A Cross: Barksdale Wax Pole with Tennessee Cutshort
Jul 25, 2022 11:53:45 GMT -6
heavyhitterokra, philagardener, and 3 more like this
Post by macmex on Jul 25, 2022 11:53:45 GMT -6
I've grown both Tennessee Cutshort and Barksdale for decades with very few crosses between them, so few, in fact, that I can't recall ever finding one. This may be in part that Barksdale was THE bean I maintained which would not set pods in hot weather. Any seed I collected was usually set late in the season when temps were coming down. By that time I usually had collected the seed I wanted from other varieties which did not have this sensitivity.
Hank, a member on this forum, who lives only some miles away from me, has had some unusual pollinator activity over the last years. He's had tomatoes cross (a lot) across more than 40' distances and beans cross, which normally would not. Why? I'm not sure. But we can make some lemonade out of these lemons. A year or two ago Hank handed me a bag of seed, harvested from Barksdale Wax Pole bean. Obviously, it was heavily crossed with Tennessee Cutshort, the other variety he was growing that year.
I stuck the seed in my frozen seed bank, thinking that sometime I might try growing some out.
Why would I want to grow seed from this cross? Well, for one thing, both are excellent tender podded beans. Tennessee Cutshort has heavy strings, which when pulled, leave pods, even when quite mature, tender and delicious, used like snaps. Barksdale appears to come from the same "full bean" background, meaning that the seed can be allowed to fill out in the pod before harvest. Barksdale's pods are not only tender right up until the seed can be harvested as a seed crop, but is also the most tender of all tender podded beans I have ever tried. It only occasionally produces a pod with any strings at all, yet it has the qualities of a true old fashioned string bean.
The mother plant(s) from which this seed came was Barksdale. Since Barksdale has white seed, I assume that all the brown seed carries Tennessee Cutshort genetics from the cross. I chose to plant only some of the brown seeded seed, to see what comes of it. I didn't plant much. Just four hills, on the side of my loufah garden at work. This should be enough to get some idea of what can come of this cross. If it's a true F1 generation cross, then every plant should produce with same characteristics. Next generation will show diversification. If it's actually an F2 generation cross, meaning that we missed the cross when it first grew out, then these few plants should manifest different mixes of traits, derived from the parent varieties. I'm guessing that it's the former case. We'll see.
I planted some seed on July 20, 2022 and today, July 25, 2022, I found four plants up.
I figure it will be fun to experiment. I doubt that any F2 or F3 generation plants will have tough pods like popped up with the Cherokee Trail of Tears X Tennessee Cutshort experiment.
Hank, a member on this forum, who lives only some miles away from me, has had some unusual pollinator activity over the last years. He's had tomatoes cross (a lot) across more than 40' distances and beans cross, which normally would not. Why? I'm not sure. But we can make some lemonade out of these lemons. A year or two ago Hank handed me a bag of seed, harvested from Barksdale Wax Pole bean. Obviously, it was heavily crossed with Tennessee Cutshort, the other variety he was growing that year.
I stuck the seed in my frozen seed bank, thinking that sometime I might try growing some out.
Why would I want to grow seed from this cross? Well, for one thing, both are excellent tender podded beans. Tennessee Cutshort has heavy strings, which when pulled, leave pods, even when quite mature, tender and delicious, used like snaps. Barksdale appears to come from the same "full bean" background, meaning that the seed can be allowed to fill out in the pod before harvest. Barksdale's pods are not only tender right up until the seed can be harvested as a seed crop, but is also the most tender of all tender podded beans I have ever tried. It only occasionally produces a pod with any strings at all, yet it has the qualities of a true old fashioned string bean.
The mother plant(s) from which this seed came was Barksdale. Since Barksdale has white seed, I assume that all the brown seed carries Tennessee Cutshort genetics from the cross. I chose to plant only some of the brown seeded seed, to see what comes of it. I didn't plant much. Just four hills, on the side of my loufah garden at work. This should be enough to get some idea of what can come of this cross. If it's a true F1 generation cross, then every plant should produce with same characteristics. Next generation will show diversification. If it's actually an F2 generation cross, meaning that we missed the cross when it first grew out, then these few plants should manifest different mixes of traits, derived from the parent varieties. I'm guessing that it's the former case. We'll see.
I planted some seed on July 20, 2022 and today, July 25, 2022, I found four plants up.
I figure it will be fun to experiment. I doubt that any F2 or F3 generation plants will have tough pods like popped up with the Cherokee Trail of Tears X Tennessee Cutshort experiment.