I will give this post a bump so it can move down. It seems anytime I post a list I leave something off. I left off the cluster beans from Chandra. I planted just a few this year to get an idea of DTM and see how they perform here. Will plant more next year. Jay

Thanks for posting, Jay. Keep us updated as I frequently take notes to avoid wasting time in the future. ;)

bon

Bon,
I will do. Also I need to add Tennessee Cutshort from George. I replaced the Emerite that failed to germinate with it. It has been impressive so far. Seemed to handle the heat better than most. Not sure is that was because it was younger and smaller or just the nature of this variety. George might be able to comment about that. It has basically caught the plants 3 weeks older than it. I will also add the Emerite seed was obtained last fall from the same commercial source that the cucumber seeds I've had germination issues with were bought from. All were purchased last fall. After two tries I ended up replacing one of those varieties with another. These were the only major germination issues I've experienced this year. Have always had great germination results from seeds purchased from this source before. And some of the varieties germinated well. It was just the one bean variety that I never got one seed to germinate after two tries and two out of 3 cucumber varieties from them. All were stored in the same container along with all of my other seeds of the same varieties. So may never know what the problem is. I did remove them from my inventory and may replace them later. Jay

We have done with spring planted bush beans such as Derby Bush, Cherokee, Detroit Dark Red Improved Beet, Festina Bush, Red Meat Radish, Duke Bean, Golden Rod Bush, Maxibel French Filet, Contender, Blue Lake, Royal Burgundy, Roma. Among all of these, good producers were Cherokee, Roma, Contender, Duke, and somewhat Derby. Rest of them were just putting few beans in beginning and could not withstand the spider mite attach.

I have late planted George�s pole beans viz, Long Cut Old Timey Greasy Bean, Tennessee Cutshort, and some Kentucky Wonder from WM. I planted second batch couple weeks ago are Contender, Blue lake and some southern peas. Now they are growing pretty well with very large leaves. All our poles beans leaves curled or wrinkled. I am not sure whether its virus or heat or water stress.

Cluster beans are doing great and started flowering and this morning I saw some tiny cluster of beans in few plants. That mean this year they are early as I usually see them putting clusters usually in late August.

Jay, Keep updating on your beans and DTM of cluster beans. I not yet figured exact DTM since they behave differently each year. DTM seems to shorter this year!!

-Chandra

Jay,

Thanks for posting your list. I'm getting ready to plant fall beans but haven't even decided which ones yet. I need to dig through the seed box and make a decision soon.

Most of my spring-planted beans are still producing despite us having high temperatures over 100 degrees fairly often. I am really pleased with how well they've done.

I have had trouble with Emerite germination in several different years and don't think I'll bother with it anymore when there are plenty of other bean varieties that want to germinate and grow.

My favorite beans this year so far have been a purple romano and a golden romano from Territorial Seed. Both produced huge loads of beans in the spring and early summer. The real winner though is white half-runner which has been producing beans since May and continues to produce them still. It doesn't wear itself out and stop producing after a few weeks like some bush beans. I planted at least 9 varieties of bush beans and almost as many varieties of pole beans and none of them have been duds. The lima beans haven't produced a bean yet, but are starting to bloom.

I really don't need to plant many for fall because the deep freeze is almost full and all I want is a continual harvest for fresh eating. That doesn't mean I won't freeze some of the fall beans, just that I am not sure how I'll find the space for them.

I'm going to replace some rows of tomato plants with southern peas for fall production this week. The big slicers have performed wonderfully, but the heat is getting to them, I don't intend to irrigate them which means they wouldn't do well anyway, and we have too many tomato plants and not enough southern peas. (Not that the southern peas I planted aren't doing well, but just that I was mostly out of garden space and didn't plant many of them earlier.)

Fresh beans are one of the great joys of summer.

Dawn

Jay, If the bean you received from George is the same one that I have been growing for several years, it will produce fast. One year I planted pole beans, then two weeks later planted the beans from George, and George's beans started production two weeks earlier than the ones I planted first. You do have to string them and that won't all be the same size, but they are early, taste good, and produce a long time.

With my wild and crazy year, I am planting beans for a fall crop. Just planted Louisiana Purple Podded (any experience with these anyone?), and have yet to plant Rattlesnake and Cherokee Trail of Tears. I may be a little early for the OK Planting Guide (I think it said 7/15 to 8/1, which would put me around 7/22 or 7/23), but I have more seeds if needed.

Anyone have good luck with fall planted pole beans?

Jay, your list looks grand!

Susan

I generally do a second planting of pole beans in July, and they do alright, except in extreme heat and drought.

Here's an observation on Fowler and Woods Mountain Crazy Bean. I planted these close to the same time. Actually, I staggered both, in stages, so I know they overlap. Fowler is producing, but not a whole lot. It appears, that in high temperatures, it doesn't set pods all that well. Anyone else seeing this?

Woods Mountain Crazy Bean, on the other hand, has been producing like, well... crazy. I hesitate to make the comparison, as I have a long history with Fowler Bean, and have never before noticed that it stall out in heat. Generally, I've grown it early in the season and then neglected it after the pole beans come in. But this year we're trying to can as many beans as we can, so I planted a good many bush beans, besides the pole beans, and I've been diligently picking.

Anyway, if anyone loves Fowler Bean, don't abandon it just on the basis of this one post.

George

Susan,

I've grown all three of the varieties you're growing and we liked them just fine, and didn't have any sort of issues with any of them.

In the summer months, when planting the fall garden, I often plant a week or two earlier than the guide says--especially for warm-season crops. That gives me a cushion of time if I have germination issues and need to sow seeds a second time.That second planting will be on time.

George, My 'Fowler' beans seemed to be slow to get started after they sprouted, but they are producing well here now. However, my county hasn't been classified in a drought category since May so that might explain why they're doing so well. It seems so odd to me that our house is in the one-third of one percent of Oklahoma that is not in drought, but I am not complaining.

It is a great bean year here despite the hot temperatures and relatively skimpy rainfall in the last month. I've been working really hard to stay caught up on picking the beans in a timely manner, and haven't always succeeded at it either.

Dawn

Thanks, Dawn! I just need to get the others planted now.

Susan

George thanks for your post about the Fowler and Wood's Mountain Crazy Bean. My Fowler plants have a few small beans and starting to bloom well. The plants have performed well so far. The early ones are from seeds from SSE. The ones from your seeds are just emerging. I'm not concerned at all unless we would have an extremely early frost. Last year I planted beans the first of August and got a good harvest. I like to compare the results of the same variety in different gardens and always amazed at the differences. Fowler is the only one with fruit set that I've noticed. I planted them on each end of a 70' row and planted the other bush beans in between. And each end has performed almost identically to this point. Kentucky Wonder has produced both bush and pole type from seed from the same seed packet. They have done well so far. But read the reviews I believe from Soonergrandmom and others after I planted them so a little concerned about how they'll perform and taste. All of the varieties have grown well so far. They are growing better again since the cooldown. The heat and wind slowed them down greatly. The Wood's Mountain Crazy Bean plants from the first planting(3 plants) have been the slowest growers of any. A lot of that can be attributed to the bed I put them in. I'm going to install a raised bed there as soon as those 3 plants are finished. I will save most of the beans from those 3 for plants as they are well isolated. Also five of them got ate on after emergence and died. Lost another. Have had more insect damage/activity in that bed than the rest of the garden combined. So those 3 plants are doing well considering the hardships they have endured. The last planting of the WMCB should start emerging any day. I planted them in my cold/hot frames. Hopefully they will have a better home than the first ones. And I can tell more about them. I added mushroom compost to the soil before I planted them.

George the Tennessee Cutshort has been very impressive. Those plants are about to start blooming. They have been vigorous and fast growing.

I've had great germination so far on all of the seeds from you. And some are seeds you sent me 3 years ago. I plan to grow the rest of the varieties from you next year. This year I slowed down when the heat and drought intensified. Only after I saw the coodown and rain predicted did I decide to go ahead and plant more. Also the fact the sweet corn is about finished and shouldn't need watering will help also.

Dawn up till the cooldown and rainfall I had experienced at least some fruit set on most things including many of the tomato plants. I feel the very low humidity helped there greatly. Also the nights in the 60's and many times low 60's I feel helped greatly also. Hopefully I'll be harvesting beans in a few weeks. Jay