Lima Bean Suggestions Wanted

[saltmarsh]

Originally Posted by Ken B

Thanks -- a couple other things = was Henderson Bush the variety you made the tea with? And, at what temperature did you store the lima bean tea?

Henderson Bush should work it's simlar to what I planted which was Thorogreen Baby Lima beans. I purchased mine from the local farm supply store (untreated seeds). If you are planting when the soil is still cool, you'll need to use treated seed or they will rot. If you keep the mature beans picked off the vines will bear until frost. This means replanting to fill in skips where seed didn't come up is unexceptable (the replants won't be ready to pick when the original plants are and vice versa.). Twice as much picking for the same amount of beans.

I stored the tea in a closet where the temp stays between 70 -80 degrees. Claud

The link is just to show what they look like. I haven't ordered from this firm.

http://www.reimerseeds.com/early-tho...ima-beans.aspx

[Ken B]

Thanks! Hoping to get some Thorogreen planted later this month as part of a bush limas trial, so will make sure we save some of the pods we'll get for making the flea beetle tea.

[Zeedman]

For bush varieties:
- Burpee's Improved (wide, flattened seeds)
- Fordhook 242 (large, very fat seeds) Of the two, Burpee's Improved is earlier & has very large beans (probably the largest bush variety) but Fordhook 242 is more reliable & has a better yield.

For pole varieties, I second King of the Garden as a large-seeded variety. Other pole varieties worthy of mention:
- Christmas, which is red & white and even larger than KOG.. really eye catching as butterbeans
- Sieva (a.k.a. Carolina), which is a heavy-bearing small-seeded variety. There are white, red, and speckled versions... the white-seeded is probably the best pole lima for short-season areas.
- The Hopi limas need a longer season, but have very colorful beans, rich flavor, and a very high yield. My favorite limas, even though they are poorly adapted to my area & usually fail to mature most of their pods here before frost.