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Post by rdback on Aug 20, 2022 10:33:23 GMT -6
chrysanthemum So, let's see if I can answer some of these questions lol.
I’d love to ask a few questions about some, but I’m afraid it takes it away from French Gold. Sorry about that.
Don't let that stop ya! There's no strict rules about wandering off topic here at GCSS. If there was, we'd all be banned lol.
When I was doing my reading about Mexican Bean Beetles, I also came across the statement that they seem to prefer wax bean varieties to other varieties. I guess that’s why your French Gold are so popular. Do you notice a difference between them and your other varieties, or is it all just equally awful?
Well, I will say they attacked the French Gold first, and continued eating them until mostly devoured. Then, they moved on to the others. There didn't seem to be a clear "second choice". They attacked all the others pretty equally. At least that was what it seemed like to me.
“Old Fashioned Whippoorwill”: is that that same as just plain “Whippoorwill” that I got from Southern Exposure and grew last year, or is it a different variety?
Well, kinda. What I'm growing is a true pole type. SESE describes theirs as a "bush with runners". The bean itself looks the same. The ones I'm growing came from Sand Mountain Seed Bank in Alabama. Their description: "Grown by Perry Childress in Albertville, AL 2009". I picked them up at the Heritage Harvest Festival held at Monticello in 2017. The HHF was the brainchild of Ira Wallace from Southern Exposure. Sadly, Covid put and end to it, at least so far. Anyway, the whippoorwill cowpea I'm familiar with is speckled. I hear there are others out there that are solid colors (white, brown), but I'm told they are not the original "old fashioned" type.
Your two runner beans: How are they doing for you in heat and drought? Did you have to start indoors to give them a head start early or delay planting to have a later crop? I’ve never grown runner beans. Actually, I don’t think I had even heard of them until I saw them in a friend’s garden in upstate New York about sixteen years ago. I looked into them at the time and concluded they’d be a difficult crop for my Virginia climate.
Your original assessment was accurate - runners don't do well in VA lol. They much prefer cooler, damper climates - like the UK. Runners are a staple in their allotment gardens. There's also a ton more varieties available there. Here in the US, there's probably only six or eight readily available. Anyway, they only produce late in the season IF we have a late frost. Marginal at best. The main reason I grow them is for that species separation I mentioned earlier. Plus, their flowers are beautiful and hummingbirds love them.
My father was particularly fond of lima beans, and I really enjoy them, too.
I am a lima bean fan as well. And, they usually always do well here. I grew a butterbean last year, which is a type of lima (see HERE). If you'd like to try growing limas again, I'd be happy to send you some seed.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Aug 20, 2022 14:32:57 GMT -6
Thanks for answering my many questions, rdback. I sure am glad we’re allowed to stray a bit.
That’s really interesting that your Whipporwill is a true pole. Mine was definitely a large bush with long runners. I grew it like a pole in a sense in that it climbed all over my arched cattle panel trellises. I was growing my crop partly for eating (the trellised ones) and partly as a summer cover crop in the new raised beds we were given last summer and were just establishing the soil. It was nice to have the bushy foliage for that.
Runner beans are gorgeous, I agree. Feel free to share more photography with us! It makes sense to use them for species separation. I love having hummingbirds visit the garden, though sometimes they give me quite a fright when they buzz by my ear before I’ve seen them. I startle pretty easily.
I just reread your thread about the Alabama Blackeyed Butterbean. It sounds really interesting but also discouraging that it didn’t fill out pods in Oklahoma heat. Sometimes they’re even hotter than we are, but our heat starts earlier and stays later on average. I’ll have to learn more about lima bean culture before I think about trying one, but thank you for your kind offer. I’m not sure what kind of lima my mother is growing this year, but she says it hasn’t even set pods for her this year.
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Post by rdback on Nov 9, 2022 11:51:48 GMT -6
I'm adding this photo, not to show the decimation Mexican Bean Beatles can do, but to show how well this bean set pods consistently, in spite of all the heat and drought issues we experienced this year here in Virginia. We have harvested several pounds of beans and have left the rest for seed, but if you look closely you can still see pods from the bottom of the trellis all the way to the top. This bean is prolific and certainly "heat tolerant". It just might do well for folks in OK, TX, etc.
Just to close the book on French Gold....
As you can see in the above photo, I purposely left a LOT of pods on the vine to dry for seed. I usually don't pay much attention to them; just let them hang there for a few weeks to dry naturally. When I got back to looking for them to pick, EVERY pod in this photo was gone! I wasn't able to save ANY seed for this bean. I can't think of anything that would eat every one. Maybe a flock of birds (lots of crows around), or maybe squirrels? Dunno. Thankfully, I still have some commercial seed left. We liked this bean, so I'll probably grow it again in 2023.
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Post by macmex on Nov 9, 2022 13:12:07 GMT -6
I've never before heard of a critter stealing all the dried beans off of pole beans. Makes me think of some kind of rodent but who knows?
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Post by woodeye on Nov 9, 2022 15:05:46 GMT -6
Hmmmm, odd! How well do you know your neighbors, rdback?
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Post by chrysanthemum on Nov 9, 2022 18:36:14 GMT -6
Wow! That is not what I was expecting as an update to this thread. I’m so sorry that happened, rdback. I’m glad you have more commercial seed to try again next year. Were the vines themselves still intact with just the pods missing, or had the vines been eaten as well?
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Nov 9, 2022 21:07:12 GMT -6
That looks a lot like the work of squirrels. I once saw a 30-gallon deer feeder that had recently been full of whole corn in the woods. It stood on steel tripod legs with a battery-powered timer to release corn at certain times of the day. The squirrels somehow climbed or hopped onto the top of the barrel, where they chewed a sizeable hole in the plastic lid to gain access to the corn and had emptied the entire contents of the barrel.
Upon closer examination, I found a hollow tree a few yards away that was weather cracked in a spiral pattern that continued higher up than I was tall. Everywhere the cracks went all the way through to the cache inside, I could see whole kernels of corn inside the hollow tree.
If nothing else, you have to admire their work ethic. once they discover a food source they will not stop until they have every bit of it 'squirreled away' somewhere.
I'll bet all of those beans are nearby, inside a hollow chamber or cavity somewhere.
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Post by rdback on Nov 11, 2022 8:28:41 GMT -6
Yeah, thinking more about it makes me tend to agree with you Ron - probably squirrels. And yes Chrys, the vines were still intact, just the pods were gone. AND, there was no sign of pods, or husks, or seed bits on the ground. Clean as a whistle. It was a true grab-and-run caper, lol.
Now to go find that cache........
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Nov 11, 2022 20:55:42 GMT -6
This is a very intriguing case, though I imagine it very frustrating to the author of the continuing crime story.
Thank you, for keeping us in the loop, and happy sleuthing.
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Post by woodeye on Nov 11, 2022 21:33:35 GMT -6
Yeah, well we don't have the answer yet, so I'd still have a neighborhood watch program engaged. Especially if you have a neighbor that goes by the name of Rocky J. Squirrel...
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