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

[ruralmamma]

Finally getting around to editing bean photos and now for the bean show! These are the varieties returned to Russ. I believe I'm regrowing six varieties and hopefully will post photos of them and their variations soon. Please excuse my photography skills. Due to weather, these were all taken inside with a poor lighting setup.

First up is Blue Tip. One of the first beans to produce. Average of eight seeds per pod.

I chose Brinker Carrier because of its history. Average harvest.

Cade's Cove was one of my favorites as it really produced.

Coal Camp was a bit of a problem child. Took forever to produce and late season rain wrecked havoc on the harvest. Will grow this again in 2026 along with seeds obtained locally in hopes of a better harvest.

Cold Creek was another favorite. I did lose several seeds due to late season rains but still a pretty good harvest. Also had a blue variation on at least two of the eight plants and will post that later.

 

[ruralmamma]

Dean Family Greasy Cutshort was another that produced well. First harvest of these was mid-September.

I believe these were the smallest bean of any I harvested and if memory is correct, the pods were almost yellow in color. Average productivity.

2025 was my first foray into fall beans as I've never heard of or known of them being grown locally. George Washington's Fall was average in productivity. One plant out of six produced purple pods that were more slender and black striped seeds. I cannot distinguish between the seeds of these and Lewis County Fall except that these might be just a bit bigger.

Grandma Barnett was a great producer! First harvest was mid-September. One I'll be adding to my permanent line-up.

Headrick Greasy Cutshort didn't produce as well as other greasy or Cutshort varieties but it was really close to September Blue and Coal Camp which crowded it a bit.

 

[ruralmamma]

Lazy Wife Greasy produced the largest Appalachian snap beans I've encountered to date. Beautiful full pods. First harvest mid-September. Added to my permanent line-up.

Lewis County Fall had average production. Very similar to George Washington's Fall.

As you can see, harvested seed was so dark blue, it was nearly black! Good production!

Nona Agnes also produced dark blue seed. Good production. One of my projects for the year was comparing these to Meerbarbe and a variety O had grown previously and to compare them. My results were inconclusive as all have similar seed and pod color as well as similar growth habits. I cannot distinguish the seed of one from another.

Otis Stewart was an early and prolific producer with the final harvest occurring mid-September. Vines didn't climb as high as other varieties (probably 8' max).

 

[ruralmamma]

Pinktip was a bit of a mystery as the seed return envelope was labeled Pinktip Greasy and that's how I labeled it. Pods and seed were huge and not a bit greasy. Realized this was indeed Pinktip. Average harvest though late season rains wrecked havoc on the seed.

Railroad was my most prolific dry bush bean! No problems with moisture ruining the pods and look at that coloration! Definitely one I'll add to my permanent line-up!

Red Head was average in production and had very little issues with moisture. Love the coloration!

Rose produced beautiful seed but the pods were fleshy and a bit spongy which resulted in some seed loss due to late season rains. Average production.

Rosey's Red was the smallest of the dry bush beans but was extremely prolific. Unfortunately late season rains resulted in approximately half the harvest being ruined. Approximately half of the harvested seed had a white speck/splotch on one end. Will post a picture of that variation soon.

 

[ruralmamma]

I had three reasons for choosing Schwarze Witwe. One was the German origin, another was the translation of the name (black widow) and finally the coloration! Isn't it absolutely beautiful? Average harvest with no issues.

September Blue produced beautiful seed! Average harvest which I think would have been better if Coal Camp hadn't invaded its space.

My odd sense of humor and the coloration was a main factor in choosing Slut. I thoroughly enjoyed the looks I would get after telling family and neighbors that I had sluts in the garden. Average harvest with no issues.

Tennessee Cutshort was labeled as a dry pole bean but the thick pods suggest it could be a snap beans and I will grow it as such in 2026. Very good producer with no issues.

Ukrainian Comrades was quite an adventure. Yellow-seeded pods produced earlier and were practically finished by the time the black-seeded pods started maturing. As a result of late season rains, I lost about half of the black seed. I will regrow this variety again but will separate the seeds to grow side-by-side instead of combined.

 

[ruralmamma]

Wren's Egg was the first dry bush bean to mature. Larger than the average dry bean and a decent harvest considering I lost two of the four plants early in the season. I did lose a few lingering pods to late season rains.

Ma Williams was the star of the show in 2025 with her bright pink pods. These seeds represent the cream of the crop as late-season rains stained or ruined many of them. Extremely large seeds and I'll grow them again for the spectacular color show if nothing else. Average production.

And finally Onyx, formerly known as WB-PKT#45.1. Average production which I think would have been much better if the bed had been more fertile. Outproduced the other two varieties in the same bed by a landslide! Will grow again in 2026.

SIx varieties did not produce well enough to return seed:

Arlington Red Cranberry
Avalon (only one of four seeds produced true to type)
Batumi Georgia 4 (approximately 30 seeds total with half sporting an off-type)
Pixie
Rio Zape
Woodboogie

 

[Blue-Jay]

Finally getting around to editing bean photos and now for the bean show! These are the varieties returned to Russ. I believe I'm regrowing six varieties and hopefully will post photos of them and their variations soon.

Wow ! Love the bean show. Now WB-PKT 45.1 has a name and how perfect of a name is that, Onyx !! The beans are just beautiful. So nice looking. Did you ever take any photos of Ma Williams while the pods were in their pink stage?

 

[ruralmamma]

Did you ever take any photos of Ma Williams while the pods were in their pink stage?

This is the only one I can find at the moment.

 

[Blue-Jay]

This is the only one I can find at the moment.

That is really neat looking. First time I've ever seen pink pods on a pole bean like this.