Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

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GoDawgs
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Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#1

Post: # 76782Unread post GoDawgs
Mon Aug 22, 2022 7:12 am

It's time to collect Chinese Python Snake Bean seed. There are a few out there that are about 55" long and starting to rot at the tail end where they. are touching the ground. Here's the one I cut off yesterday.

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Then I split it open:

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The seeds are inside each little wad of slippery orange pulp As you can see they're about 6-8" apart down the length of the fruit so there's not a lot of them.

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The slimy stuff washes off easily from the seeds and I put them on a paper plate to dry for about a week or so. The seeds are about 3/4" long, 3/8" wide and somewhat ruffled along the edges. Really strange. I've never seen anything like them.

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The orange pulp is supposedly used like tomato paste in Asia by those who grow them (or harvest them in the wild) but I'm not going to try it. But I have tried the immature 24" long beans, cutting them into 1" lengths and stirfrying them. They taste somewhat like asparagus with a faint hint of peanut butter floating in the background. Good when cooked with a little soy sauce, a dab of oyster sauce and a touch of sesame oil.

This was one of my spring garden "toys" so that itch has now been scratched. :D

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PlainJane
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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#2

Post: # 76832Unread post PlainJane
Mon Aug 22, 2022 9:38 pm

How bizarre. They look like aliens from another planet.
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

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pepperhead212
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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#3

Post: # 76836Unread post pepperhead212
Mon Aug 22, 2022 10:43 pm

Is that how the ones you originally bought looked? I'm wondering if they need drying in the pod, or at least a longer time in it?
Woodbury, NJ zone 7a/7b

zendog
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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#4

Post: # 76905Unread post zendog
Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:00 pm

Those seeds look good to me. They're more like bitter melon than bottle gourds in terms of the seeds maturing. When they get red inside they are usually ready to harvest seeds from. I grew them one year and saved seed, although mine were lighter and probably less mature. I only got 5 good seeds and only 2 germinated, but I think these are generally tough to germinate.

I enjoyed growing them, but I made the mistake of putting it on a trellis with a ridged loofah, which was much more vigorous and mostly crowded it out.

I might try them again sometime, since they were pretty tasty and had little to no bug or fungus issues in my hot humid garden.

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GoDawgs
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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#5

Post: # 76930Unread post GoDawgs
Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:20 am

pepperhead212 wrote: Mon Aug 22, 2022 10:43 pm Is that how the ones you originally bought looked? I'm wondering if they need drying in the pod, or at least a longer time in it?
This is exactly what the original ones in the packet looked like. They didn't when they first came out of the fruit, being lighter colored with no fluted edges but as they dried they darkened up and the edges appeared. The ones in the photo are from collection a few weeks ago and have been on a pepper plate ever since.

There's no chance of drying the seeds inside the fruit as it rots quickly. By yesterday one of the "snakes" was completely orange so I cut it off and it was so soft it fell into three pieces on the way to the prunings pile. I got the seed from that too. What is this obsession with seed saving? :lol:

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karstopography
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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#6

Post: # 76936Unread post karstopography
Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:07 am

I can confirm the shape of the seeds. I planted a few, but something got the young plants. Are they susceptible to SVB because those showed up in numbers this season? My daughter about 70 miles from here planted Snake Bean and they fruited. I’ll see if she saved any seed.
Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

zendog
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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#7

Post: # 76937Unread post zendog
Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:32 am

GoDawgs wrote: Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:20 amWhat is this obsession with seed saving? :lol:
Maybe you're just trying to be the first one to send snake bean seeds in to the MMMM?

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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#8

Post: # 76938Unread post zendog
Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:36 am

karstopography wrote: Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:07 am I planted a few, but something got the young plants. Are they susceptible to SVB because those showed up in numbers this season?
I have pretty brutal SVB here and am lucky to get a single zucchini from any plant before they take them out. I dug a dozen grubs out of one stem from a plant they killed just to see how many had gotten into it.

That said, I didn't see any SVB issue the snake bean vines. But I will say that the seedling vines were very delicate and I lost a few just from transplant shock (I started them inside) and another one just never really took off. I had 2 that did okay and showed pretty good vigor eventually, but early days were dodgy.

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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#9

Post: # 76939Unread post karstopography
Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:51 am

Maybe something else got mine. All my bitter melon and snake bean, gourd family stuff, seemed to be affected by something that was fatal and they collapsed, one by one. Last year, the bitter melon did great and I didn’t plant snake beans last year. But, I put all them in a different bed this time around. I don’t pay a lot of attention to these anyway so who knows what happened. It isn’t really any big deal since these have been sort of afterthought crops I sow after the pole beans or something else is done. They germinated reasonably well, I direct seeded them, but I think all died after reaching a few feet in length. Maybe there’s some still out there, there’s something vining out in that bed, but it looks more like beans. I had winged bean, long beans and some others in the same general spot. Rabbits ate the long beans, but I didn’t see where those rodents ate any of the gourd family vines.
Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

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GoDawgs
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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#10

Post: # 76972Unread post GoDawgs
Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:19 pm

karstopography wrote: Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:07 am I can confirm the shape of the seeds. I planted a few, but something got the young plants. Are they susceptible to SVB because those showed up in numbers this season? My daughter about 70 miles from here planted Snake Bean and they fruited. I’ll see if she saved any seed.
I don't think SVBs mess with the snake bean. Technically it's a gourd but it has that peanut butter scent that maybe disguises that fact.

If you want any seed I can send you some. There's plenty more where my collected ones came from. :)

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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#11

Post: # 76973Unread post GoDawgs
Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:20 pm

zendog wrote: Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:32 am
GoDawgs wrote: Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:20 amWhat is this obsession with seed saving? :lol:
Maybe you're just trying to be the first one to send snake bean seeds in to the MMMM?
Ya think? :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

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karstopography
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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#12

Post: # 76976Unread post karstopography
Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:38 pm

GoDawgs wrote: Wed Aug 24, 2022 7:19 pm
karstopography wrote: Wed Aug 24, 2022 9:07 am I can confirm the shape of the seeds. I planted a few, but something got the young plants. Are they susceptible to SVB because those showed up in numbers this season? My daughter about 70 miles from here planted Snake Bean and they fruited. I’ll see if she saved any seed.
I don't think SVBs mess with the snake bean. Technically it's a gourd but it has that peanut butter scent that maybe disguises that fact.

If you want any seed I can send you some. There's plenty more where my collected ones came from. :)
My daughter saved seed from her snake bean. I gave her the parent seed.
Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#13

Post: # 76990Unread post pepperhead212
Wed Aug 24, 2022 11:41 pm

Strange how they turn orange, when maturing, and forming seeds. The bitter melons do the same, much smaller, and it seems to have something due with the longer days here. Funny thing - I left the one plant out there, and it was still alive after a long time, and just yesterday, I noticed new fruits on blossoms!
Woodbury, NJ zone 7a/7b

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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#14

Post: # 77000Unread post karstopography
Thu Aug 25, 2022 4:17 am

The Okinawan white bitter melons had orangy red pulp around the seeds if I left them to ripen long enough. I never left the fruit on the vine until it started to rot, though. Maybe those fruit would also turn orange after a while.
Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#15

Post: # 77046Unread post pepperhead212
Thu Aug 25, 2022 2:07 pm

I grew those white ones a couple years ago, and they did eventually turn orange, at the smaller sizes. The last few larger ones, later on, would get those red seeds, but just like the green varieties, something about the longer days seems to cause them to turn, when small. I only had the large ones just start to turn orange when left on the counter too long.
Woodbury, NJ zone 7a/7b

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GoDawgs
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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#16

Post: # 77058Unread post GoDawgs
Thu Aug 25, 2022 5:14 pm

There are a a few more starting to turn color on different trellises. Interesting kind of pattern. I would maybe have thought they'd start turning at one end and progress towards the other end.

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I cut off the small one hanging there next to the turning one in the post just above, along with a second one. Tomorrow to go with lunch I'll cut it into 1" lengths and the stir fry it with some scallions, garlic and sliced mushrooms, adding in a little soy sauce, sesame oil and oyster sauce.

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Re: Chinese Python Snake Bean seed collection

#17

Post: # 77060Unread post pepperhead212
Thu Aug 25, 2022 6:18 pm

That is really weird looking!
Woodbury, NJ zone 7a/7b

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