2013 Beans

[ferdzy]

Thaines, I am growing runner beans for the first time this year so don't have too much advice. I'll just say trellises, one way or another. BEEEEG trellises. Biiigggggg, sturdy, trellises.


picasaweb.google.com/ferdzy2/August312013?authkey=Gv1sRgCNuWgb3X_KLMIQ#5918367652953158322

I found an interesting (to me) cross in my Dolloff beans this year, linked above. I got the original seed two years ago from Heritage Harvest and I'm assuming that's where the cross happened. At first glance they look quite different and I pondered the possibility that some other seed got in somehow, but I don't think so. Plants look very similar, new type pods look similar, just a little more slender and red streaked, and there are typically 8 beans instead of 6 to a pod. However, beans are a fair bit smaller. They have the shape of Dolloff and, when the black skin colouring is not super strong, you can see the mottled pattern of the regular brown Dolloff showing through.


I don't know too many black pole beans and if these are tasty and would work as a turtle bean, I'll be happy to continue growing them (assuming they continue on as they did this year). Experimenting ahoy.

[thaines]

Thanks Zeedman for the links. Next year I will build 12ft trellises (either tepee or fence line) and I will widen my spacing of the seeds(this year I spaced the seed 4" apart). I just harvested two pods that had turned brown and dried in the vine. The seeds are about the same size as the original seeds I planted, so I must have done some thing right (LOL).

[ferdzy]

Actually, when I think about it the cross must have happened in MY garden. Hmm. Who's the baby daddy? Maybe Cherokee Trail of Tears, it was nearby and has shiny black seeds. Which would be interesting, because I didn't get a single ripe seed off of them last year. The black ones do seem to dry a little slower than the regular Dollof, but they are only a few days behind. I thought I had just one black seeded bean in Dolloff patch, but it looks like it's 3 of them. Only one of them seems to reliably be producing 8 beans per pod. The other 2 seem to range from 5 to 7. Should I save seeds from all three plants or just the one?

[steev]

Being the A-C person I am, I'd save from all, but perhaps plant separate patches.