'16 Bean, pea, legume swap questions

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by oakley

I did not play the swap as i have my favorites, and room in my pea/pole bean bed for just a dozen varieties...ordered a few new ones this year...one is a grey dwarf for shoots. I like to harvest pea shoots for salads...

Question is what variety is good for the small haricot verte...i have no more seed and must have tossed the empty seed packet. (i usually save those as a reminder that i am out)
I'm thinking it was Renee seeds i picked up somewhere. I like a few plants of those and don't see them often. They have always done well right behind the early peas dying off.

Wondering with all the varieties i see now, what might be a new one to replace the one i've been growing....bush growth full of very tiny beans. I did see a pole variety but did not seen so tiny as a bean.

A tough question to answer, as there are beans labeled Hericot Vert as the variety. Though bush beans and filet beans are not my first choice for snaps, my favorite is Fin De Bagnol, because it consistently outproduces all other bush filet beans in my garden.

[spacetogrow]

I didn't see anyone respond to the question about Valley beans. Does someone have information about what those are like?

Thanks.

[Tormato]

I'll try emailing the Valley donor (who's patiently waiting to be accepted, here).

[Aerial]

Small yard, big grow list. How much should I be concerned about cross pollination among the beans?

I'd like to grow out all the greasy beans (pole) received from swap, since they're relatively rare and in demand. And mostly bush varieties.

For peas it's probably easier to buy commercial packages and send them in. We're likely to devour them all, pods and peas and shoots, than saving seeds.

Tormato iirc you grow hundreds of beans yearly without isolation?

[Raiquee]

Aerial it's my belief that beans are usually pollinated prior to opening. So cross pollination I hardly an issue.

[Aerial]

Thank you Raiquee.

[Tormato]

0.4% (1 in 250) is what I average for crosses, so I don't worry about it. I wish it was higher, so that I could play more with crosses in my garden. Also, it is relatively easy to remove crossed seed when harvesting the next year.

For 2016, I have what is likely crossed seed of Flamingo, sent to me by someone who grew out my sent seed.

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by spacetogrow

I didn't see anyone respond to the question about Valley beans. Does someone have information about what those are like?

Thanks.

www.heirlooms.org/store/p153/Valley_Bean.html

Not a lot of info. It's a pole, snap bean, likely green. Unknown if stringless in the late stage. If I had to guess, I'd say no, it being a "cornfield" bean.

[Deborah]

I've planted my flamingo beans on my balcony. I'll be thrilled to get even a few pretty beans.

[Tormato]

The balcony? Will you climb the roof for the harvest?

[Deborah]

I hope so!

[SummerSky]

Is Mayflower a pole or a bush bean? So far in my research I've seen both...

[PhilaGardener]

Originally Posted by Tormato

For 2016, I have what is likely crossed seed of Flamingo, sent to me by someone who grew out my sent seed.

How could you tell if you have F1 seed before you grow it out, or did they report something unusual about their plant and thus returned the F2?

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by SummerSky

Is Mayflower a pole or a bush bean? So far in my research I've seen both...

Mayflower, in my garden was a twining pole bean, but a very short one at about 5'- 6'.

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by PhilaGardener

How could you tell if you have F1 seed before you grow it out, or did they report something unusual about their plant and thus returned the F2?

This person thought they planted Flamingo in one spot, and the pods were pink. But, when it came to harvest the seed, they were a much different color. The seed color/pattern looked very close to a Jeminez cross (one of Flamingo's parents) I had several years earlier. It's my guess that they grew out an F1 and I have some F2's.