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Post by scarfguy on May 21, 2024 10:27:53 GMT -5
This is gonna be fun!
Needing a break from my stressful cantaloupe crops (and giving the nasty powdery mildew spores, hiding in the crevices, time to die), I decided to use my large trellis rack for some pole beans.
These are half runner (smaller than full size pole beans) beans. They are the Half Runner Mountain White Pole Beans from Wetzel seeds (www.wetselseed.com).
I planted 3 pods in each bounty in the back 3 holes. Then I butted the bounties as close to the trellis strings as possible. Each plant soon had it's own string (pole) to climb and readily found it's string and started the climb. I have 2 100W lights halfway up and 2 AG 45W light panels sitting on the top of the rack plus quite a bit of natural sunlight streaming in the windows these days.
The over-achievers have already reached the top of the rack. Considering that there will probably NOT be a pot of gold at the top of the vines, I decided to cut off the growing tips in the hopes that the lower nodes will branch out.
I'll keep y'all posted on my progress... 
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Post by Clovis Sangrail on May 21, 2024 11:28:32 GMT -5
I see they are all growing counter-clockwise like good Coriolis beans.
You missed a chance for a science fair experiment. You could have tried to force the plants in one Bounty to grow clockwise to determine (a) whether it could be done and (b) if so, whether the yield would be affected.
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Post by scarfguy on May 21, 2024 11:52:51 GMT -5
I see they are all growing counter-clockwise like good Coriolis beans. You missed a chance for a science fair experiment. You could have tried to force the plants in one Bounty to grow clockwise to determine (a) whether it could be done and (b) if so, whether the yield would be affected.
I did try to wrap a couple of the young shoots to go the other way. They would have nothing of it! Within an hour, they unwrapped themselves and started counterclockwise.
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LoveSalads
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Post by LoveSalads on May 21, 2024 21:12:02 GMT -5
I see they are all growing counter-clockwise like good Coriolis beans. You missed a chance for a science fair experiment. You could have tried to force the plants in one Bounty to grow clockwise to determine (a) whether it could be done and (b) if so, whether the yield would be affected.
I did try to wrap a couple of the young shoots to go the other way. They would have nothing of it! Within an hour, they unwrapped themselves and started counterclockwise.
We need a down under AGA'er or, hydro people to post some pics to complete the quest.  By the way nice looking plants. |
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Post by Clovis Sangrail on May 21, 2024 23:10:05 GMT -5
I spent about half an hour digging through the internet to find a source for New Zealand bean seeds. And I found a research seed repository that had all kinds of heirloom tomato and bean seeds that will grow in New Zealand. Most of these were heirloom seeds from the U.S. that had successfully been transplanted to NZ. And these good people said they would ship tomato and bean seeds to interested New Zealanders who send them self-addressed, stamped envelopes or padded envelopes indicating what kind of tomato and/or bean seeds they wanted. They also said they would ship tomato seeds internationally if you made a donation to them. But bean seeds -- Not just 'no', but 'hell no'. Apparently, shipping bean seeds is somewhat problematic, depending on where you want to ship them. Shipping bean seeds to the U.S. is fraught with custom regulations. For one thing, you need a PPQ 587–Obscured Seed Permit to Import Plants and Plant Products. I think it would be easier to ship a live hand grenade in a box padded with packets of heroine than to ship some bush bean seeds. Anyway, the organization is Heritage Food Crops Research Trust of Whanganui, New Zealand. Their website has lots of pretty pictures of beans.  |
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Post by scarfguy on May 30, 2024 9:08:18 GMT -5
UPDATE! Wall o' beans!
The pole beans are growing like weeds! There are 3 plants in each of 2 bounties.
I have supplimental lighting in the form of 4 AG LED panels. When you have a plant this large (and this is a problem with ALL AGs) top lighting is insufficient to get light to the bottom leaves. This is why most AG plants have dense crowns. SO... I added some lighting from the side with real sunlight from the other side.
I took the lighting down so you can see the plant!
Every node has a bunch of buds. None have popped open yet, though
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maskedsonnet
AGA Farmer
Without the burden of comparison, everything is beautiful
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Post by maskedsonnet on May 30, 2024 10:14:43 GMT -5
A beautiful wall of greenery!!
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Post by lynnee on May 30, 2024 22:12:53 GMT -5
That's an innovative solution for distributing light to naturally tall plants! Those beans really look like proper beanstalks.  |
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Post by scarfguy on Jun 3, 2024 9:50:53 GMT -5
TODAY, the flowers have started to open!
Sporting these tiny rather homely plain flowers, the bean plant has never been known for it's showy blossoms!
They are lovely to me though, knowing what's to come. Soon we'll be seeing tiny little beans spring forth!
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Post by lynnee on Jun 4, 2024 20:29:14 GMT -5
Those are beautiful bean flowers, scarfguy!  |
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Post by scarfguy on Jun 5, 2024 12:28:53 GMT -5
Here come the beans!
Hundreds of blossoms now open and teeny tiny beans are beginning to sprout!
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Post by lynnee on Jun 5, 2024 20:12:19 GMT -5
Love your photos, scarfguy! How big will you let the beans get before harvesting them? Is there such a thing as Baby Green Beans?  |
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Post by scarfguy on Jun 5, 2024 21:31:24 GMT -5
Love your photos, scarfguy ! How big will you let the beans get before harvesting them? Is there such a thing as Baby Green Beans?
I think you can eat green beans at any point. In the past, I have been harvesting the beans when they start to show significant bumps of the individual beans inside. If you let them go much longer than that, the pods get tough.
I've been really happy with the way green beans have taken to AG farming. If you stick to bush beans, you can easily grow them in a bounty or a farm. The bounty trellis (or 2) are sufficient to support the bush varieties.
The results are outstanding. Grocery store beans are always just dumped in a pile and people pick them over all day. You end up with a lot of slimy and bruised beans.
There is nothing better than a steamed green bean harvested an hour before dinner!
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Post by scarfguy on Jun 10, 2024 9:09:31 GMT -5
UPDATE... DAY 43
Lots o'beans now 2-3 inches in length.
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Post by scarfguy on Jun 12, 2024 12:27:54 GMT -5
UPDATE: Day 45...
In anticipation of harvesting in a couple of weeks, I decided to redo my lighting. I'm gonna have a hard enough time finding ripe beans in this briar patch without having to work around 4 light panels.
I replaced the 4 AG 45W LED panels with a single 250W LED. The light is cantilevered out in front of the rack to maximize coverage. I still have the two 100W LED lights on the top shining directly down. The backside is also getting a fair amount of real sunlight through the windows.
I realize this arrangement will not provide sufficient light for the bottom leaves. I fully expect them to yellow and dry up. I'm pretty sure that the volume of foliage higher up will provide more than enough energy to ripen the beans.
I expect to get only two or three harvests. By then, I'll be sick of beans for dinner!
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LoveSalads
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Post by LoveSalads on Jun 12, 2024 13:45:13 GMT -5
Looks like We could hide in that bean patch. I think you are correct and will get plenty of beans to dine on.
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Post by scarfguy on Jun 17, 2024 10:18:13 GMT -5
UPDATE: 50 Days - FIRST HARVEST!
A half pound of four and a half inch beans!
...enough for the vegetable entree for dinner this evening.
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Post by lynnee on Jun 17, 2024 15:39:08 GMT -5
Wow!  |
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Post by The Illusive Man on Jun 19, 2024 9:38:17 GMT -5
UPDATE: 50 Days - FIRST HARVEST!
A half pound of four and a half inch beans!
...enough for the vegetable entree for dinner this evening. 
Nice !! |
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Post by scarfguy on Jun 19, 2024 10:37:27 GMT -5
CULINARY CRITIQUE:
So the first harvest of the pole beans yielded a half pound of 4.5 inch beans. They were consistently all about the same size. They were steamed with a little bit of chopped onion, salt, and pepper. Buttered after cooking (everything needs butter).
The taste was very good. The strings were very small and disappeared during cooking. I would rate this as your "everyday" bean. (Like you have an everyday coffee and save that Jamaican Blue Mountain for special occasions). The very first bush beans I grew were the "Empress" variety. I thought they were better. They had a better color, taste, and were plumper.
The advantage of the pole beans is that they are going to continue to produce beans for some time as I have many, many small beans present and more flowers coming. The bush beans are usually one or two harvests and they are done BUT the bush beans can be grown in a bounty without any additional equipment AND the bush beans are ready to harvest in 60 days. So you can start new ones 5 or 6 times a year.
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By the way nice looking plants.
