FIRST ADZUKI'S!

[blueadzuki]

Hi all,

Well, Finally when i went out today, I found 3 pods on the oldest of my "not red" adzuki plants mature and harvestable (there another that will probably be ready by tomorrow, and dozens after that) (BTW, MJ turns out they were actually adzuki's (as opposed to mung beans) you can tell from the hilum. They're just very small ones



With any luck the next batch (the tan ones) should be ready in a few weeks, with the last one (and the rice beans) coming in in a month or so, barring frost.

[raymondo]

Pretty little bean. How long a season do adzukis require?

[blueadzuki]

depends on the strain. I think this one was started (indoors, in a peat pot) sometime in Mid March-Early April. Patch 2 went in maybe 2-3 weeks later direct seeded (due to the fact that the only reason I put that group in was because so many of the first group had either frozen to death or been yanked out when the gardeners decided to "do me a favor" and dig a trench around the garden. 3 is a little hard to tell. It's one plant, on it's own, so it is likey from the first batch, but didn't flower until a few weeks ago. So that one may be a bit longer.

[mnjrutherford]

WOW! Those are great! Will the lighter colored ones darken over time? Can't wait to see what they produce next year!

[blueadzuki]

Sept 28, 2012 6:31:30 GMT -5 mnjrutherford said:

WOW! Those are great! Will the lighter colored ones darken over time? Can't wait to see what they produce next year!

Yes, they will. I took the scan basically as soon as I got the beans shelled. The darker ones are from a pod that actually was on long enough to dry down completely on the vine. The lighter ones are from pods that were fully mature, but not fully dry (if you look carefully, you note the lighter ones are also slightly bigger than the dark ones, becuse there still filled with moisture). As of this morning, they all have finished and are all now that darker shade (and smaller size).
As for next year, I'm not sure if this years seed will actualy be planted then. I'm certinly going to save it, but I still have a fair amount of assorted seed left from the original sortings that 1. is older than this (and hence, needs to be planted more urgently) and 2. needs to go through the winnowing process of being grown (and hence, of any seed that will not produce for me being revealed and eliminated from the grex). There is also the fact that, if this years results were typical and, unlike rice beans, any adzuki I manage to get through the seedling state will eventually flower for me, there are a few seeds in that vial that would result in strains that would be a bit more useful to me should there come a point where I have enough production to seriosly consider try to eat some of the crop. As I have noted, this adzuki is a bit on the small size. There are three beans in the vial that have a similar seed coat pattern (though since the base color on those is cream/pale green they have more of a "salt and pepper" vibe.) but are much closer in size to a "standard" adzuki. If I can get those to grow, I'll probably be better off, food-wise.

[blueadzuki]

Thought I'd also show a pic of them still in the pod

[mnjrutherford]

Those are so tiny! That's one thing I have against peas and beans... so much time to shell so little food. I really want to acquire a pea/bean sheller.

[steev]

They're much like Urd beans, size-wise, so they probably thresh out fairly easily, if thoroughly dried. If you want shellies, good luck! Try to find a helper who's obsessive-compulsive and doesn't want a decent wage.

[12540dumont]

Or do like the Italians, you provide the wine, and snacks and everyone shells peas/beans and gossips ;D

[blueadzuki]

And now the first pod from plant group #2!


It's a little hard to see from the picture (my apologies, I misplaced my ruler) but this pod and these beans are quite a bit bigger than the last one (even factoring for the fact the beans are still wet); much closer to "normal" adzuki size.
Actually the tan ones are likey to wind up being more of a grex than a strain. with the mottled ones I got earlier, there is only one plant on the pole, so I know all seeds are coming from that plant (actually there are two plants on that pole by now, but since the other one is a rice bean, there will be no question of telling where each seed comes from). The tan ones, however were plant in a cluster as an emergency measure (due to so many of my first planting dying due to cold weather and over-zealos gardners with careless mowers and weedwhackers) there are at least 5 plants in the resultant snarl that have pods.All will have cream to tan seeds, but that is likey all they will have in common (some will be big, some small, some have constricted pods (like this one) some full, some fat, some slender.) While I can certinaly make an effor to match seed to plant, it's probably useless and I likey wind up treating all seed from the snarl as if I came from 1 mother plant (at least, until I can plant them out individually some later year and get them seperated). The rest are plants on their own, so they will probably stay pure.

[mnjrutherford]

Will these develop "freckles" as the others have? I love the color... sort of soothing somehow.

[blueadzuki]

Oct 11, 2012 14:34:24 GMT -5 mnjrutherford said:

Will these develop "freckles" as the others have? I love the color... sort of soothing somehow.

No, these are solid Ivory (actually when dried there pale yellow green but you get the point). Most mottled beans tend to have thier mottles visible as soon as the pod is opened. They may be a different color through. For example, the cowpeas I grew this year have brown mottling when dried, but when fresh, the mottlings are pale blue. About the only mottling I know of that doesnt show up until the seed is dried is the brown "camo" marks on field peas (like carlin/maple). when the seed is wet they're invisble (they also disspear if you soak dry seed) I assume the brown is made up of little brown dots (like a half tone photograph) and the wet seed has then too far apart to be obvios anymore.
BTW a bit of bad news. I lost the rice bean plant that was sharing the pole with the first adzuki; something chewed through it last night. Then again, if I had to happen, I guess it was best to happen to that one, the pods were really behind, and since our night temps are now in the single digits Celsius, I suspect the frost is coming quite soon, and there was NO way any pods on that one would have been ready.

[mnjrutherford]

hmmmm... Sorry about the rice bean. But, as you say, so it goes.

As for the mottling... You might want to consider adding the Rattlesnake bean to the list of those not showing till dry. If shelled when the hull is JUST beginning to loose moisture, the beans are a pale lime green. Fully dry, they are brown and dark brown mottled. Would the markings be visible under microscope?

[blueadzuki]

FINAL UPDATE

I went out and collected ALL the remianing bean pods this morning, as my dad informed me the wether report said the first frost is supposed to be TONIGHT!n Even if it isn't I'm sort of glad I did, as whatever animal came yesterday night came back and this time ate one of the two remaining rice bean plants TO THE GROUND (as a small blessing it managed to detach a pod in it's fervor and didn't recover it).
Now having shelled them all, I concur with your asesment. A lot of beans don't get the mottle until they are fully mature. Most of the beans from the first plant (with the mottle) are a flat pale green now; whether the mottle will show up as they dry remains to be seen.
To comclude (at least the photo part) here are pics of a pod from group #3 and the one rice bean pod I retrieved from plant #1

preliminarily it looks like plant #3 will be a lot like plant #2 (cream seeds) of coursew a mottle could show up as they dry

The rice bean pod had some seed in it. I'll try and dry it, but I doesnt look all that mature, so it may be a lost cause. This would be a pity, as plant #1 has notably large and long pods; long enough that using them as a green bean might actually have been feasible.
And Tecnically the experiment is not wholly done yet. Rice bean plant #2 was so short, and the pods so immature, I pulled the whole plant up and transferred it to a pot indoors to see if I can keep it going until the pods mature.