Fabes (Not Favas)

I was unable to find this bean from a U.S seed company and ended up ordering from a Spanish food importer. It grows in the Spanish Asturias (a mountain region) and is used to prepare a national dish, fabada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabada_asturiana The beans are huge and incredibly creamy. Some years we summer in Spain and eat fabada every chance we get. I missed the bean here. Actually not so much the bean but the fabada. Little did I know that it is related to the Scarlet Runner and would present problems in my hot, southern climate. It likes cool temperatures in a narrow range. After paying $25 a pound for seed (testimonial to how much we love fabada) I am growing Fabes (singular is Faba) this year. Though the plants did not set beans well at first, production is picking up. The vines are almost twenty feet. I'm hoping to keep them alive 'til the weather cools. I can post pics of my plants but meanwhile here is the bean and information. http://www.foodsfromspain.com/icex/cda/controller/pageSGT/0,9459,35868_6865989_6908352_4446011_0,00.html

My question is...does anyone grow Scarlet Runner beans, the Fabes cousin, or Fabes or Tarbais beans well in their zone? When do you plant? Would it be best to tip and force the beans' lower growth for cooler weather production? The vines are sending out a good amount of bottom growth. I also planted Scarlet Runners as a test and the set on those is lower than the Fabes. The beans are supposed to be a variant of French Tarbais which is the bean used in making cassoulete. Does anyone grow these successfully?

Photos from early this morning. Clusters have small beans along with flowers. The pods have a slightly fuzzy texture. I had read hummingbirds help with pollination of scarlet runner beans and notice a lot of hummingbirds in recent weeks.

My Italian Uncle pronounced Fava as Faba before I ever saw it listed in a Catalog. I think Faba/Fava and English "Broad Beans" are basically the same thing.
Regular Beans are frost sensitive and are planted on or after your average last frost date. Favas, as you found out, like cool temperatures - so you plant them before your frost date with peas.

Thanks. This bean is from Spain and has no relation to favas. I know they call favas fabas in Italy. Favas grow on bushes and have pea-like leaves. Spanish faba (fabes is plural) is a running bean. Mine are now approaching twenty foot vines. The Spanish fabes are not broad beans and are frost sensitive but like cool weather. It is like a cannalini bean only twivce as big. I seem to be having better set now. I know Scarlet Runner beans have similar preferences and was wondering if any DG gardeners have luck with those.

The beans came with a stamp of denomination from the Asturias which means they are indigenous to this region only. Thus the price.

I have tried several runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus) they will flower but not set beans. At your higher elevation it may get cool enough for them to set.

These are called runner beans but the box says they are P. vugaris. Additional research confirms that. They supposedly take 150 days to mature. Wow! Since they were sourced through a food purveyor they didn't come with growing information. Hopefully they go through the summer and into fall. I also read they are the largest of all beans. The are enormous when cooked. Here are photos of (1) size comparison starting at top and clockwise, a soy bean, a cannellini bean, a faba, a black bean and a blackeyed pea. It's definitely the king bean! (2) The package they came in from la Tienda and the last photo is the beans remaining. At least I have enough for a fabada (faba stew) if mine don't do well.

Okay, forget the favas and lets talk about Runner Beans. It is true that they don't set during a heat wave - but that is true of a lot of things here, including tomatoes. Also, one of the differences between pole beans and runner beans is (supposedly) that pole beans are self pollinating and runner beans need a pollinator. That means something has to visit the flowers and shuttle pollen around. Hummingbirds visit Scarlet runner beans here. Scarlet runners have a large seed, similar in size & shape to your photo of a fabe, but a different color. So they could be related. We pick the runner pods small/immature to use as green beans.
With their preference for cooler weather, perhaps you might try shade cloth, or planting for afternoon shade, or growing them into fall. I assume 150 days is possible in Georgia?

If they are P. vulgaris and your vines are vigorous, you should get beans in early fall. The mountains of North Georgia should have some similarities with mountains of northern Spain.

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Pollen, Dill would probably best answer your bean questions. I believe all beans are self fertile but pollinators assist production of some species more than others. Such is the case with runners. I thought improved set might be due to hummingbird assistance since the increased set coincides with the bloom of nearby trumpet vine and giant zinnias. Vines more exposed on the outside of the arbor have more beans. I originally read Scarlet Runners were related but they are P coccineus where as fabes are P. vulgaris. Different species.

The vines are vigorous and the weather is cooperating. At over 1,600 ft. altitude our nights have been in the high fifties with days in the high seventies. I'm not sure why the plant produces so many flowers compared to set (maybe the size of the beans?) but there has been a great increase in beans forming. Meanwhile, I did that comparison test teepee of Scarlet Runners. We've got hummingbirds all over those and still very few beans.

The limited information I found says fabes are difficult to grow. One reason is disease. Well much like the limas, these have been disease and insect free. Japanese beetles prefer every other bean to these.

Here are current photos. The first is the arbor, approximately 7' high, 8' wide and 10' long. The fabes are planted on the left side and Hilda Romanos on the right. Hildas are a vigorous bean too. The fabes are starting to cover the Hildas. Pods average four beans per. I'm going to have to grow and at least semi-dry them on the arbor. In Spain they pick and dry them in special drying houses, like the tobacco barns in the South. Leaving beans on the plants will probably cut down on productivity/my harvest. I don't know at what stage they pick them in Spain. Next two photos are inside the arbor looking up. #4 is the top of the arbor; lots of flowers and beans happening. The last is the totem of Scarlet Runner beans. They look great but only a few beans.

BTW, I planted Windsor favas (not fabes) today. I grew great big bushes several years ago. About the time the pods were filling deer jumped the six foot fences and ate them to the ground. Add favas to the list of favorite deer food. They will withstand frost. So, if the several year old seed germinates and the weather and deer cooperate, maybe I'll have favas and fabes.

The favas (not fabes) grew to 6" and keeled over with black stems from the ground up. Pythium? So much for my second attempt with those.

As for the fabes, they are beginning to be harvestable. I'm picking when the pods are slightly wilted at the stem end and have slightly more than two pounds, not sorted, with maybe half the harvest in. Not sure they will continue to produce as the weather is cooling. The leaves have thinned. Still, If seventeen plants yield three to four pounds of beans I'll be satisfied. The Scarlet Runner beans have produced only a few dozen seeds. No doubt these are P. coccineus. So I'd say fabes de Granjas (or Asturianos) are harder to grow in the heat than P. vulgaris types but easier than their Scarlet Runner bean cousins.

I assume you have left some to dry for fresh seed next year.
Have you tried your traditional recipe yet? Do they taste like you remembered?

I will sort the best and save those for next year but haven't cooked the dish yet. I want to make it with fresh ones and compare dried beans later. Truth is I've been procrastinating. It's like eating your children. Sigh. We still go to Spain so the memory is pretty fresh. It's similar to French cassoulet which originated on the border of France and Spain. That area has, at varying times, been one country. Of course I'll post. Thanks for your interest.
Laurel