White seeded pole beans

[tam91]

The past two years I have grown Blue Lake pole beans, and I like them very much. Except, last year, they decided not to make beans until September or something ridiculous.

So this year, I am trying Fortex, plus a few that were sent to me to try by a t-ville member.

The only thing is - I wasn't paying attention, and now see that Fortex has the brown seeds. I don't know why, but visually, I think I might prefer the white seeds.

What are everyone's favorite green pole beans, that have white seeds?

(I have neckargold for the yellow beans btw)

Edit: Forgot to say, I'd also like a variety that freezes well

[recruiterg]

I like McCaslin.

[tam91]

Thanks - I haven't heard of that one, I'll go look it up.

[NewWestGardener]

I grew Smeraldo last year and really loved it. Long flat green pods ( 10 inch) that remains tender for a long time, very sweet. The best tasting beans I've ever had. I have not tried freezing, but it looks like they may freeze well. Small white seeds. I bought mine from Parkseeds. I will save seeds this fall, if successful, I will offer them here.

[DiggingDogFarm]

Haricot Tarbais, the white bean by which all others are judged!

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/02/do-you-know-bea-1/

http://www.haricot-tarbais.com/

Cannellini ain't bad either!

~Diggin'

[tam91]

Oh, I'm sorry - I wasn't clear.

I was looking for snap beans, not shell beans. It's just that the green pole snap beans can have either brown or white seeds inside, and I prefer the white ones (not sure why, looks maybe, but I just do).

Those look interesting though.

[VitaVeggieMan]

Tracy,

Since you eat snap beans without shelling them, why does it matter what color the seeds are? Does it make any difference in the growth rate, yield, or other growing characteristics? I'm just curious.

[tam91]

No it doesn't make any difference in growing, that I know of. Just when I cut them up and cook them, I prefer the look of the white insides. What can I say, I'm a girl. We fuss about how things look.

Who knows, maybe I'll like Fortex so much I'll forget about the seed color. But in previous years, I preferred the Blue Lake to others.

[kath]

The seed dark seed color won't be visible when you are harvesting pole beans at the snap stage, only if you let them grow to the dry bean stage for eating or seed saving. So you won't know what color seed it came from in the kitchen or on your plate.

Another plus for a colored bean seed is that it's a bit more resistant to rot when planting in cooler soil, so it might give you a jump on an earlier harvest. I've had luck planting some dark seeded beans under plastic cloches and pre-warmed soil way earlier than I could plant normally in my zone.

This year I'm trying 8 pole bean varieties for the first time and Blue Lake is among them. Grew Fortex for the past 2 years- good results the first year but terrible last year. Think the stink bug invasion played a role in that though.

[tam91]

Oh. LOL. Well I guess I'd better not worry about it then - don't I sound silly.

That's interesting re. your Fortex - I grew Blue Lake for two years and they were great - and then last year they wouldn't flower or make beans till fall. Odd.

[kath]

Originally Posted by tam91

Oh. LOL. Well I guess I'd better not worry about it then - don't I sound silly.

That's interesting re. your Fortex - I grew Blue Lake for two years and they were great - and then last year they wouldn't flower or make beans till fall. Odd.

Nah, you don't sound silly to me...if you could notice dark seeds when eating string beans, I probably wouldn't want to grow them either.

This is a link that might explain what we experienced last year with problematic beans. I shudder to think what this year may be like if it is the culprit because we had record numbers overwintering in our attic.

http://www.veggiegardeningtips.com/m...ted-stink-bug/

[tam91]

Eeek. Ick.

No, I didn't have a bug problem though - the Blue Lakes produced huge beautiful vines. Just no flowers. Or beans. The rows of other varieties on each side of them produced fine.

This year, I think my Neckargolds aren't germinating well. Wah.

Ah, gardening.

[VitaVeggieMan]

If you read the full article at the link, it says the stinkbugs ate the flowers, preventing the growth of beans.

"It seems that the larval stage (of the stink bug) focuses on the blossoms, either eating the blossom entirely, or just the reproductive parts, so the beans that form are seedless and misshapen. I did not see any larvae, or blossoms for that matter, on some of the beans. I didn’t realize what was going on until late in the season when I was picking pears and noticed an unusual number of stink-bugs buzzing above the bean vines."

[tam91]

Hmm, that's interesting. I never noticed any bugs though. And there were no mis-shapen beans - once the beans arrived they were fine.

It does make sense though. The only thing - the trellises on either side of the Blue Lake's flowered and made beans just fine. Even a different variety on the same trellis, at both ends and slightly overlapping with the blue lakes flowered and had beans fine. It was only the Blue Lake's.

Could stink bugs have been that selective?

[kath]

The article does mention a couple of varieties that weren't bothered by the bugs, so, like Japanese beetles, I guess they can prefer certain varieties to others.

I had both few flowers AND misshapen fruits.