Pinto Bean Quirk

[zazen999]

I found a random blackish Pinto Bean amongst last year's saved beans, so I sowed it much earlier in the season.

It grew as a climber and not a dwarf [all mine prior to this have been dwarfs]....and yesterday the pods had lost their greenness and were a bit flabby; which to me is prime time to start poking around and seeing what we have got.

I got these purply black beans, which when you look close do still have the Pinto flecks but paler flecks not darker ones, and I got one more quirky paler bean with pinto colouring plus the purple dots as well.

I'm happy with these, and will save them and resow next spring to get lots more.

[shirlthegirl43]

Those are pretty

[HayleyB]

I sowed a load of dwarf borlottis and a load of those turned into climbers

[Flummery]

Great. I love this sort of experimentation. Think how many potential new varieties never make it because no-one noticed they were different.

I'm doing a similar thing with an odd bean from a batch of the usually dwarf Soldier I got from HSL. It climed up the cane at the edge of the plot! Its seeds were black - very different from the other 'white with red markings' seeds. It's got a patch of its own this year but only a couple of the resulting seeds are climbers. I shall pursue this line in hopes of a good climbing shelly bean (soldier is usually shelled out for use).

[zazen999]

I'd love to try and get a good crop of this next year Flum.....gonna call it Purple Pinto if it works out.

[bramble]

Hi zazen, have your pinto beans ripened and are you picking them yet.
I got some pods from a few i sowed in the greenhouse but the outdoor ones have'nt ripened yet.

[zazen999]

Only these ones Bramble; the others went in a bit later on. I kept an eye on this one particularly as it was climbing and not a dwarf, so was chuffed to bits when the pods lost their colour yesterday and I could have a peek. I've got 3 pods still left on it so I'm leaving those until they go dry and crispy. I might make a fleece net to make sure they don't open up as I don't want to lose any.

I'm checking all my beans every trip to the lottie in case the lower ones are starting to ripen off. I don't want the beasties to have a bean stew at my expense.

Also; Flum - those Lancs Lad peas you sent me - half of them were purple and half were green when I picked them....the pods that is....and the green peas themselves didn't have that purpley tint to them......has this happened with any of yours this year?

[Flummery]

No - I didn't grow them this year. Ran out of room. However, the people that share my allotment grew some - all theirs were purple. They shouldn't have crossed with anything - I grew them near climbing beans! I wonder if they have reverted or something?

[zazen999]

Possibly......how strange! I will grow some again next year from just the purple ones and see what happens.

[womble]

Just dragging this back up as I have just picked my first pinto beans that you sent me the seeds for.
They are white with light brown spots/streaks, but I had one pod with brown ones with white spots
I'll put up a photo if you're interested.
The whole plant may be like that, I only picked one pod from it I think.

[zazen999]

Just dragging this back up as I have just picked my first pinto beans that you sent me the seeds for.
They are white with light brown spots/streaks, but I had one pod with brown ones with white spots
I'll put up a photo if you're interested.
The whole plant may be like that, I only picked one pod from it I think.

WAHOO!!!!

Excellent. Yes, I'd love a photo. Cheers

That calls for a celebratory coffee......

[womble]

There you go. Did you get any like that?

[zazen999]

They're lovely. Invisible, but lovely

[RedThorn]

Zazen! Norty step! lol good though!

[zazen999]

I'm smoking today eh, Mr Pixie????