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Post by macmex on Mar 26, 2015 8:28:58 GMT -6
This is my ambitious list for 2015. I would very much like to renew seed on some of these varieties.
Tennessee Cutshort Cherokee Striped Cornhill Frank Barnett Cutshort Cooper's Running Snap Poletschka Pole Bean Berta Talaska Barksdale Georgia Long Woods Mountain Crazy Bean Tarahumara Purple Ojos Tarahumara Dark Purple Mecatlán Black Fowler Bush Bean Calico Willow Leaf Pole Lima Black Jungle Kahala Soy Of the pole beans I will do large planting of Tennessee Cutshort, Cherokee Striped Cornhill and Barksdale and Cooper's Running Snap. Of the bush beans I intend to plant a large, long row of Woods Mountain Crazy Bean and just a sample of the others. I will do at least 16' of Georgia Long Cowpea (Long bean), and several tepees of the limas. Over a month ago I shipped seed of Woods Mountain Crazy Bean to Tel Aviv, Israel. This bean is really getting around! I also spoke on seed saving, at our local 4H club, in January I believe, and presented a sample of Woods Mountain Crazy Bean to each young person in attendance. I intend to plant a LOT of Kentucky Red Cowpea and enough to renew seed of Penny Rile and Zongozotla Pintitos (all cowpeas).
So, what are you hoping to grow this year?
George
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Post by amyinowasso on Apr 1, 2015 16:49:42 GMT -6
George, I've confused myself. Is the Frank Barnett cut short grown for shelly/dry beans or can it be a green bean, too? While we're at it, the same question about Woods Mountain Crazy Bean.
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Post by macmex on Apr 3, 2015 5:49:36 GMT -6
Amy,
Frank Barnett Cutshort could probably be used for snap, shell or dry. But I have used it as a snap bean. It is extremely good for that. Just be sure to string it.The same is true of Woods Mountain Crazy Bean. The main difference between the two, in terms of usage, is that I would hardly consider Woods Mountain Crazy Bean for dry beans, as it would be too laborious to shell them.
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Post by snickeringbear on Apr 16, 2015 18:59:16 GMT -6
My list so far, rows are 110 feet long: 1 row Fortex pole beans, these were interplanted with Oaxacan 5-1 last year to get a few bee made crosses 1/2 row of Dr. Martin Lima for Sandhill 1/2 row of Caroline White Sieva for Sandhill 1 row of Grandma Roberts Tricolor beans for Sandhill.
I have plans to plant at least 2 more rows of beans including some runner beans.
The Fortex X Oaxacan 5-1 is a cross I want to pursue. Fortex is a long nearly round bean with very good snap quality. It has a serious weakness of low production and has very little heat or disease tolerance. It is a preferred variety for Japanese Beetles. Oaxacan 5-1 is a small black bean I got from ARS-Grin. It carries the best heat tolerance I've ever seen in a bean plus has superb disease and pest tolerance and is very productive. It has a weakness of making small black beans in pods 4 to 5 inches long with heavy strings. I am hoping to combine the bean quality traits of Fortex with the heat tolerance, disease/pest tolerance, and production of Oaxacan 5-1. Fortex produces white flowers. Oaxacan 5-1 produces pink/purple flowers. By saving seed of the Fortex beans, I will be able to detect any crosses in the row by looking for pink flowers. I planted roughly 300 seed and expect to find between 10 and 15 hybrid plants.
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Post by macmex on Apr 17, 2015 11:51:36 GMT -6
Sounds really good Darryl. You grow on a big scale! Is Oaxaca 5-1 okay as a snap after the strings are pulled, or is it primarily a dry bean? I've had a couple interesting crosses, over the years, but never taken the time to try and make anything of them.
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Post by snickeringbear on Apr 18, 2015 22:39:14 GMT -6
I tried Oaxacan 5-1 as snaps last year but they are small and not as crisp as needed for a good snap bean. Give me 5 or 6 generations to work on the cross and I might have something worth talking about.
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Post by snickeringbear on Jul 1, 2015 23:17:15 GMT -6
I harvested 130 of the Fortex X Oaxacan 5-1 seed today. There was only one plant that was clearly from the cross in the entire row of Fortex seed planted. The flowers were pink, the beans pods were green with a pale purple lineback. Mature bean pods turn rich deep petunidin red. Pods tend to produce 7 seed each and are about 8 to 9 inches long with a distinctive curve near the tip. The seed are black with brown undertones that can be seen on immature seed. The plant is very healthy with little to no damage from Japanese Beetles where the Fortex plants on each side were heavily damaged. There are at least 50 more pods on the plant so I expect to wind up with about 500 to 700 seed total for next year. I sampled a few and found the flavor to be similar to Fortex but with slight strings where Fortex is stringless.
It will be interesting to see how these F2 seed segregate when I grow them next year.
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Post by snickeringbear on Jul 20, 2015 23:05:49 GMT -6
I finished harvesting the cross seed of Fortex X Oaxaca 5-1. total is about 500 seed. This will be plenty for a bulk growout next year.
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Post by macmex on Jul 21, 2015 6:40:26 GMT -6
So that will be 500 seed of F2 seed? Bet you'll have a really wide variety of traits.
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Post by philagardener on Oct 18, 2015 20:38:37 GMT -6
My successful 2015 grow-outs this year included Fortex, Kwintus, Blue Coco, Trionfo Violetto, Blue Shackamaxon, Gold Marie, Gold of Bacau and Flamingo. They are all pole beans - unfortunately, the rabbits got into my bush bean bed and ate everything about three weeks after sowing :<(
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Post by macmex on Oct 19, 2015 8:32:51 GMT -6
Well, Philagardener, You managed to grow out a complete line up of beans that I have never tried! That shouldn't be too hard to do. But it is rare that I see it! It's interesting how, some years, bush beans beat the predators and the pole beans don't (as in grasshopper plague), and other times it's turned around. I have had rabbits chew off my pole beans at ground level, leaving the tops to shrivel up. In what region do you garden? This info will likely help others to get a better idea about trying these beans.
George
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Post by philagardener on Oct 19, 2015 19:33:04 GMT -6
Hi macmex - thanks for your encouraging reply. It was a fun bean year. I picked a good selection of colors for my grow-out and had an excellent crop of seed because our August and September were warm and dry. Left to right is Fortex, Trionfo Violetto, and Gold Marie. I am growing outside of Philadelphia, PA, and often our humid summers get in the way of seed saving. I had two fenced plots this year and managed to keep the rabbits out of the pole bean area, mostly. Lost a few to damage at the base, but it was nothing like my other bed with the bush beans. I had a rabbit get in there (still trying to figure out how, but I did see it!) just as everything was getting started and it chewed about 8 varieties cleanly to the ground. I plan to replace my fencing this winter so that doesn't happen again!
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Post by john on Oct 20, 2015 19:05:07 GMT -6
Hi philagardener and welcome. I can relate to having a tough time saving bean seed in most years. I am in CT and the beans will often rot before I can get mature seed. This was the best year I have had for beans, It was so dry that I got a ton of dried seed put up for winter. I don't grow anything fancy. I am a big fan of the Fordhook 242 Lima. I think they are delicious and make the best succotash. I also grow horticultural beans, they are pretty versatile and make a good green shell bean or a good dried bean. I also love green beans and grow a ton of them. Mostly bush types. I don't bend over to pick them though. I wait until the majority of the crop is ready and then I pull up the whole plant and throw it into a wheelbarrow. I then go into a shady area and pull the beans off the plants. I have enough space to do this and I find that bean seed is much cheaper than the chiropractor. LOL
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Post by philagardener on Oct 21, 2015 5:08:51 GMT -6
I'm still working on trying to find a great lima - many have been too long season for me. I had a great crop of Violet's Multicolor Butterbeans last year and a row is on my to-grow list for next. They are a vigorous pole climber, so no bending at all! Delicious fresh and beautiful dry:
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Post by macmex on Oct 21, 2015 8:17:24 GMT -6
John, Have you tried picking the pods when they just begin to dry down and drying them under cover (as in indoors)? I have found this to be useful when conditions are such as to cause the pods to rot and/or the seed to sprout, while I wait for the pods to dry.
George
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