Blue Lake or something else next year

[tam91]

In 2009, I loved my Blue Lake pole beans. Productive, delicious... I also had Kentucky Wonder, didn't like the taste as much.

This year, I had six rows of beans planted mid May. Blue Lake bush, Gold Rush bush, 2 rows of Blue Lake pole, 2 rows of Neckargold.

I did have composted horse manure.

All the beans did terrific - except the blue lake pole beans. They didn't flower. All summer. They grew huge vines, finally saw a few flowers in September and beans finally came in around October.

So... it was suggested too much nitrogen, and that they had to use that up before they'd flower. Which makes sense, except that all the other varieties had the same soil. ????

Or, it was a hot summer this year, much more so than last year. Are Blue Lakes particularly intolerant of heat?

If heat is the likely problem, can anyone suggest an alternative, with a similar taste and reasonably stringless?

[KY Grower]

My poles beans were also "slow" this year but did finally set beans but not as heavy a yield as usual. I also know that some other gardeners in the area had the same thing happen. There were a couple that had beautiful plants but no beans. Most are attributing it to weather. Mine were not Blue Lakes (not one I care for) but my in-law's had planted some Blue Lake Bush and had very few beans. Perhaps another reader will have a solution.

[tam91]

It's just so wierd that all the others did just fine - including the bush Blue Lake. It was only the blue lake pole.

[kath]

Just read an article by Kenny Point the other day about how the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug larvae eat the blossoms or sometimes just the reproductive parts of some types of beans, yet leave other varieties alone. http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/m...ted-stink-bug/
I grew Fortex and Maxibel this year and had terrible result especially with the pole beans, which had been excellent for me for several years. I did also see foliage problems and the beans that grew were small and deformed, so not sure if any of this applies to your situation.

[tam91]

Interesting, haven't heard of those before.

[kath]

Originally Posted by tam91

Interesting, haven't heard of those before.

Consider yourself very fortunate indeed! They're a recently imported pest that do serious agricultural damage and infest homes to overwinter-yuck!

[Stepheninky]

My pole beans which were speckled butter beans did the same think and I have noticed stick bugs in mass numbers this year so guess that is possible.

As far as beens to grow I would recommend Tender Green or improved Tender Green, They produce very well and I have never had issues with them at all. I talked about it in another post but I did not grow any this year as I already had selves of them canned. I still have jars of green beans from 08 and 09. So I guess my only warning with them is plant what you need lol, we eat 1 -3 jars a week of green beans and I still have two massive selves of those things.

Another bonus of tender green is it is round green bean with no strings and it is not shelly, Meaning that it does not contain large beans unless you let it grow out for seed

[garnetmoth]

Sorry you had trouble, I heard others say their common beans (vulgaris) didnt do well this year.

I planted lima, yardlong, and common beans, and the common did poorly. The limas did pretty well, and I was real impressed with the yardlongs. If we are looking at another hot dry summer (i hope not!) you may want to try another type of bean for diversity sake.

[tam91]

Well, maybe it was just the year then.

I'll have a look at Tender Green.

For variety, yardlongs do sound interesting. Are they tasty?

[RinTinTin]

In Spain's Basque country, the farmers plant rows of beans between rows of corn. The shade provided by the corn helps the beans. The native Americans also planted the two together (along with squash: the 3 sisters).

[PaulF]

We have grown blue lake bush for many years and thought it was the only variety we really liked. In maybe thirty years we have tried a handful of other varieties but always go back. A few years ago we tried Festina and it is as good as or better than blue lake.

Is that like folks who say their car is as good as my Toyota? We now grow both Blue Lake and Festina.

[tam91]

I don't grow a lot of bush beans. I put in a few, because I'm impatient and they come in earlier than the pole beans.

But also being "lazy", I really don't like crawling around to pick the bush beans, and therefore prefer the pole beans. I do think some of the pole beans have very good flavor too.

I like the flavor of the Blue Lakes in bush or pole form, when I actually get to eat them.

[tjg911]

hum i thought it was me this year that had poor pole bean results. i have grown an unknown romano style flat pod pole bean (from a co worker who got it from a little old italian lady) for maybe 10 years and for the past 5 years kentucky wonder. both typically produce huge amounts of beans but this year both produced about 1/3 of normal. the plants looked healthy and were not overly green from too much N, to the contrary i had problems with too much carbon in my soil due to saw dust in horse manure. i attributed the low production to the carbon problem but maybe not. i stupidly grew twice as many plants of each variety and as it turned out they produced much less than normal.

i have been curious about 2 blues for years - blue lake and is it kentucky blue? anyway why is it you don't like kentucky wonder tam91? i'm hesitant to grow anything else as some beans have a "green" taste i hate (it was a bush bean i think it was early contender or early provider). i stopped growing all bush beans years ago due to they waste space, break your back, attract mexican bean beetles and only produce 2 or 3 pickings.

[tam91]

I just didn't like the taste and texture of Kentucky Wonder as well as the Blue Lake. I thought Blue Lake was more tender, and while still 'beany' had a bit more delicate taste.

We still ate the Kentucky Wonder, I didn't mind them - just liked Blue Lake a lot better.

Kentucky Blue I haven't had, so can't comment.

[garnetmoth]

the Yardlong beans we had are red podded. they are tasty but not quite as sweet and beany as regular beans, maybe nutty and a little drier is a better description. I used them cut up with onions stir fried with a touch of soy sauce and hot chili paste and DH and I loved them. I only planted 8 beans or so and we had enough for a meal most weeks when they started bearing.

Ill add more compost to the soil and hopefully theyll do even better!