outcross that arrived via network bean Georgian Black & White -

First pole bean Maria Zeller pods have dried. Pretty Lady. Curious how much I'll get to harvest.

Ukrainian Comrades, got them as a freebee this year with a seed order so I said what the heck. I'll try 'em.

Zeedman's marbled soybeans! CAN'T WAIT to shell these and see if they made it. The majority of these plants I stripped and put the pods in the bottom of the bucket. Branches were dry down stragglers. They take longer to fully, fully dry than P. Vulgaris! ⏳

 

[Zeedman]

@Zeedman I'm curious how your Grandma Gina''s dry down is going? Artorius had some of the same experience this year, that I had with them last year. In my case I lost close to half due to premature sprouting in the pods. Did anyone else, besides me, find the pods enormous?

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.

 

[Zeedman]

I noticed this when I grew Tarbais, and now again with Lazy Wife's Pole Bean. Both are white beans. I've not seen this on any other beans, at least not that I can recall.

Odd, and interesting. When I grew Tarbais, there was only fair pod fill (a lot of empty cells), but the seed produced was remarkably free of defects (Uzice performed that way this year). The seed was such high quality that I didn't even need to sort Tarbais, which is both noteworthy, and uncommon. Perhaps some beans require a narrow range of soils or environments, and perform poorly outside that range?

 

[Zeedman]

Zeedman's marbled soybeans! CAN'T WAIT to shell these and see if they made it. The majority of these plants I stripped and put the pods in the bottom of the bucket. Branches were dry down stragglers. They take longer to fully, fully dry than P. Vulgaris! ⏳

The pods I see look great! Should be a lot of good seed.

 

[meadow]

some beans do mark each other by how they are formed and compressed within a pod.

Hmm. Yes, these certainly were well-filled pods.

 

[meadow]

Mrs. Fortune, pole, 3 plants. Matured so nice & early! Wonderful bean.

🤩 I saw comparisons for Mrs. Fortune and Major Cook's and was intrigued.

Have you seen this review? Do you think it a fair/accurate assessment?

 

[meadow]

Odd, and interesting. When I grew Tarbais, there was only fair pod fill (a lot of empty cells), but the seed produced was remarkably free of defects (Uzice performed that way this year). The seed was such high quality that I didn't even need to sort Tarbais, which is both noteworthy, and uncommon. Perhaps some beans require a narrow range of soils or environments, and perform poorly outside that range?

Most pods were well-filled when I grew Tarbais. @flowerbug suggested that it might be caused by beans that are crowded and butt up against each other. I have another batch of Lazy Wife's to shell today and I'll try to pay attention to see if that may be the case.

 

[Artorius]

Seda Kravicka, pole, 3 plants. Network bean. Ooh, Ooh, oooh, I love this bean. Shells like a dream! Was nearly all direct seeded too, and STILL matured all its bean pods. I think it's possible that the person who named this bean as well as whomever named Ruzova Kravicka had a sense of humour. I think kravicka means cow, and cow in each case here is preceded by a woman's name it seems....🤔View attachment 52539

In Czech:
Šedá Kravička = Grey Cow affectionately
Růžová Kravička = Pink Cow