2023 Little Easy Bean Network - Beans Beyond The Colors Of A Rainbow

[Decoy1]

Thanks for posting this @Decoy1 ! I had no idea that this bean was still in Europe! From what I read on the Terre Promise site (which google translated) it came from Europe originally but I wasn't sure if it continued to be grown there, something like the Jembo Polish bean. Neat!

I think Grand-mère has found its way back to Europe from Canada rather than having continued here from the time Marie-Jeanne Disant was given it by her French grandmother before moving to Canada.
It’s now held by a Belgian collector Guy Dirix who describes it on his website as a Canadian heirloom.

Grand mére (842) – Belle Epoque Meise

Great that it has somehow returned to Europe, though as yet not widely available I think. I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to grow it and perhaps help in a small way to keep it going.

 

[flowerbug]

think of all the fun that auto-correct and other "technology" is going to introduce into this issue...

 

[meadow]

Much like for years I thought Good Mother Stallard was Good Mother Stollard, because the latter sounded more like a name I was used to than the former.

Yes! I grew up not far from San Bernardino (California), so I suppose the error was an easy one for me to make.

The one that actually bothers/annoys me a little bit is Grandma Storrt's Speckled lima bean. It is Grandma Stout, not Storrt. 😒

eta: I wish we had the old emojies back

 

[BeanieQueen]

Grand-mère

I grew Grand-mère this last season - thank you, Triffid. It’s a fine productive bean and produces lovely deep red seed. The seed you’ve received certainly looks rather brown with age. Interestingly I grew it by chance alongside Herrenbohnli. The pods of Grand-mère are slightly larger and the seeds too are not quite as diminutive though certainly small and a similar shape.

So this is Grand-mère.. because I have a still unnamed bean here from some no-name mix, and these beans look a lot, a lot! like the ones on this photo. Also this slightly aquarellish skin tone. The ones I have here produce very much curved, halfmoonlike green pods; very hard when dry.
Your's too, I wonder?

 

[Triffid]

Guy was my source for Grand-mère. If anyone wants seeds just say the word - I have a pint jar of the tiny things, must be well over 1000 in there. In my notes from 2021, I wrote that 4 plants yielded 1400 seeds. Did I really count all of those? I have no recollection, must've blacked out.

On Guy Dirix's page they put up a photo of 'Grape', perhaps to illustrate how similar the seeds are in appearance. But I can confirm that the pods of Grand-mère are nothing like Grape. @BeanieQueen From my observation I wouldn't describe them as very curved, though some were slightly curved and an equal number were straight. The dry pods are brittle, lacking a tough membrane. I believe they may also be stringless but I cannot remember for certain. @Decoy1 grew them more recently and perhaps can comment on this.

 

[flowerbug]

Guy was my source for Grand-mère. If anyone wants seeds just say the word - I have a pint jar of the tiny things, must be well over 1000 in there. In my notes from 2021, I wrote that 4 plants yielded 1400 seeds. Did I really count all of those? I have no recollection, must've blacked out.

if i'm counting the best way i've found to get a reliable enough estimate is to weigh 100-200 grams for smaller seeds or if bigger seeds do 200 grams or more and then weigh the whole batch and do the math.

a few months ago i was counting 500 seeds just to double check an estimate and it was close enough.

i should add for clarity that i was counting beans from each batch of beans i'd harvested since different types of beans and even differences between seasons could be enough to set calculations off...

 

[Ridgerunner]

In 2016 I got four packets of outcrossed beans from Russ that he got from Will Bonsall. Packets WB #27, WB #32, WB 38, and WB #39. I also found some segregations in Blue Jay, a bush snap bean developed by Russ that I was growing as a production bean in 2016. I've been trying to stabilize beans from these ever since with limited success.

I can no longer grow and work on these beans so I will be sending what I have to Russ. Since we like photos of beans I'll try to show what I am sending to Russ. It is a total of 56 beans so it might take a while.

I only consider 6 of these beans stabilized. The other 50 have working names or codes purely for bookkeeping and tracking purposes. If anyone manages to get stabile beans from any of these 50 they should name them themselves to avoid confusion. There has been a lot of discussion on the forum lately about bean names. Let's keep it simple, whoever stabilizes them needs to start them off with a unique name.

In 2020 I sent Russ three beans that I consider stabilized, all from the WB #39 packet. I'll copy Russ's post #310 from the 2020 thread to introduce them. His photos are better than mine.

I got some bean returns early last week I think it was probably around the 27th of July. Many network growers grew out half the collection of outcrossed beans I got from Will Bonsall of Industry, Maine in 2015 (The Scattered Seed Project, Also appears in the movie Seeds) I had numbered all the packets WB-PKT #1 To WB-PKT #52. Ridgerunner grew the largest number of the beans I offered for growout in 2016 and the grower also named the beans they grew.

Ridgerunner sent three named beans to me he now feels are stable after 4 seasons of growouts. All three of these beans are from WB-PKT #39. The seed mother was a pole bean Norridgewock which has seed that is half red and half white, rounded in shape. Photos of all three of these beans are on the Network pages of my website and the seeds have not changed from the ones Ridgerunner sent to me after his 2016 grow out season. Photos below are of the seed he recently sent to me in late July.

Jas: Half Runner, about 7 feet tall and fairly prolific. The blossoms are lavender. The striped pods are about 4 to 6 inches long and typically contain 4 beans. 60 beans weigh 46 grams. Pods are typically green with purple stripes but occasionally get reverse pods, purple with green stripes. This bean also throws reverse colored beans.

Valley View: Bush, Some flowers are pink, some yellow. The striped pods are about 6 inches long and average about 5 beans. 60 beans weigh 44 grams. Pods are green wih real faint stripes until mature, then turn pink and white.

Banzala: Bush, blossoms lavender. Green pods are 6 inches long and contain 4 beans. 60 beans weigh 42 grams. This beans is based on purple but turn black as the seed ages.

Jas


Valley View


Banzala



The only other bean I have that originated from the WB #39 packet is one I called Tyra Pole, though I think it is a half-runner instead of pole. I grew a bean I'd called Tyra in 2019 and it segregated with a bush and climbing version. I had others I thought were more exciting than another black bean so I did not try growing it again.

 

[meadow]

What is the story on Habichuelas Rosadas, @Bluejay77? It says that all beans are out to grower, but it looks like the same was for last year too?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I only have two that originated with the WB #38 packet. Tartan Tan 1A is a new segregation I grew in 2022 and Tartan Tan 2 is a new segregation grown in 2021.

In south Louisiana I had two growing seasons each year. The S-22 means Tartan Tan 1A was grown in the Spring of 2022. Tartan Tan 2 was grown in Spring of 2021 but i didn't get that in the label.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I did not name some of the original WB #27 segregations, just coded them 27-1 or 27-3.

27-1 2A is a new segregation grow in in 2021. 27-1 2B was grown in 2022 and has repeated twice. To be considered stabilized it only needs to repeat 3 times so 2B may be on the verge of stabilizing.

27-3 1A, 27-3 1B, and 27-3 1C are new segregations grown in 2021.

All five of these beans are half runners.