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Post by DarJones on Apr 12, 2015 7:28:58 GMT -5
I planted the first two rows of beans yesterday. One row is half Dr. Martin lima and the other half is Carolina Sieva. The other row is Fortex beans that were interplanted with Oaxacan 5-1 last year. I'm hoping a few of them will have been crossed by the bumble and mason bees that worked the flowers heavily.
Soil temperature is still well below 60 degrees but warming fast. I expect to have trouble with the lima beans, they tend to be unhappy in cool soil. I have plenty of extra seed just in case.
I will put in a row of Grandma Roberts Tricolor beans, half a row of Old Time Pink & White sieva, and half a row of Sword beans sometime over the next 2 weeks.
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Post by templeton on Apr 12, 2015 17:01:46 GMT -5
I take it this isn't just a see what happens adventure? What are you aiming for?
I've got a single plant of Fortex from my one remaining bean, pods drying at the moment.
T
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Post by DarJones on Apr 12, 2015 20:01:58 GMT -5
Oaxacan 5-1 is the most heat and disease tolerant bean I've ever grown. It makes small black seed in a 4 to 5 inch long bean produced abundantly on pole type plants. Fortex is an excellent quality long snap pole bean that has problems with low production, lack of heat tolerance, and is very disease susceptible. I'm hoping to combine the two into a bean that can take the heat, laugh at disease, make high quality snap beans in abundance, spank the baby, walk the dog, and otherwise generally take care of business.
I got a row of Grandma Roberts Tri-Color beans planted today. Rain is due tonight and tomorrow so I'm hoping to see some bean helmet heads showing in a few days.
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Post by templeton on Apr 13, 2015 1:06:44 GMT -5
I knew there was a plan... D, how many plants are you growing looking for the crosses? Is there a dominant marker that will show up crosses in the F1? And thanks for the info on Fortex - I just grew it on reputation, and didn't research its requirements. I was wondering why it was such a poor producer in midsummer  . It's pumping out pods at the moment, even in a pot. But the pods don't have many beans in them - is this usual? T |
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Post by philagardener on Apr 13, 2015 5:58:53 GMT -5
I've had a lot of beans pick up production at the very end of the season. Maybe the poor seed set was related to summer heat, and that will improve now that your SH temps are cooler.
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Post by DarJones on Apr 13, 2015 11:57:22 GMT -5
Oaxacan 5-1 has pinkish purple flowers which is a dominant trait. Fortex has white flowers which is recessive. I planted a full row with about 500 seed so the odds are very good for finding a few crosses. I will watch for pink flowers.
Fortex tends to produce relatively few seed for the size of the bean. I grew a row 100 feet long last year and got just over a gallon of viable seed. Most other varieties in similar conditions would have produced 3 to 4 gallons of seed.
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Post by templeton on Apr 13, 2015 16:52:25 GMT -5
Good luck with the project. Will be interested in the amount of crossing you get.
Thanks for the info on Fortex. I thought perhaps I had a runt plant.
T
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Post by jondear on Apr 13, 2015 21:56:27 GMT -5
That seems like a low number of seed produced for a hundred row feet. Maine vs Alabama I guess.
I got about 1/2 cup of Fortex seed off of two plants 2 years ago when the rest of them drowned. I then proceeded to replant Northeaster beans. The saved seed off those two (Fortex) plants had some crosses. This year I saved about 1/2 pound of seed to grow out.
Good luck with your project.
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Post by DarJones on May 30, 2015 14:05:16 GMT -5
I have confirmed one plant with purple flowers indicating a cross of Fortex X Oaxacan 5-1. I will mark the plant in a few minutes so it will be easy to find when the seed are mature. About half the plants are flowering so there is a good possibility that more crosses will show up.
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Post by DarJones on Jun 30, 2015 19:22:53 GMT -5
I harvested 130 of the Fortex X Oaxacan 5-1 seed today. There was only one plant that was clearly from the cross in the entire row of Fortex seed planted. The flowers were pink, the beans pods were green with a pale purple lineback. Mature bean pods turn rich deep petunidin red. Pods tend to produce 7 seed each and are about 8 to 9 inches long with a distinctive curve near the tip. The seed are black with brown undertones that can be seen on immature seed. The plant is very healthy with little to no damage from Japanese Beetles where the Fortex plants on each side were heavily damaged. There are at least 50 more pods on the plant so I expect to wind up with about 500 to 700 seed total for next year.
It will be interesting to see how these F2 seed segregate when I grow them next year.
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Post by steev on Jul 1, 2015 0:28:43 GMT -5
Indeed so.
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Post by DarJones on Jul 4, 2015 9:31:30 GMT -5
Another 20 to 30 bean pods are now mature. I'm going to harvest them and put in trays to dry. I have also decided to try for a fall crop from the seed that are already dried. I can sometimes get beans to survive through the first week of October. With 100 days to grow, they should at least make some snaps and perhaps even some dry seed.
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Post by jondear on Jul 4, 2015 20:10:33 GMT -5
So the hybrid is producing about 70 bean pods? Now that is productive in anyone's book. What are you feeding them things? Lol
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jul 5, 2015 8:47:42 GMT -5
You STILL have cold soil? Gracious! Last years attempt at lima type was "fruitless". The pods were all flat. All of them. The best bean for me has been Rattlesnake. I'm grateful, but I have not been able to successfully save the seed and I need other types of beans to have a better and more rounded diet. Next year, when we have more raised beds, There will be more beans, at least, I hope so.
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Post by DarJones on Jul 17, 2015 2:01:21 GMT -5
I picked nearly all of the remaining beans on the cross bred plant today and need to get them shelled and packed away for next year. We have had a lot of rain over the last 2 weeks so I have not yet had time to put in a row of these for a fall crop. Hopefully I'll get them in Saturday. The traits I am after are highly advantageous to high temperature high humidity regions where disease and pest tolerance are required traits.
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. It's pumping out pods at the moment, even in a pot. But the pods don't have many beans in them - is this usual?
