Has anyone grown Anasazi Beans?

[Scope254]

I bought some Anasazi beans at a Seedy Sunday sale Last week and would like any advice on how to grow them.  They were descibed on the handwritten packet as climbing french beans but I'm not sure if that's right.

Any advice?

[Scope254]

[jennym]

Not actually grown these, but think they are similar to others I have grown.
Didn't think they were a climber though, more of a tall dwarf bean.
Grow them for the bean seeds inside, to dry, as the pods on this type of bean are quite tough. You can freeze the bean inside instead, I do this before they get too dry.
I'd plant 2/3 beans in a hole about 2" deep, and space them about 18" apart. They might need tying loosely to a cane if they flop onto the soil.

[Lady Cosmos]

Anasazi is a bush bean and it wll grow about 2 feet high, I think

[djbrenton]

They are a bush bean. I've planted mine in double rows like broad beans. They are grown for the bean rather than the pod and are flatulence free. Very uncommon in this country as they are a Plant Breeders Rights variety in the US. I bought a couple of kilos from Adobe Mills as I couldn't find anyone anywhere who sold them for growing.

[jennym]

What's the difference between a bush bean and a dwarf bean then?
I had thought that bush bean was the word the americans used for dwarf bean?
How did you find out that this bean is protected by US Plant Breeders Rights? I know how to find out about UK ones, but not USA and would be grateful to know.

[djbrenton]

I think you're right about bush = dwarf. I'm not sure there's any difference.

I don't know how to check US rights, I happened to come across this on the net.

The anasazi bean is named after the extinct Anasazi or the Pueblo Indians. This new, yet ancient bean has the most amazing history behind it. One story has it that in the 1950s, archeologists in one of the Anasazi digs found a sealed, clay pot with a few of these beans in it. (Carbon dating determined them to be 1,500 years old.) Some of them sprouted and the modern anasazi beans all come from those few beans. As the Anasazi Indians left their homes in the late 1200s AD, however, this would have made those beans at a minimum 750 years old! (That is, if you ignore the carbon dating.) It's generally understood by seed viability specialists today that 50 years is about as long as a seed can remain viable which puts this story into question. There is another story that the first settlers who moved into this area found these beans growing wild around the Pueblo ruins then locally cultivated them. Years later, those same archeologists found the same kind of beans in that clay pot dating back to Anasazi times. I called up the company that patented and grows the anasazi bean. The sales representative told me the story is indeed true, some of those ancient seeds did sprout, but she added that most likely, the vast majority of the seeds they used to build up the crop probably came from local gardeners in the area. A California accountant, Ernis Waller learned of the bean and with his agronomist partner, Bruce Riddell's efforts, this bean has been brought to the public. The anasazi was first commercially sold around 1983. The anasazi bean is now just gaining a foot-hold in the market.
        The anasazi is a white bean with a maroon patern and is a cousin to the pinto bean. They have a flavorful, sweet taste and are easier to digest and therefore cause less gas than the other beans. Interestingly, the anasazi bean only has 25% of the gas producing properties of the pinto which falls roughly in the middle of the gas producing scale. Like the other beans, they rehydrate to three times their size but cook in less time than similar beans their size. Anasazi beans can be substituted for pinto or red kidney beans in your favorite dishes. Not just another bean, the anasazi is flavorful, adaptable, and full of nutrition. And eating them gives one a sense of being in touch with the ancient Indians who gave them to us.

[supersprout]

Very informative post dj, have added anasazi to the looong wish list for next year :D

What's the difference between a bush bean and a dwarf bean then?

Every year I have the same convo with my lottie neighbour:
Me: Are those runner beans?
Him: No, they're dwarf beans.
Me: Oh! (Pause) Why have you got stakes in Tony?
Him: They're climbing dwarf beans.

But I know what he means :)

[jennym]

Thanks dj.
And SS I will admit to buying what I thought were climbers in France - I now know that "nain" is French for dwarf.
:)