Green Beans

Hay Dill,

those look awesome might have to do some traden or buyen from you on them. how bout a pic. of the bean if you get a chance?

I agree with keeping the seed in the freezer, although as Farmerdill said, they must be totally dry first. Seems like long ago I read something about it killing any bean weevil eggs that might be present, as well -- although I don't believe I've ever had any bean weevils in my garden. I definitely works to store flour in the freezer that might otherwise get infested with whatever it is that makes the webby stuff -- I used to do a lot of bread baking (as in, never bought a loaf at the store for several years) and every now and then I'd open a bag and it would have bugs and webs, YUCK! So now, into the freezer with the flour AND the bean seeds!

Honeybee, how tall is your bean trellis? Ours is about 8 feet high and the beans usually go all the way up and about halfway back down again. You can always leave the high ones to save seed from!

I just recently read a recommendation on not freezing home stored seed. The logic was our power supply is not always guaranteed and as Jim 41 said "Thawing and refreezing will ruin the germination." They have provisions to prevent that in the Norwegian seed bank.

Contender http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/39971/ Hialeah http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/39566/ Valentino http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/130343/

got it thank you

I never have worried about power outages. When it is off we don't open the frig or freezer. It will stay cold for a long time if you don't open it.

On weevil eggs in flour, the eggs are already there. Refrigeration in the stores keep them from hatching. I used to own a country store and the air conditioner went out, I had never had a weevil, in 24 hours all my flour had to be pitched. I take that back, one older lady said if I was going to throw it away to give some to her. She said I still have my sifter and weevils were why we sifted flour in the old days.

If you put a bay leaf in your flour container, you'll have no weevils. You can also line your cabinet shelves with the to deter the weevils. Of course, you have to change them out every now and then.

Good going Steph. I had never heard of that. Now if I could just get rid of the little sugar ants my wife would be a happy woman.

This message was edited Jun 6, 2010 7:50 PM

Orange oil spray will take care of the sugar ants. Just dilute some (about an oz.) in a 32 oz. spray bottle and spray away. Safe for the animals, kills the ants, and you can also use it to clean the counters and greasy stovetops. You can also use the cleaning product, "Simple Green" found at the grocery store.

Hey Sgt. I went back and tried to open the site but couldn't get it to open up.

Thanks Steph, will give it a try.

This is the remedy for sugar ants aka Argentine ants. http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/viewentry/228658/
They can be detered by peppermint soap which confuses them but you will only make the invasion worse if you kill some of them. They give off pheromones that draw more of the ants. I use Terro ant bait which is basically the same as the above recipe. A small amount on a piece of cardboard. I place the treatment where the pets can't get into it. It is a bait and the ants will carry it back to their nest.

I also use Bay leaves in flours, rice, etc. And strew them on the pantry shelves. It is handy to have a Bay Laurel tree for that much use.

http://www.backyardgardener.com/tm.html

There ya go

Got it up that time. Thanks Sarge.

Your Welcome Brother

I have pole beans, I planted them in February and still haven't seen a blossom or a bean, they are climbing pretty good though. Hopefully I get some beans soon.

I have cockroaches in my neighborhood and the bay leaves and peppermint oil are supposed to keep them out as well.

I use cayenne or black pepper for ants. I think cinnamon works too. They hate the stuff. I also sprinkled cayenne pepper around the doors to keep cockroaches from coming in under the door crack. they also hate the stuff.

Weedwhaker - The bean towers were purchased from Burpee. They are taller than I am, but not so tall that I can't reach the highest bean.

I already have one Fortex that is about a foot longer than the support. I expect it to bend over soon.

When I looked very closely last evening, I saw one teeny tiny bean poking out of a flower bud.

Beans did someone say Beans LOL he he he

Case Knife & Pink1/2 Runners

Where do you buy your seeds for the Pole Beans. They look so healthy.

Jim - I'm finally seeing baby beans on the ones you sent me! Yeah!!

behillman,

I guess your meaning that to me we save them from what we pot out each year we let some go to seed and harvest them for nothing more than just that seed and we plant them in lil seed trays and plant the best of the best and cull the rest to the compost plie. if the seedlings look poor they dont make it to the garden.


these are "Turkey Beans" AKA taken from the Craw of a Turkey.

So the variety of the bean makes a lot of difference. Some varieties do better in your area? I'm yet to find one that does good in my area of Texas. Of course, I have not tried many different varieties. All green beans look the same to me, but,,,,,,,,I am beginning to notice a difference in them now that you mention it. ,,,,,,,,,

The reason I am asking Yates, about the green beans is because mine are looking pretty bad. I had flowers, & beans, & now, they are looking sickly. Some have no leaves, & I do not see any catapillars around. They are still flowering but it seems like some of the baby beans turn yellow & stop growing, & fall off. So, I need some help with those beans. I planted the contender directly in the ground, which is normal for here in Texas.

behillman,


The Case Knife Bean is a hardy bean and dose very well in heat and in our area the ½ Pink runner is a Bush Bean Very hardy as well .

I have a bout a ½ Lb of the Pink Runners left if you D-mail me I’ll give you my address you can send me a puffy SASE and I’ll send you some. plant them when you git them water them every day you don’t git rain they will grow Guaranteed! You will have beans coming out your ears LoL. (yes there is still time for them to grow) however I don’t have any of the other Green Beans until we get done this year and save the seed for the next year setting.

The Sarge

Good for you Kelly. I have started to get a few from mine but they are slow for some reason. The wide flat type I tried have been doing good.

I'm growing Contender bush beans this year. They're supposed to take the heat better, but being bush beans, they only produce one flush and then they're done. Last year, we grew Blue Lake bush beans and they didn't do well at all!

If locakelly and I have success with the ones I have seed to, I'll fix you up with some seed next year. They don't have a name. A friend gave me the start of them. His mother had saved seed to them for years and after she died he started saving seed. They did great for me last year but have been slow to kick off this year. The only thing is that they are running beans.

Steph - I'm doing contender as well. I thought I was done with my harvest a week and a half ago, but three of the seven plants started flowering again! I know everything I heard/read before was one crop and they're done. When I looked at them today there's now enough beans for two more servings, I'm just waiting a few days to let 'em get even bigger.

Maybe I'm wrong and there were some small buds I overlooked. My posting on May 27 I had two with a few FEW flowers but they really started blooming again the last....four or so days. With fingers crossed I'm hoping now maybe to get a seventh and eight serving - so long as the heat doesn't zap them. We were back up to 94f again today. Ug.

Most of the beans continue to grow new foliage as well. So, I'm not pulling any up until they start looking dead. Now I know pole types will continue producing all summer into the fall - has anyone had a bush bean before that continued producing throughout the summer?

One other (possibly) interesting note: This next batch of beans is definitely more curly when compared to the first harvest.

Happy Beaning!

My dad always said one crop of green beans and they are through that they don't like hot weather. Last year mine got the benefit of running a sprinkler on my squash and they put on new leaves and made better the second go around than the first, right in the middle of the hottest part of the summer.

That's encouraging about a possible 2nd round of beans! I just didn't get my rear in gear enough to get my pole beans in this spring, so I won't have a continuous supple of beans as I had planned. I do hope to get the pole beans in for my fall garden, though.

I'm trying out a modified Three Sisters planting this time around. I got my corn in first and then when they were about 2 feet or so, I planted pole beans and beets around them. Can't wait to see the beans when they climb up the corn stalks. I may have put them too close together but what the hey...it's all a learning experience for me.

I have another patch of corn where I sowed spinach seeds in between. Hopefully I'll have tender spinach in the middle of the hot summer.

Being an enthusiastic city gardener, I have more plans than plots. :-D

I'm kinda jealous of all you southern folk... In February, I'm busy snowmobiling... can't plant beans that time of year! I think there's ants eating my pole beans... there's all little holes in the leaves. Will spraying them with soapy water get rid of the pests?

Depends on the pest. The soap works to dry out the bug's exoskeleton and in a sense it dehydrates and dies. A good blast from the hose will send most little pests for a ride.

Alright, I'll give it a go. Thanks kelly!

lorvan - it's very unlikely that ants are eating your beans. There are some that are leaf cutting ants, but I don't think they live in your area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leafcutter_ant

Quick update- all the pretty new flowers from just a couple of days ago have all fried :(
And I water every day it doesn't rain.

Three days of 94 + blah.

But I did get in that final bunch picked earlier today, 18 beans in total.
So that's about 60 beans off seven plants, and I'll call that a success. Def. will be doing the contender type again. Just twice as many.

Anyone know if they can be sown again in the fall....maybe mid-Sept. Or do they really need the March/spring weather?

Better than nuthin'. Which was last year, lol!

It's bean real....har har....

I'd sow about the first of September. You will have plenty of time for beans to produce.

My green beans are going like crazy. They have just started producing and the hot weather hasn't effected them at all.

I'm going to plant bush and pole beans for the fall in a few weeks. Yikes! Planting time is almost upon us again!