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Post by glen on Aug 21, 2017 17:09:44 GMT -6
I am in the middle of a fence project and it is going well but slow. Unfortunately I have the oaxaca cream beans growing on the other side of the yard, on the fence because I want to take that fence out and replace it as well. Its climbing on some plastic trellis. I am going to have to try to cut that plastic trellis material carefully when the time comes and move the vines to the other side of the yard so it can grow on the new fence that will be finished. This could get dicey. Luckily, the vines are not growing fast. I am not so sure how lucky that is but I am looking to the bright side of things. I am not ready to move them yet. I have a couple more days of work on the first part of the fence. Then those vines have to be somehow moved. They are on a barbed wire fence with plastic trellis material tacked on. So, it should be a doable project to get them moved at this point. I mean, they are really growing slow. The color of the leaves is yellowish green. I think the leaves should be darker green. I do not know what is the problem. And, the vines are not vigorous. If I do something wrong and kill the vines in the process of this move, I will start over again. I have enough seed to do so. I am really not happy with the performance so far. They grew the same way the first time I grew them and I just was not impressed. My long beans grow like they are on a mission but they are the only frame of reference I really have. Of course, the long beans are completely adapted to my environment and climate.
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Post by glen on Aug 22, 2017 19:21:07 GMT -6
George, I am just sick with what is happening with the beans. The vines are not looking good. I do not believe they like this hot humid climate with all this rain and over-cast. The leaves should be dark green. Leaves are yellowish green in color. Not good at all. Look at the foto's you provided. Nice dark green leaves. That is the normal bean vine color. I am very pessimistic at this time with the 2 pots I have growing oaxacan bean vines right now. So, I am going to move them in a few days so I can finish the fence. I have enough seed so I can actually do over when the rainy season is finished. I believe this bean will grow better in the hot, dry season. We have to try it then and see what happens. I am going to send you a cell phone foto of these vines tomorrow if I can remember. You will see what I mean. My long beans don't mind this weather and they have nice dark green leaf and are vigorous. And, they just came up as volunteers in the yard. I am going to get to the bottom of this but its going to take some experimentation. I am not planning to give up easily. I only need a few vines to do well and I will get more precious seeds to work with for later.
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Post by glen on Aug 31, 2017 8:17:58 GMT -6
Some of the vines have died due to root rot. I will be planting more vines later. I need to experiment with the soil mix I am using. I need more drainage. This variety of beans do not like the roots swimming in water nor does this bean use much water. I need to do some experimentation obviously. I am in the middle of other projects however, once the first opening comes I will be getting back to this one. I believe this legume will actually do better in the dry season. I am not planning to give up.
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Post by glen on Sept 3, 2017 15:45:38 GMT -6
I just can't catch a break. The vines, which were doing so terrible, began to grow again and look fairly decent. Well, several vines had died. But, the ones still alive began to grow and do well. I am in the middle of trying to install a fence. The project is still not completed. A calf got into my yard today and of all the plants it could have eaten it chose to eat my bean vines. It didn't eat all of them. But, it got most of the new leaf. I just can't catch a break however it could have been much worse. The plan is to finish installing the fence fabric as soon as I can find a helper. I have been working every day for the last 16 days just on installing the fence posts. I can't install the fabric alone. I left the house only for a few hours and this calf was in my yard apon my return. I thought it would have done a lot more damage than it did. It did not touch my okra. Nor did it bother my palms. Cows love to eat palms. They will eat just about anything green when we are in the dry season. I will be so happy to get that fence installed. We have one dog that comes in and BM's in my flower pots. I just get sick of all the stray dogs and the cows and the chickens that use my yard like it belongs to them. Just a little longer.
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Post by macmex on Sept 4, 2017 19:55:34 GMT -6
Glen, be glad it wasn't a herd of goats that got in! I have an apple tree in my back yard, which I planted in 2006. Have yet to get an apple from it, as, about every other year the goats have girdled it. This year it was poised to produce and I tenderly treated it to a side dressing of barn scrapings, only to discover that they were contaminated with broad leaf weed killer! The tree barely survived it. But, if it makes it through the winter, I hope it will continue improving.
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Post by glen on Sept 5, 2017 19:42:13 GMT -6
Lots of stuff can happen. My fence will get installed eventually if I can find someone to help me stretch it. It took me 16 days to install 29 fence posts in hard packed rocky soil. Now I can't seem to find anyone to help me stretch the cyclone material. It'll happen. Once it does I plan to continue trying to grow this Mexican jumping bean. I am not planning to allow it to beat me. If I can manage to get a few seeds you are on the list to get some. I have a feeling that it is going to do better in soil that drains better and also with less rain. We were getting a lot less rain for awhile and I sort of forgot about those Mexican beans. I did notice that they were seeming to make a little come back. Then that calf eat em. They aren't completely gone. We'll see what happens with em. Yes, goats are bad when they get in the garden. I got em across the street. They can eat half your yard in only a few minutes and they aren't picky about what they eat. At least not in my yard.
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Post by glen on Sept 11, 2017 14:24:50 GMT -6
Ok, my fence is installed and I am ready for another try at this bean. I have the seeds. Soon, more will be planted. I don't give up easy.
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Post by glen on Sept 12, 2017 18:19:21 GMT -6
Ok, I appreciate you guys sticking with me. Just to bring you up to date there are 2 four gallon pots with a surviving oahacan creme bean vine in each. They have been thru heck. I need to loosen up the top soil in each pot. Drainage is a problema. Originally there were 3 vines in each pot. Root rot killed the other vines due to lack of drainage. This variety of bean does not use a lot of wáter. They do not like wet feet. Period. Give em wet feet and they will die. The remaining vines may or may not survive in the long term but I plan to try my best to rescue them. They are barely surviving at this point and are not big vines like they should be for the age of the vines. The vines are feminine meaning fine and thin in appearance. The leaves are small and light Green. They should be darker Green in color. Tomorrow I will recycle 3 ten gallon pots and prepare them for more seed. I will mix a more Sandy soil into these pots and see if I can encourage a Little more drainage this time. I plan to plant 3 sedes in each pot and line them up along the fence not close to each other at all. I have plenty of fence line. I plan to wáter a lot less and just give these new vines a lot less attention. They don't want my attention anyways. I have 50 sedes left and I will continue trying to grow this vine until I come up better luck or actually learn how to successfully grow this bean. It is a Little temperamental to say the least. I was thinking that this bean should be Ok. It actually came from the islands of hawaii which is a tropical and humid climate. I should be able to grow this vine. I was admiring the sedes today. They are actually very beautiful in appearance.
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Post by glen on Sept 14, 2017 17:36:53 GMT -6
Today I added 2 additional pots along the fence, both 10 gallon pots. One pot has Sandy soil. The other pot has a clay soil in it. My money is on the Sandy soil. My soil varies on my property since Panamanians use any free lot fill they can. I have area's on my lot where the soil is pretty much unusable. At any rate, I am using what I have. There are a total of 4 pots now. I planted one more seed in each of the 4 gallon pots. I planted 3 sedes in each 10 gallon pots and seperated the pots by about 6 feet. I did treat each pot with some liquid cal mixed with wáter also. I didn't over do it. I have enough seed that I can continue do-overs for a Little while longer. I think I have about 40 sedes left. I only need one vine to produce sedes in order to keep me going but even that seems like a tough one considering the bad luck I have been having. I plan to extend the height of the fence by about a foot and a half to give these vines a Little extra room to climb.
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Post by glen on Sept 16, 2017 19:12:14 GMT -6
This is going to be a very slow project. One vine is growing quite nicely. One vine is just sitting there. Leaves are small. No new seeds are germinating yet. If the vines take off and look like they might do something I will snap some foto's. Right now there's nothing to see.
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Post by glen on Sept 23, 2017 10:07:36 GMT -6
Everything is going well except in one pot that is full of hard packed clay. Only one seedling has emerged with a clean bill of health. I think I am going to scoop out a little of the dirt, replace it will sandier soil and slip 2 more seeds in the pot. I don't want to disturb the one good seedling that has so far made it. These are very persnicketty little guys. I go out every day not knowing what to expect. Very fragile vines, small leaves, not really very vigorous vines. I am not going to do much fertilizing this time with the miracle grow. Nor am I going to water unless the vines are obviously near heat stroke. I worry about root rot. And, insects. I did spray this morning because in this wet, humid climate now, the insects and catepillars and bugs are always a risk, especially to little seedlings. Man, if the goats find these vines I am done dealing. My neighbor has a dozen goats that he likes to just turn loose in the barrio to terrorize us and our bean vines.
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Post by glen on Sept 24, 2017 10:00:29 GMT -6
I noticed that one of the older surviving vines bloomed today! I have never seen a more pathetic vine. It has been thru heck and high wáter. The vine isn't even as tall as I am. But, it is blooming now. This is good news since George complained that the vines took him 150 days one time to Bloom! This isn't the first time I have had this bean Bloom. The first time I tried growing this bean it did Bloom as well. I had all kinds of issues growing this bean then also. The seedlings look better this time around also. It appears that if I don't wáter or fertilize or do anything except weed and keep the bugs off these plants maybe they stand a chance. I have to let all the sedes at first dry on the vine for seed saving. Once I have some seeds I can try eating the pods. So far, I know very Little about this bean. Its posible that I can grow it thru out the year?
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Post by glen on Sept 24, 2017 10:05:50 GMT -6
Looking at the history of this planting it appears that the 2 surviving vines are about 50 days old. One vine has not bloomed yet. It is still trying to mend itself from being torn away from the old fence when I was working on that Project. That vine is beginning to climb now and will probably also Bloom fairly soon. That poor vine really is pathetic looking. I am rooting for it.
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Post by macmex on Sept 24, 2017 13:52:26 GMT -6
Glen, you're in new territory. I doubt anyone has gone before to tell you what to expect. That's a very rare bean, hardly known in either it's home country of Mexico or here in the U.S.A. I doubt it's ever been grown that far South. It's a really good sign that it's flowering. I'll be so relieved when you manage to produce seed! I know I could do it here, with special measures. I know what I'd do. But I no longer have seed and neither does Merry Youle.
George
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Post by glen on Sept 28, 2017 12:25:21 GMT -6
George, I am checking the progress of these vines daily although I try not to do anything for them. I have found that when I love them, they don't appreciate it. Today I did wáter them a Little. I am always afraid to wáter them because they do not use much wáter at this point and there is the chance we could sustain root rot. There are 4 pots now against the fence and the fence has been make taller to accomodate the vines in the event they wish to grow tall. One 10 gallon pot has 3 very attractive new vines that are now climbing and look very healthy. The other 10 gallon pot has dence clay soil in it and it does not drain that well. This variety of bean is not real happy in this soil. It likes to grow in nice Sandy soil that drains. I am sure it would appreciate some organic material in the soil but it better have drainage. These vines are not growing fast. Just steady. The ones that bloomed did not set. Those are the older vines of which there are 2. They look like they want to Bloom again. I think at this point that we have a good chance of being able to produce seed since we did see some nice blue blooms appear. After I saw that I was excited and continuously checking to see if any pods would be produced. No cigar. There is a total of 8 vines. Plus 2 new seedlings that just germinated. I still have some sedes left in the Little bag so I have enough to do-over again. I have a feeling that I am going to have a seed crop. I have been wrong before. I think the issue is getting the sedes planted in the right soil at the right time of year. This variety does not like monsoon rains or continuous rain. ROOT ROT. I have a feeling that this bean will be useful during the dry season.
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