Grey Eyed Greasy Runner Bean

[chrysanthemum]

Oct 9, 2022 17:55:25 GMT -6 woodeye said:

Cool, definitely looks nice and green. Hope it has time to make a bean or two, would be nice to have a sun porch for it to sit in soon...

Do you have a good south-facing window where you could put a few beans pots for a while?  Alternatively, if frost threatens, you could just bring them inside for a night or two and put them back out when the weather warms again.  I have much less experience of Texas than you do, of course, but I’ve seen the warmth linger for a while after some frosts or freezes intervene.

[hmoosek]

Yes, that should be doable.

[hmoosek]

Well looky Look! Beans, Beans and more beans. It just goes to show to never give up. I can’t tell you how many times I came close to yanking these. I’m sure glad I didn’t. They aren’t climbing, but they are making beans.

[chrysanthemum]

Hurray! That is one beautiful sight. I’ll be so excited if you manage to save seeds off this plant.

[macmex]

Yay! You are blessed with a bit more growing season and, if necessary, you might even be able to move them to shelter. Maybe you'll get a few seeds from these pods!

[hmoosek]

Hey guys, Its starting to put out a few beans. Its not climbing and to be honest, im not going to encourage it, in case i have to bring it inside.

[chrysanthemum]

Those are getting there. I agree with you about not encouraging it to climb so that you can protect it better. I heard that areas near Dallas are at risk for severe weather tomorrow. Stay safe (and keep the beans safe if you can.)

[hmoosek]

A little bit of bad luck today. I was trying to get the beans moved into the house for tonights frost. I noticed the pot was full of fire ants and while getting them off my hands, I accidentally yanked these two from the plant. Its a bummer cause these are nice and would have made good seed stock. I had to leave the flower pot outside, but covered it as best as I could.

[chrysanthemum]

Oh, I really dislike fire ants, especially when they get into my plants. I’ve had them in pots before and have had success using Terro outdoor ant spike to eliminate them.

www.homedepot.com/p/TERRO-Outdoor-Liquid-Ant-Killer-Bait-Stakes-8-Count-T1812/204661245

I’ve also used a version that comes in a large circle that sits on a little platform on the ground. It has bigger quantities of bait, but I have to order it, and the prices fluctuate.

I’ve tried making my own version with borax and sugar water or borax and peanut butter and honey, but I’ve had better success with the commercial formulations.

I hope you didn’t get stung too many times. The sting of accidentally pulling off the beans is enough without adding ant bites to the mix. The beans look really great, though. Do you have others that stage on the plant.

[hmoosek]

No, I have a few smaller pods, but these were the cream of the crop. Long ago, there was a wrestler out of Dallas. He had a saying That went, “It Be’s that way sometimes.”

[hmoosek]

I feel like I let these guys down. They froze. I was too sick to go out and cover them. I yanked them out of the pot this morning. As you can see they were filled out nicely and woukd have been good seed.

[chrysanthemum]

You did the best you could, hmoosek. Is it worth trying to dry the pods anyway? Maybe only the leaves froze and not the pods? My Woods Mountain Crazy Beans are drying down nicely. I’m sure it helps that the humidity is so low inside right now. I don’t know how the seed will be, but it might be worth a shot.

[hmoosek]

Nov 22, 2022 10:37:28 GMT -6 chrysanthemum said:

You did the best you could, hmoosek . Is it worth trying to dry the pods anyway? Maybe only the leaves froze and not the pods? My Woods Mountain Crazy Beans are drying down nicely. I’m sure it helps that the humidity is so low inside right now. I don’t know how the seed will be, but it might be worth a shot.

Oh yeah, you know me, I’m going to try to salvage all I can. I babied these beans all summer, so I hate to walk away empty handed.

I haven’t been out to Minnie Shatterly, but I’m sure they died too. I had pods on them as well. 

[triffid]

That's a shame, moose You may still have a chance, as the pods contain more sugar than the leaves and this may have prevented them from freezing. Fingers crossed.
Either way they made lovely pods in a very short time frame and I'm sure they'll do excellently next season.

[hmoosek]

I managed to save 10 seeds. They are not near as pretty as the seeds I started with, but These are from the pods that froze and didn’t have a chance to dry down on the vine.