No More Dry-type Beans

[GoDawgs]

I'm done trying to grow dry bean varieties. This area has too much humidity causing mold both during the growing and the drying and too many bugs that ruin pods while they're drying. Here's what the Kebarika pods look like...

24.07.31 Kebarica pods a bit molded.JPG

... and the beans inside. An ugly mess on the right and the few good ones saved for replanting on the left. Two groups of "good" ones; nice ones in the top pile and marginal "maybe" below them. The maybes are lighter in color and may not be mature enough. I have no idea as this is the first time I've grown Kebarica. Anybody know? The plants themselves really produced well but the result is a no-go.

24.07.31 Kebarika dry beans, good-bad-ugly.JPG

It's not worth the effort or dedicated space to grow them. Even if they grew well, I'd have to plant way way more to make enough to be worthwhile. Much easier to buy bags of dried beans for storage. Time to cut and run. No more dried beans!

[worth1]

That's why I don't mess with them.
Maybe for a novelty but that's it.

[PlainJane]

I grew a few Tarbais to keep my stock fresh, but otherwise it’s fresh eating for me.

[bower]

I gave up growing any kind of beans, years ago. we couldn't even get fresh eating let alone dry beans in most years. So susceptible to coldy mold.
Only this summer, after two hotter years, I thought I'd like some bush beans for fresh eating and could give it a go.
Picked up a pack of beans and sowed them in flats for plantout.... not one germinated!!!
The beans family have truly repudiated me for my efforts to befriend them.

[rxkeith]

if you want to grow dry beans, come to michigans thumb region.a lot of acreage is
planted in beans there. the only dry beans i have grown up here are dutch brown soup
bean, and maybe amish yellow bean. not exactly sure of the variety of the latter. it was
more wanting to see if i could than a need to were i to have to depend on local sustainability.
i think you need to devote an acre or two to dry beans to feed the family for a year. most of
us can't do that. i don't have the pest issue that southern growers do. i have been getting some
mold during periods of extreme moisture the past couple years which is new for me. i think the
dry beans that we eat the most of, kidney, black, garbanzo,i just don't have a long enough growing
season. i might try a few more just to see, but i don't see myself growing a bunch in the future.


keith

[Ken4230]

Same conditions for me in Western Kentucky, just too humid. When I have tried to grow dry beans, they wind up looking like something the dog drug up. I have decent luck with pole beans, not so much this year with all the extra rain. Am thinking about switching to bush beans next year, never grown bush type but I understand that they are more productive.

[worth1]

Same conditions for me in Western Kentucky, just too humid. When I have tried to grow dry beans, they wind up looking like something the dog drug up. I have decent luck with pole beans, not so much this year with all the extra rain. Am thinking about switching to bush beans next year, never grown bush type but I understand that they are more productive.

From what little I know bush beans put out more beans at once as opposed to the pole beans.
They are basically like determinat tomatoes.
This allows you to plant several crops in one season.

We grew a ton of green beans in the summer.
Usually 2 crops one after the other.
I never could understand why people would sit literally for hours shelling beans but my parents did as well as many others.

[Tormahto]

If it shows up, white mold is something to research, as it is quite toxic. I toss every batch of drying beans if there is any (it's rare, here) white mold.

For me, bush beans simply don't produce enough, compared to pole beans. For dry seed, I likely average 10X the amount of saved seed from one pole bean plant, compared to one bush bean plant.

Perhaps looking into greasy beans? One year, not from humidity, but from constant rain during harvest time, nearly all of my beans had pods rot on the vine, except the greasy beans. I'm thinking that the smooth pods shed the rain better.

[worth1]

It really makes a difference on where you live.
One guy I knew farmed a field of beans in Colorado close to Mesa Verde.
There's also growing season and climate to consider.

[karstopography]

Got to work with whatever climate you have and not against it. Way too many novice gardeners around here try to garden as if they lived in Wisconsin or Ohio. Let’s plant Cauliflower, Spinach, Carrots and Broccoli in the spring, April, okedoke, good luck with that! It doesn’t work.

My climate here, thankfully, offers year around opportunities for fresh from the garden produce, but drying beans would likely be a challenge, especially in summer. If I was inclined to dry beans, I’d try it during the fall window for growing beans. Dewpoints and moisture are generally much lower in October and November here than in July or August. But, November can be iffy and some Novembers are wet. I’m planning on planting filet bush beans around September 1st or so for the fall fresh eating crop. My fall beans have produced longer than the spring planted crop. I could leave a few on the vines to see if they dry well, just to experiment.

If I lived in New Mexico along the Rio Grande or some side valley or mountain area, I’d be drying beans.

[GoDawgs]

If it shows up, white mold is something to research, as it is quite toxic. I toss every batch of drying beans if there is any (it's rare, here) white mold.

For me, bush beans simply don't produce enough, compared to pole beans. For dry seed, I likely average 10X the amount of saved seed from one pole bean plant, compared to one bush bean plant.

Perhaps looking into greasy beans? One year, not from humidity, but from constant rain during harvest time, nearly all of my beans had pods rot on the vine, except the greasy beans. I'm thinking that the smooth pods shed the rain better.

Lots of greasy beans grown up in the Appalachians. That has made me wonder about their tolerance here in lower, hotter country so I have stifled the urge to try them. You can find them in western North Carolina feed and seed stores but nobody around here carries them.

Check out: https://www.wrightsdaylily.com/beans.html

[bower]

I grew an heirloom bush bean here called Pencil Pod Black Wax Bean for a couple of years, and it did amazing compared to others we tried (me and Dad, year after year, with such gross fails - you can't imagine the hideous mold on a bush of green beans you will never eat a single one). These wax beans stayed clean and were surprisingly productive for a small plant. The beans were delicious too. I would definitely grow it again.

[Tormahto]

I grew an heirloom bush bean here called Pencil Pod Black Wax Bean for a couple of years, and it did amazing compared to others we tried (me and Dad, year after year, with such gross fails - you can't imagine the hideous mold on a bush of green beans you will never eat a single one). These wax beans stayed clean and were surprisingly productive for a small plant. The beans were delicious too. I would definitely grow it again.

My guess is that in an adverse climate, basically a lot of wet weather and/or especially damp soil, any bush bean that can hold pods high on the branches would likely do best. Here, any pod that touches damp ground will get moldy very fast.

I'm doing several different types of bush beans that grow in very diverse types of weather, this year. However, my weather hasn't been diverse this year, it's been HOT.

First there is the rare bush runner bean, Hestia, which like basically all runner beans requires lower temps for flowers to set. With several huge flower trusses of perhaps 15 flowers on each, every single blossom dropped, but one. That one produced one small seedless pod. The plants are slowly springing back to life after pruning them, so maybe I'll get something later in the season.

Common bush beans have done very poorly as transplants, OK when directly seeded. I have one small densely planted block, 4" between plants in all directions, that is a complete mess. Plants are all healthy, it's just that many of them are pole beans, not bush beans. I cannot tell if it is just a few pole beans, each with several branches, or many pole beans each with a single vine. I'll wait until the plants die, and then untangle the mess, while saving seeds.

Bush Asian long beans have been flowering for several days, so it shouldn't be long before picking snaps. These plants love the heat, and so far are doing very well.

The common pole beans are mostly looking good, as several have topped the 11 foot teepees, by about 3 feet. With a cool down in the weather this week, I'm hoping that Super Marconi is setting lots of pods.

And there is one pole lima, Dr. Martin, that has roughly 15 foot vines, just now starting to blossom like crazy.

I've passed on planting bush limas, bush soy beans, and bush adzuki beans this year, as critters usually feast on those.

And, I've passed on dry half-runner beans too, which usually produce the best for me.

Too many beans, not enough room.

[bower]

Well it is an eye opener that people who actually grow beans in their climate still have some of the same problems.
Space is the worst issue to have @Tormato for a crop that quickly turns to mold. My friend has been growing beans a couple of years at the farm now, using a tarp with quite a wide spacing between the bush beans. Whatever the bean is, it must be really productive to justify all that space.
I remember years ago, a tight row of green bush beans she had that were really primo and got through several picks before one cold wet night turned it all to yech.
Those Pencil Pod Black Wax were really short plants, not a lot of leaves on them at all but they kept making beans and didn't get moldy. IDK if mold resistance is a thing, probably not much of it or they would've bred it into the beans long ago!

[Tormahto]

Well it is an eye opener that people who actually grow beans in their climate still have some of the same problems.
Space is the worst issue to have @Tormato for a crop that quickly turns to mold. My friend has been growing beans a couple of years at the farm now, using a tarp with quite a wide spacing between the bush beans. Whatever the bean is, it must be really productive to justify all that space.
I remember years ago, a tight row of green bush beans she had that were really primo and got through several picks before one cold wet night turned it all to yech.
Those Pencil Pod Black Wax were really short plants, not a lot of leaves on them at all but they kept making beans and didn't get moldy. IDK if mold resistance is a thing, probably not much of it or they would've bred it into the beans long ago!

One thing that could possibly help is the hilling of bush beans. Instead of planting on flat ground, align bean rows perpendicular to prevailing winds. A good spacing between rows of perhaps 24 inches might also help. The rows where the beans are to be planted should be about 4 inches higher than the soil line between rows. Supposedly a breeze coming through will cause much more air turbulence than with flat soil, helping to keep plants drier.

[GoDawgs]

One thing that could possibly help is the hilling of bush beans. Instead of planting on flat ground, align bean rows perpendicular to prevailing winds. A good spacing between rows of perhaps 24 inches might also help. The rows where the beans are to be planted should be about 4 inches higher than the soil line between rows. Supposedly a breeze coming through will cause much more air turbulence than with flat soil, helping to keep plants drier.

Hmmmm.... well, the raised beds fortunately happen to be perpendicular to the prevailing winds. Beans go down the sides of the 4' wide beds so the spacing between rows is OK. I'm wondering about the elevated rows though. The problem here is more of keeping them watered enough in the summer heat and I'm wondering if that 4" row elevation would cause them to dry out more. I do mulch the beans to keep moisture in and only water beans at the base of the plants to keep water off the foliage.

Bean problems vary year to year. Last year they grew just fine. This year it was mixed results. Really high humidity and those new-to-me Riptortus pod sucking bugs hit hard. Maybe better results next year. Heavy sigh.... it's always a crap shoot.

[Tormahto]

One thing that could possibly help is the hilling of bush beans. Instead of planting on flat ground, align bean rows perpendicular to prevailing winds. A good spacing between rows of perhaps 24 inches might also help. The rows where the beans are to be planted should be about 4 inches higher than the soil line between rows. Supposedly a breeze coming through will cause much more air turbulence than with flat soil, helping to keep plants drier.

Hmmmm.... well, the raised beds fortunately happen to be perpendicular to the prevailing winds. Beans go down the sides of the 4' wide beds so the spacing between rows is OK. I'm wondering about the elevated rows though. The problem here is more of keeping them watered enough in the summer heat and I'm wondering if that 4" row elevation would cause them to dry out more. I do mulch the beans to keep moisture in and only water beans at the base of the plants to keep water off the foliage.

Bean problems vary year to year. Last year they grew just fine. This year it was mixed results. Really high humidity and those new-to-me Riptortus pod sucking bugs hit hard. Maybe better results next year. Heavy sigh.... it's always a crap shoot.

Just mulching would cause the ups and downs in the ground. However, for the air to circulate better than just on flat soil, there does need to be a breeze. Often, here, many days in August can be dead calm.

It's likely finding bush plants with the highest setting pods. I hear that there are a couple of pinto varieties that are like that.

If it was me, I'd search for the ultimate dry half-runner. From bean trades over the past 20 years, half-runners seem to have the most bulk packs come in. Anasazi, has probably been the most prolific for me, with near perfectly blemish free beans, in the easiest to shell thin dry pods. The weather was always dry the years that I grew them, so I don't know how thy would handle wet weather. Old Joe Clark/Red Peanut has been another good one for me, but has smaller seeds.

[Greenvillian]

You are correct regarding greasy beans, @GoDawgs. I tried twice to grow them in Upstate SC and they were a no go. Didn't produce.

[Tormahto]

If it shows up, white mold is something to research, as it is quite toxic. I toss every batch of drying beans if there is any (it's rare, here) white mold.

For me, bush beans simply don't produce enough, compared to pole beans. For dry seed, I likely average 10X the amount of saved seed from one pole bean plant, compared to one bush bean plant.

Perhaps looking into greasy beans? One year, not from humidity, but from constant rain during harvest time, nearly all of my beans had pods rot on the vine, except the greasy beans. I'm thinking that the smooth pods shed the rain better.

Lots of greasy beans grown up in the Appalachians. That has made me wonder about their tolerance here in lower, hotter country so I have stifled the urge to try them. You can find them in western North Carolina feed and seed stores but nobody around here carries them.

Check out: https://www.wrightsdaylily.com/beans.html

I'd try to contact FusionPower about heat tolerant beans.

[GoDawgs]

I think I'm just going to stick with what works and that's Provider, Contender and now the Jumbo and Blue Ribbon. The pole beans Grandma Roberts and Jeminez tried this year will repeat too. I can use the dry bean test space for other things. There are still a few more MMMM bush bean samples to try next spring; Magpie, Purple Queen, Red Swan, Woods Mountain Crazy and Wyatt.