I just noticed beans on my yard longs today. It won't be long now, yum!

"yard longs" are wonderful!! I pick them when they are less than a pencil width...like them tender.

I like them brushed with oil and garlic and grilled on the BBQ...eat them with the fingers. Yum. Other than that...in anything stirfried or sauteed.

DEEELICOUS!

Anyone knows if we can plant yard long beans now?

IN WESTERN OREGON, I PLANTED MY YARD LONG BEANS ABOUT A WK OR TWO AFTER THE BUSH & REGULAR POLE BEANS (~MID JUN), SAME TIME AS THE TOMATO & EGGPLANT STARTS... THE PLANTS KEPT ON GROWING, SO I THREADED THEM SIDEWAYS (ANOTHER 24-36") OVER A 7' BEAN TRELLIS... MY HARVEST LASTED FROM MID-AUGUST TILL LATE OCTOBER. I KEPT THE HOME-DRIED SEEDS FOR 2-3YRS & STILL HAD 90+% GERMINATION W/INNOCULANT...BEST OF ALL, IT ONLY TOOK ABOUT 3-5 BEANS TO MAKE DINNER FOR MYSELF & 2 KIDS, NICE & EASY TO PREPARE...GOOD GARDENING TO YOU, K.

stir fry with dash oyster sauce,sesame seeds,peanut oil and peacans or macadamia nuts.
or garlic and butter or hoisen sauce and ginger with some orange rind and on and on and on hahaha
pick um young

just stir fry it with some beef. you don't need a lot of sauce b/c it'll hide the taste of the beans, and you don't want to do that. (wow horrible run on sentence) i don' tknow how my mom marinates the beef. i think it's soy sauce, corn starch, and some other stuff. it's a regular chinese sauce. i'm sure that's not help, but you can ask another chinese cool lol sorry.

could anyone post a picture? i wonder if they're the same as snake gourd...

Here is a picture of yard long beans.

I wonder if the snake gourd is what the Italians call cucuzza which is an edible squash?

Here is a link that might be useful: yard long beans

Thanks Adriana. Here's a picture of snake gourd for you. They're usually over a meter long, and about as thick as my wrist..

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:388018}}

SunHat, yard long beans aka are definitely different than the snake gourd.

Here is the difference:

Yard-long Bean/asparagus bean/snake bean/Chinese long bean
(Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis)

{{gwi:388023}}

{{gwi:388024}}

{{gwi:388026}}

Snake Gourd/Dish Cloth Luffa/Sponge Gourd
It is the plant where luffa sponges come from.

(Trichosanthes cucumerina)

{{gwi:388028}}

{{gwi:388031}}

{{gwi:388034}}

{{gwi:388018}}

Violet, thanks so much for posting those pics. I see now, and I think I recognise the yard-long beans.

Voilet,

The snake grouds look great. I just planted them (first time for me) here in Arizona, i also planted some bitter grouds, white amaranth, eggplants, lemon cucumbers etc.

Thanks for sharing the pixs.

I usually stir fry the yard-long bean with beef or chicken and serve on top of rice. YUMMMY!

Do you know that you can also freeze them and save them for winter? Cut them to about 2" and then blanch them. Put them on ziploc bag and then to the freezer. When you're ready to cook it, do not thaw it first, straight to your cooking pan frozen. If you thaw it, it becomes tough. It is also good to stir fry with shitake mushroom.

when would be a good time to plant yard longs in zone 5?

I'd go ahead and start now. You can cover them with a 2-liter bottle or milk carton with the top off and bottom cut off to protect the seed and keep it warm which will encourage growth. Keep it moist but not sopping and the seed will come up when it's ready.

This year I'm growing my yardlongs on a PVC arch with wire mesh over it. The arch is 10 ft wide, 6' high. I hope to be able to harvest the beans when the dangle through the mesh into the tunnel. I'm also doing European cucumbers on the same arch.

Thanks, I'll get them going today. have to put up a trellis.
I have 10 seeds. but it sounds like that is plenty even if I only get 5 or 6 plants.

AdrianaG,

Would love to see pics if you can post them!

:)

ok, you guys are making me hungry. Does anyone have yard long bean seeds to trade? Please check my trade list. The snake gourd look creepy! How do you cook it??? What is the flavour like?

Snake Gourd Recipes...

Here is a link that might be useful: Snake Gourd Recipes

It's a beautiful plant with very high yield and very sweet taste. We call it Snake Tomato. Doing some work on it.

Just curious; http://www.evergreenseeds.com/evergreenseeds/asbeanyarbea.html

Lists 9 varieties; are there any preferences?

They're all good. The key is harvesting based on width (the width of a pencil). Stick with varieties that grow well in your area.

In S. TX I have grown red and black-seeded varieties with
success. Now I have planted some new ones I ordered from
www.rareseeds.com One new variety is just coming into production, and it has red beans. It is called Chinese
Red Noodle Bean. The odd thing about it is that it hardly climbs at all, compared to the other types I have grown. --
Does anyone know anything about this variety? How does
it compare to the regular green ones? -- Mel

I trialed the "Chinese Red Noodle" last year here in Wisconsin. It was much slower to climb than the others I grew, and in fact did not climb well without frequent training.

It demonstrated the same trait as a Philippine purple long bean I have, that if allowed to trail, the flower stalk would lengthen, holding up the pods. It seems to need more heat than most (good if you are in Texas), and it was not my highest yielder; BUT... has the best quality pods, firm, very good flavor, and even freezes well. Highly recommended.

Does anyone know if there are any problem areas (sensitivities) for the Chinese red noodle bean? We planted them a while back and they grew just a bit (3-5 in.) and then they stopped growing and sat there for a while and now they are turning a yellowish color.
We have some other legumes planted nearby that are doing fine.

pinkpanther,

Yard long beans prefer tropical conditions. They don't get going until it gets hot, say 85-95F degrees hot. So there is no sense in starting them early when it's cold because it is not necessary. If you're in zone 3-5 and you started them "a while back" I assume it was way too cold for them. Therefore they remain relatively dormant until preferred weather conditions come around. I just started mine from seed June 1 in zone 6 if that gives you any idea.

Pinkpanther, in my trials, the "Chinese Red Noodle" yardlongs needed more heat to produce than most, and required a longer season.

Don't know where you are located... but here in Wisconsin, I have to start them early in peat pots to get a good harvest (about one week prior to their planting date). You can't grow them under lights though, so while you may germinate them in warmer indoor temps, they need to go outdoors _immediately_, or they turn leggy very quickly.

Like Violet said, yardlongs thrive on heat; and in my experience, it is the night temps that are most critical. If your nights are cool, they will just sit there... and with prolonged cool weather, they will yellow. Once the night temps rise into the 60's, they will grow rapidly.

I have found that yardlongs, like most beans, don't like soil on their leaves; so a mulch around the plants (to reduce mud splash) may increase their vigor.

If the "Red Noodle" does poorly for you, you might try "Liana", a green-podded variety which bears earlier & is more tolerant of cool weather.

The last two years I have grown the red noodle bean, and it is one of the best beans I have ever grown. The yield was great, along with the fact that it didn't have to be harvested every day or every other day, as some beans do, in order to keep them from getting fibrous, stringy, or hollow (common with all long beans I have grown, including green noodle). And last year I had a near record hot summer, and the other beans either died or stopped flowering until it cooled off in September, while the red noodle kept producing. Not total resistance to rust, like one green bean I grow (blue lake stringless pole), but it doesn't seem bothered by the little bit it gets, and lives until heavy frost kills it, continuing to produce the entire summer.

Dave

I grow both vine type ( both purple and green color) and bush type yard-long bean. They are growing very well. I usually pick them before the seed pod start to swallon and cut into about 1" long and sautee it with a little garlic.

It can before dryed and store for whole winter. Dryed yard long bean and be cooked with any meat.

I have my first harvest last week(30 lbs) and I've been harvesting them just about 5-10 lbs everyday, they should slow down with in a couple of weeks then start producing again but smaller size of beans before they die.

ydur07,

So long as you harvest every day or ever other day and pick those beans that are not showing seeds thru the flesh (you don't want them more mature than this) then you should have a continual supply of beans until it gets too cold for the plant. I have not had any issue with "smaller beans" or having to wait two weeks. The more consistently you harvest, the more constant a supply you will have.

Does anyone has a white pod long bean which can be eaten when there is a beans inside the bean? How is the white pod long bean from evergreenseed?

This is our first year to grow long beans we have both Liana and Red Noodle ,the Liana are our doing the Red so far . Cany say how we like them yet but can say they are way better then green beans and the cows love them . We rae wanting to cann them can it be done and keep the crisp ?? Thank you Buck

I am also growing the Chineese Red Noodle bean, I got the seeds from rareseeds.com. It is doing very well in central Kentucky. I had to train them up onto the trellis initially, but they quickly took hold, and spread themselves up quite nicely. They are about seven feet tall (the height of my trellis), and they are growing back down. Many of my beans are 24" long and more.

My question is, has anyone tried shelling them and eating the bean itself fresh like a cowpea? They grow so quickly, and form a nice little bean, I have been thinking about it. I think my mother has a sheller, I might give it a go. If anyone has tried this, please let me know what your experience has been.

Yes, Hunter, I have tried yardlongs as fresh peas, both from "Liana" and "Red Noodle". "Liana" was, I thought, the better flavored, and was more prolific. The taste is similar to cowpeas... understandable, since they are the same species. But yardlongs are far more difficult to shell than field peas. The pods do not open easily, and there is a membrane that often sticks to the seeds, and is fairly difficult to remove.

do the red beans stay red when cooked?

"...do the red beans stay red when cooked?"

Yes. Unlike purple snap beans which turn green when cooked, purple yardlongs keep their color. They might turn a little grayish, but a little bit of vinegar (or possibly lemon juice) will restore their color.

I accidentally bought this plant (yard long bean)thinking it's just like any other beans w/ just a different name. Silly me cuz now I c it's totally different. Do I grow it on a pole or a lattice n how high? Pls help cuz I'm so clueless in this new plant. By the way, I have some tomato stakes (the round kind) can I grow them w/ that, will that b high enough? Pls Pls Pls explain it in details 4 an airhead like me!!

I am growing it for the first time too. And I am anxious to see them yardlong bean.Probably they will half-yard long.
AS I understand, you have to provide some means for it
to climb, like pears. If you have shrubs nearby, you can lead them toward shrubs, trees, install a treliss (make one yourself with nylon mesh easily with two 1 by 2s).

Look at it this way; If the beans are yard-long, how long the vines will get?(Grin)

Mimi, since no one has yet responded to your question, (which might be because you posted on a thread from 2002), I though I would add my 2 cents.

The short answer is grow them just like normal pole beans. Use poles, lattice, concrete remesh, etc. for climbing medium. My structure is at 7 ft. A couple of years ago I was using a 5 ft structure. It worked OK but a large amount of vines were "clumpping up" at the top. The 7 ft structure has less clumping up at the top. Production seemed to be the same for both.

I grew my pole beans on a trellis made of lashed bamboos. I had bamboo criss-crossing to form a lattice. Make it really tall and plant several beans so you have plenty for each time you harvest them.

Thanks ianna

My yLBs are now growing. So far they hav about 2 or 3 pairs of leaves. But I don't see a stem to grow out yet.
They look and behave like pole beans, I think. The first 3 sets of leaves are very slow. I figure they are concentrating on roots. Once the roots are developed then comes the rapid growth, provided nigh lows are over 60F.
This is like cucurbitas;It takes them a while with 3 pairs of leaves and from there on they grow fast. I know this off hand because I am also growing several types of melons, cukes, gourds, namely, swan, birdhous, luffa and ornamental.

AdrianaG,
Your description of your bean structure sounds interesting. I'd also like to see a picture if you have one. My pole beans were planted next to bamboo poles that were quite tall, but since the plants had nothing else to cling to, I ended up winding each plant around its own pole - not a very good idea as many of the beans ended up threading themselves around the "maypole", making it hard to harvest, besides the beans would end up misshapen, too. We were thinking of doing what you did, but are kind of afraid of the next step. Seeing your structure would give us courage . . .

I expanded pot gardening from chilli to beans. I germinated about 6 years old yard long beans I sowed last week with another beans called Koa Bean (in Thai )I do not know what it called in English. So I will upload the picture and please identify this bean. The Koa beans are not germinating but I am expecting it will be germinated soon.

Please identify this bean it called in Thai Koa Beans. I am going to plant these Yard Long Beans and Koa Beans together in a 7 gallon Smart Pot. A lot of vegetable names from Asia I know but it is pretty hard to find in English language.

Chilliwin, your Koa Bean is known as Winged Bean in English, the species name is Psophocarpus tetragonolobus. They are not as widely adapted as yardlong beans.

Some tropical varieties of Winged Bean are daylength sensitive, and will not even begin to flower until day length approaches 12 hours. Since the equinox is mid-September, for much of the U.S. that is too close to frost for the pods to mature. Even the "day neutral" varieties require a long season, I can only pick the immature pods here for a week or two.

Thank you Zeedman for the information.