Tepary Beans

[oxbowfarm]

I believe Mitla Black is supposed to be the most humid adapted cultivar. But I noticed that in this years SSE yearbook someone stated that they thought it might not be a true Tepary based on flower characteristics, possibly a wide cross? Carol Deppe's bean Holly mentioned is supposedly a Mitla Black wide cross, maybe not as wide a cross as all that if it's not a true Tepary.

[DarJones]

Tepary beans pretty much can't cross with vulgaris. I checked and double checked that a few days ago. The way the VAX 1 was made was by two generations of embryo rescue.

DarJones

[12540dumont]

So, Dar are you going to explain how she did that cross?

[DarJones]

Runner beans are not supposed to cross with vulgaris either, but once in a blue moon it happens. No, I won't try to explain it, but would point out that if you started with a known hybrid like VAX 1, then you can easily cross back to Vulgaris.

DarJones

[12540dumont]

Well thanks, I go crazy when she says wide cross....and folding...

Drives me spare! What's the point of bringing up terms like this if you are not going to give step by step instructions?

[steev]

I bought a pound of teparies packed by Rancho Gordo (up by Napa) which I'll plant in June; want to see how they compare to Blue-Speckled. They aren't identified varietally, could be Big Field Brown.

[12540dumont]

RESILIENT BEAN BREEDER F3. These are the F3 seeds segregating from crosses of Gaucho common bean X Black Mitla tepary bean.) (Phaseolus vulgaris X Phaseolus acutifolius) Gaucho is a very early, very delicious gold dry bean. Black Mitla tepary is a widely adapted black tepary with a powerful delicious flavor as a dry bean. Both are small beans round in cross section and about twice as long as wide. Both are easy to thresh. Teparies are unusually drought-hardy and are resistant or tolerant to diseases common beans succumb to. Common bean varieties tend to yield more. In 2009 I was trying to do seed increases on the pure varieties, which shouldn't have crossed since they are different species. Such crosses are “against the rules.” The beans were unruly. I got about 5% crosses from patches that were 12' apart, as evidenced by about 5% black beans in the 2010 grow-out of what I thought was (and what looked like) pure (gold-seeded) Gaucho. I can't think of any cross that has more potential for producing interesting and highly resilient dry bean varieties than this cross, though, however unintended. So I hand-sorted out several thousand black seeds representing those crosses and planted them in 2011 to produce this year's Resilient Bean Breeder F3. The rows of this material are by far the most productive dry beans I have ever seen. The plants are mostly short-vined in type, and hold their pods up off the ground so can be handled like a bush type. The bean colors that are segregating are black, gold, brown, tan, and speckled. Maturity is a little later than Gaucho but still quite early. (Presumably there will be continuing segregation for plant type, maturity, drought resistance, disease resistance, and bean color and flavor.) Save seed from the plants that do best for you and breed your own unique varieties adapted to your own needs and conditions. This should be particularly good material from which to select varieties for short-seasons, cool or cold or hot summer weather, drought hardiness, yield, and disease resistance. Germination at least 80%.


I just received a package of these from Carol.

[oxbowfarm]

Yeah, I got one too couldn't resist such a weird thing, especially as I can't get my beans to cross at all. There are a very small number 4-6 of beans in my packet that are sort of olive color with a funny red marbling. Those are pretty unusual looking, not that I'm a bean expert

[raymondo]

Should be interesting Holly. Enjoy watching the hybrids segregate.

[Deleted]

I'm reading that regular watering actually lowers the productivity of teparies. In the desert southwest, they were planted twice a year -- after the spring rains and after the summer rains. Any more water is supposed to benefit new foliage, but stunt the formation of beans.

I have no personal experience but have bought a 1lb bag and would like to try.

Mar 13, 2012 13:14:34 GMT -5 oxbowfarm said:

Yeah, I got one too couldn't resist such a weird thing, especially as I can't get my beans to cross at all. There are a very small number 4-6 of beans in my packet that are sort of olive color with a funny red marbling. Those are pretty unusual looking, not that I'm a bean expert

I think this is a neat way to start a new strain.

I suspect that corporate monocultures may produce more variety than expected but that oddballs are removed in an automated packaging process.

[12540dumont]

Raymundo, I wish I could send them on to you. After I calculated the fields, I don't have room for them. I guess they go in the freezer for another year.

We had some rain today, but it's looking like spring. Tomorrow I'll do one more thorough weeding (as Joseph says, 80%) and get on to a bit more planting. I want to tuck every tilled bed with something until it's dry enough to till again. I've a lot of herbs in the sprout house, so I guess I'll start with those and then plunk in anything that the gophers won't eat. I started those Hanaan Pop Beans in a tray, so that I could get them in early. But there's just no room for the tepary beans. It's sad.

[jim]

I know that teparies are being evaluated in Puerto Rico, which tends to be humid though parts are dry. Ive grown them here in MI, and we have humid summers, but not as hot as the Southeast....I imagine.
I grew Black Mitla...they didn't yield anything compared to the vulgaris, but yielded well.
I have not tried crossing those two species yet, though it is rather common for it to happen.
I have been told that the vulgaris should be the female parent, and embryo culture might not be necessary.
I just acquired a tepary, PI200749...and they are as big and round as navy beans! Im anxious to plant them this summer (to be sure they are P. acutifolius, and see how they do!).
And as far as outcrossing, your insect population really effects the rate. Here in Michigan, it is extremely rare, much less than 1%, but in other places it can be up to 5 or 10%, or more.
Jim

[atash]

Consistent with what Jim says, I don't think Dr. Deppe claims to have made the cross--instead she says that she has an unusually effective pollinating fauna in her field.

We've grown them. The beans themselves look like one or the other of the parents--they don't look intermediate. I did not see the plants while they were growing.

I have pure black mitla. I should sow some and see what the plants look like. I also have other teparies, quite small and distinctive looking. Reputedly most of them have some day-length issues so I don't know if I can get them to bear. Dr. Deppe had trouble with most teparies and she is further south than I am--south of the 45th parallel in fact.

[DarJones]

Puerto Rico has tropical rainforest on the east coast, cactus desert in the middle, and tropical farmland full of sugar cane on the west coast. It is about 100 miles end to end. With a climate that diverse, there are plenty of opportunities to find niche crops that are good producers. The best pineapple I ever ate was fresh golden ripe purchased at a fruit stand beside the hwy on the east end of the island.

DarJones

[jim]

Puerto Rico is my favorite place...Ive spent weeks there.
The sugar cane is gone...I didn't see any of it growing anywhere.....aside from escapes.
Where it is being tested is in a humid region...Isabella. But, even on the south, it is humid during the main growing seasons.
Jim