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

[heirloomgal]

i recall that one being very productive here.

Here too.

 

[ruralmamma]

Weather here has been a rollercoaster ride this season. May and June were cool and we had so much rain and flooding. That was followed by an almost two-week stretch of 90°+ weather and extreme drought for the second year in a row by the end of August. So far we've only had a total of 1/4" of rain the last few days, but so glad most of the harvest is over. Actually I think the lack of rain has been responsible for a great harvest this year as I only have a few varieties that didn't produce very well.

I can say my inaugural year has definitely been an adventure! I consider myself to be an experienced bean grower but this year I've had the chance to explore different types of beans from around the world. Learned that some varieties are so vigorous that you can find them climbing where not expected and leave you questioning your sanity and notes. Currently wrapping my head around genetics and deciding which varieties will be implemented into next year's garden.

 

[ruralmamma]

This book by Carol Deppe has excellent information on vegetable breeding. Each winter I take it out of the library in an effort to learn a bit more, as the genetics are complex and more than I can digest in one go. https://www.chelseagreen.com/produc...noMWHnr9FnM2kD3bXQkJV7XLtRVUDm9Xlmp6J1qlKdM76

Thanks for the recommendation! I've heard of Carol and am hoping to order a copy soon

It seems safe to assume that SOME of the Avalon you planted was F1, since you are seeing multiple different colors and shapes. But even in a single pod that contains a cross, it isn't likely that ALL the seeds are necessarily crosses, because the bean would also have been exposed to its own pollen. If the seed you had was collected from several plants and several pods, the majority of it should still be Avalon.

Still wrapping my head around the genetics. So the off-types I've gotten from Avalon are technically F2?

I've imitated @Blue-Jay 's method of using screws with my saplings by leaving branch nibs, so it was easy to hang the upper part of a pole on the nearby branch nub of another pole.

I think I have this visualized, but could you post a photo if it's not too much trouble. We'll be cutting some saplings for poles this fall.

 

[oxbow farm]

Thanks for the recommendation! I've heard of Carol and am hoping to order a copy soon


Still wrapping my head around the genetics. So the off-types I've gotten from Avalon are technically F2?

Yes. You unknowingly planted some seeds of F1 Avalon crosses in with your Avalon seeds, so they produced F2 seed. The color patterns, shape, size of the crosses you found might not show up again if you plant some of those F2 seeds. Because the F2s will be segregating and becoming more homozygous. The bigger the difference in pattern between the parent varieties the more color segregations you'd see in the following F3, F4 generations, but by F4 they would be getting pretty stable again, at least for color pattern. I had an outcross show up this year in my planting of Black Trout. So I planted an F1 Black Trout cross and got a totally different color pattern show up expressing the F1 genetics. But very likely none of the F2s would look exactly like this if I grew them out.

 

[flowerbug]

oh goody, having fun shelling beans and seeing some of my crosses giving results i like to see.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Went out into the Pole bean patch today and harvested nearly the last of the lima pods. Severed all their vines from their roots. Have been cutting other beans from their roots too. I want all the vines to be nice and crisp in a few weeks so I can shred everything with my lawnmower and till all the bean refuse into the soil.

@heirloomgal would you say Schneebohne is a late bean. The plants are just voluptous. Loaded with green pods but nothing has dried yet. This bean is the top healthiest bean of this season. I hope they are going to make plenty of seed before we get any frosts. It's a beautiful bean. If I have to I will eventually uproot the plants and dry them in my garage.

 

[heirloomgal]

Went out into the Pole bean patch today and harvested nearly the last of the lima pods. Severed all their vines from their roots. Have been cutting other beans from their roots too. I want all the vines to be nice and crisp in a few weeks so I can shred everything with my lawnmower and till all the bean refuse into the soil.

@heirloomgal would you say Schneebohne is a late bean. The plants are just voluptous. Loaded with green pods but nothing has dried yet. This bean is the top healthiest bean of this season. I hope they are going to make plenty of seed before we get any frosts. It's a beautiful bean. If I have to I will eventually uproot the plants and dry them in my garage.

I think my brain is getting rusty @Blue-Jay because I have no recollection of the timing of that bean, it escapes my memory entirely... So I just searched the history here on the bean thread and on Sept 11/2021 I wrote that is was so loaded with pods that it broke the tree it was growing on, and in fact I did say it was later maturing in that post and that it was still drying down at that time. Looks like my experience with it is the same as the one your having!

 

[heirloomgal]

I think I have this visualized, but could you post a photo if it's not too much trouble. We'll be cutting some saplings for poles this fall.

Sure @ruralmamma. Here is a couple different sizes of birch poles I used, any branch that is on there is cut a few inches out (at least) from the main trunk. The longer the better really. It does really help anchor the plants firmly onto the support, even a crook at the neck on the top the plants will happily wind that and make a top knot. Maybe I'm making this up in my head, but I honestly feel like beans and peas like to grow much like their ancestors did, wrapping themselves around branchy, twiggy, nearby wild growth. I never find my yields as good when I grow on the metal trellis panels, it's like the beans find it too orderly and exposed or something. lol