can someone help, have saved some of my white lady beans ,had them on the window sill to dry off but the majority have got brown patches on them...I'm sure thats not right
They need to dry on the plants. This is how I save beans.
- Sow early to allow for maximum drying.
- Leave on plants as long as possible, they should rattle in the pods and some pods may be shattering naturally.
- Harvest after dry period.
- I then test some beans by hitting with a hammer, they should shatter, not squish.
- I then put in an air tight jar which goes in the freezer over night, this kills any bean weevils present.
- The jar must not be opened until it has reached room temperature
If you follow this process the beans will store for yonks. If you must harvest before perfectly dry leave them in the pods, or even better harvest the entire plant and hang it up till dry.
Do not freeze beans unless they are shatter dry, they will not germinate if you do.
Do not expect beans that are not perfectly dry to store for an extended period.
thanks for the very comprehensive reply Amphibian, will check tomorrow if there are any more on the plant and start again
I also try and keep beans in their pods as long as possible. I have been drying some rather juicy french beans - put them on the window sill and then the radiator still in the pods. I do not shell them until the pods are totally stiff. Same for runners if possible keep them in the pods until you need them in the spring. I put my runners in old cereal boxes and once they are dried off. It is a problem if the pods are still green when you pick them since they will rot if you do not maintain a good circulation of air. If the pods rot then the beans rot as well.
Was worried about putting them on the radiator to hurry things along, but have done several germination tests and achieved 100% germination. I have put something on top of the radiator so they are not in direct contact.
Runner beans do not come up true to type it depends on what was around to fertilise them. You obviously know the mother, but it depends where the bee went for the father. And bees cover a remarkably large area. French beans are a better bet they generally come up true to type as they are self fertile. Suggest you rogue out any beans which are a different colour.
On the other hand the beans seem to be able to adjust to the particular growing conditions, so I have been very happy with the results of saved beans. I also try to only use beans from nice long pods. My thinking is that if the bean came from a nice long pod then it might grow into a nice long pod itself.
Beans keep best in cardboard or paper bags. Storing them in plastic can lead to them sweating and then rotting.
I was trying to dry out my dwarf bean pods for ages, they just went mouldy, i could scream. The problem was that they were not drying on the bush they just kept touching the soil and going mouldy on the plot
I leave them standing for as long as possible, until some beans at least are ready, then bring them home and dry them out in a corner. I just brought the pea beans with me today, as I needed the space.
My yin-yang beans dried OK on the plant, I've also saved some Borlottis byleaving them in pods on the windowsill of the conservatory... the same environment seems to have dried out the Blue Hopi popcorn, so will have toi try that out soon....I think part of the problem with seed-saving from green bean plants is that you've kept the poor thing flowering instead of it setting its first flush and pushing them into a dried state.....
I had one variety of beans that flowered very late and so by the time everything else was nicely drying it was still in a very green fleshy state. I dried some on a sunny windowsill, some on the radiator and some hung up the whole plant. Have to say that the radiator ones actually did the best. Ones hung up ended up with brown patches on the beans. I keep them well ventilated and keep turning them.
They have all done well in germination tests, even the ones with the brown patches. Thought they might show signs of mould when they germinated but this did not happen.
Had some yingyang and they did not do well on the plant, radiator ones also did better. Have not got enough to waste on a germination test so will have to plant and hope next year. But the beans look bonny enough.
Quote from: Digeroo on November 18, 2009, 06:57:52
Had some yingyang and they did not do well on the plant, radiator ones also did better. Have not got enough to waste on a germination test so will have to plant and hope next year. But the beans look bonny enough.
I reckon that's good enough with a bean,.... if it looks OK and it's only a year or so old then it's probbly viable
chrisc