2025 Little Easy Bean Network - Growers Of The Future Will Be Glad We Saved

[ruralmamma]

Had an inch of rain yesterday and went out this morning and grabbed any spongy pods before the rain started again. Been leaving the ceiling fan on 24/7 and also have a small fan blowing directly on the pods. Have had a few issues with staining on the beans I brought in before the rains but that was to be expected and actually not as bad as I feared it might be. Rose has dried great considering the pods were really fleshy and unless I find an issue when I do the final sort, I should be able to return seed. Managed to harvest four Rio Zape seeds so far but even if every pod produces perfect seed, there just won't be enough to return.

I did have a happy moment this morning as I shelled a single pod of the black-speckled Ground Squirrel seed that resembles what I planted. Could still be a matter of reverse coloration, but will definitely plant those six seeds next year just to see what happens.

 

[heirloomgal]

Thank you! I have a tendency to make my supports a little too perfect but I love this idea! Also helps if my hubby has a visual too.

I find some varieties climb the metal trellises and fishing line just fine and others need a little help at first. I have two varieties that were so vigorous that they spread to the supports two plants away. The Avalon off-type had no problem climbing and eventually pulling down the tomato plants in the same bed and creeping out and climbing the fence a few feet away.

I don't find they have trouble so much climbing, as it's the yields that don't seem quite the same. But that could be my imagination, and also a variety related thing as well. Some of the vigor you're observing in the Avalon off-type is hybrid vigor, a unique expression that takes place when two separate varieties cross. Some hybrids are wildly productive! They can be quite like ligers.

 

[heirloomgal]

I was bad today and opened a few of the 'Ukrainian' pods. They were dry, but not super crispy dry which is what I was waiting for, but I just couldn't wait anymore to see what they look like. Oooh, I like these. I wondered if they'd be like 'Lilascheke', which I've grown a few times, but no the varieties are definitely not the same. This bean is actually much, much more productive too. It's a bit on the late side, but well worth the wait.

 

[flowerbug]

making progress on my Purple Dove project. you can see many beans in these pictures that look like variations of Purple Dove but do not have the yellow ring around the eye. what i need to continue to do is to keep growing these out and noting the habit, flower color, pods and seed coats and also hope for more crosses to continue getting more PD genes back to these seed lines (i suspect there are several based upon seed coat pattern, shape, etc.).

 

[heirloomgal]

It feels like Christmastime for this bean collector! I've been really sticking to my resolve with not opening pods yet, and waiting until things are crispy dry. And even if they are dry the air right now is pretty humid and the pods soften when that happens so I'm still waiting anyway. That said though I again couldn't help myself when I saw that a few of the 'Bela Putersnica' pods were quite dried. Another one that has me starry eyed! It's actually amazing how much the color is like that of 'Blue & White of Bernardo', though these seeds are considerably more elongated.

Another of the day's thrillers; last year I received the bush bean 'Nigel' from a seed saver in Germany and one plant in the lot grew very long and climbed. It was quite late really, but in the end I managed to get the pods to dry down. To my surprise they looked nearly identical to Nigel. I don't know why but I decided to replant a few of those seeds this year. I've never actually grown an outcross before, and I was expecting I'd probably not find a repeat of that coloring given the odds in a hybrid. I didn't plant much more than 6 plants, and one was killed by frost in a pot, but I found dried pods on 2 different plants today and - again - could not wait to see what was in there!

I can't believe it, the 2 plants gave me back exactly the same seedcoats as the ones I planted!!!!