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Post by oldmobie on Jul 23, 2014 14:50:39 GMT -5
I have all my green beans growing in a small area on a limited number of plants. I really want to reproduce the two varieties I got from trades, as well as start adapting the store bought ones to my garden. Can I let a few pods mature on each plant and harvest the rest green? Is there a maximum number of pods I can mature without compromising production? Or will letting them mature stop production of new pods, forcing me to leave an entire plant or two to mature while harvesting the others, if I want fresh green beans to eat?
I only know to sacrifice this season's harvest for next season's seeds, but I would love to have both, obviously. Any advice or experience is appreciated.
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Post by kazedwards on Jul 24, 2014 11:33:31 GMT -5
From what I have noticed they keep producing regardless of the stage that the older pods are at. I don't know about what they will do once the pods for seed start to dry. I have picked some that have full beans and others that haven't started forming beans off the same plant. Hope this helps
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Post by raymondo on Jul 24, 2014 16:33:36 GMT -5
I've done this on climbing (pole) beans. I can't say whether production suffered or not. I seemed to get plenty of green beans. I haven't tried on bush beans.
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Post by 12540dumont on Jul 24, 2014 18:54:05 GMT -5
Save the beans lowest on the plant, and pick and eat the ones on top. The lower seeds always have more seeds in a pod. If you save the seeds from the top of the plant, in future years you will get fewer seeds in a pod.
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Post by oldmobie on Jul 25, 2014 1:12:02 GMT -5
Thank you for the replies!
I'll try marking a few pods on each satisfactory plant to let them mature. Maybe a few extra on the first plant that started to vine. (Never miss a chance to move the population toward faster or more vigorous growth and higher yield, right?)
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Post by oldmobie on Aug 19, 2014 2:04:51 GMT -5
A few of the beans I marked for seed saving are getting kinda wrinkly and yellowish. The pods feel dried up. Is it best to wait for the plants to die, like I would with "dry" beans, or at some point can I assume they're viable and remove them? If it's the latter case, what are the signs? Does it sound as if they're ready now?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Aug 19, 2014 9:01:42 GMT -5
I prefer for the pods to dry on the plant. That's my signal for harvesting. They are viable much earlier than that. On some plants every pod dries down at about the same time, other plants dry down over a few weeks. The main problem I have with harvesting bean seeds is mold... Either from rain, or from irrigation, or from collecting pods that are too green and not spreading them out sufficiently to finish drying. I typically leave the pods on the plant until dried and harvest just before rain is expected.
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Post by philagardener on Aug 19, 2014 10:34:17 GMT -5
I also have had problems with mold, both before and after harvesting. I shell promptly and try to make sure the seed has plenty of air flow after shelling to finish drying down. This can be a problem in places with high humidity, like Philadelphia in a normal late summer. Last year I had some problems after I put "dry" seed in jars, so I am now adding a one small desiccant pack (the kind that comes with vitamins) per quart jar to control excess moisture in a limited way (I believe you can overdo it and dry the seed too much if not conservative). That seemed to work well and I had fine germination this year on those seed. Good luck!
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Post by blueadzuki on Aug 19, 2014 11:11:57 GMT -5
I have some drying issues as well. No so much the common beans or peas, they tend to dry OK, and my main concern there is making sure to toss any seed that proves in it's drying to be just too immature to be viable (not only do they take up space, but really immature seed can get to a point where it NEVER dries down all the way, and if put in with the good stuff, can spread mold.) But the lablabs can be tricky; their leathery seed coats tend to hold moisture a lot more readily (plus lablab seed doesn't get really viable until it is nearly TOTALLY mature, so when you are pulling from pods you wind up with quite a lot of material you really can't decide if it's worth saving or not)
But by far, the worst dryer I have ever seen is parval gourd seed. While cucurbit it has seeds that are almost spherical, so they can take forever to dry down all the way. They LOOK like they are ready for storage in about a week or two, but actually need MONTHS before they are ready to shell and store (again I take most of my seed from what I can glean at the grocery store, so there is a lot of immature seed. The seed ripens from the outside in so the bad stuff looks the same as the good, and ALL parval seeds float, so I have to actually pop each one open to see if there is a usable embryo inside.
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Post by raymondo on Aug 19, 2014 16:20:59 GMT -5
Although I live in a dryish climate, we get summer rains which seem to coincide perfectly with bean drying. If it's damp, I pick pods as soon as they become soft and leathery to the touch. Then I shell them and spread the seeds out to dry inside. They are plump and moist at this stage and can take quite a while to dry down sufficiently for storage but they are quite viable.
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Post by reed on Jan 11, 2015 6:50:51 GMT -5
Grow pole beans, you get more beans in less space, they keep making even if you leave some to mature and dry, they are up in the air and far less susceptible to molding, bush beans getting splashed with mud or touching the ground is the best way to get mold and rot.
I pick dry beans for seed or soup and put them in the shed for a few days in cardboard boxes then shell and lay them out on a sheet in the spare room for days or weeks, whenever I get to it. If I have big piles I make sure to stir them around once and awhile, in all stages. I use Suzanne Ashworth's dry test method, hit one with a hammer, if it breaks it's ready to store if it smashes it isn't.
An easy way to make a bean trellis is get three 10' by 1" pvc pipes and four pvc corners. Cut one in half and glue them into a 10' by 5' rectangle. Drill holes in the five foot ends 5" to 8" apart and run strings or wire through the holes across the 10' length. Lean it against metal fence posts or whatever on a slant so you can reach the top. Leaves go mostly to the uphill side and beans hang down on the other. You can easily move it around and reuse it for many years.
A lot of common pole beans will make enough on one of these to have fresh beans all season and some for seed, maybe even enough to can a few. of course you need more to can lots or have dry beans for soup.
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Post by kyredneck on Feb 5, 2015 6:26:37 GMT -5
Save the beans lowest on the plant, and pick and eat the ones on top. The lower seeds always have more seeds in a pod. If you save the seeds from the top of the plant, in future years you will get fewer seeds in a pod. I'm not disputing the truth of this, just simply saying that I've always done exactly the opposite with no ill effects that I've noticed; pole beans on tall arbors/trellis too high to get picked are usually the ones that get left for seed. I'll start paying closer attention. |
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Post by kyredneck on Feb 5, 2015 6:34:31 GMT -5
Reed, I was amazed at the amount of snap beans from 12-13 plants of Kwintus (Noreaster); it came on early, we cooked many messes, gave some away, canned several quarts, even wasted a huge mess in the beginning before I realized Kwintus pods will become fibrous if you let the bean form in them. Other than that it is an extraordinary pole bean.
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Post by reed on Feb 5, 2015 7:17:24 GMT -5
I never paid much attention to where on the plant the seed came from. I like to save lots dry so mostly as I'm shelling I look for nice big plump ones that are all the way filled and without spots or anything on the pods. If I find mold or bug bites or anything on an individual bean I don't save any in that pod for seed.
On something that gets mostly used or canned for green beans there are always those top out of reach ones but also those down low that got missed in earlier picking. I do sometimes let a particular really good looking pod go to seed. I don't generally tag it or anything, just don't pick it and figure I'll find it again later.
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Post by reed on Feb 5, 2015 7:27:51 GMT -5
kyredneck, I'll have to look up that Kwintus and see if I can find some. That one little brown greasy I grow is like that, it just won't stop. Rip off beans by the hand fulls, tear up the vines, it just sprouts out new shoots and keeps on going. Also one of my favorite soup beans and it does that "pop open" on it's own thing, makes it real easy to shell. I'v had it lose its leaves and go basically dormant from drought and then explode full of beans with a little fall rain.
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