French Bean Cross

[veggiechicken]

Really??????????? Did I ever tell you that I'm psychic?

[chris]

Hopefully not yet Only just got back on my feet after #2! heh.

Nah, dunno yet - we'll see, hey!

[VirginVegGrower]

Chris-Cross TMI

[Two_Sheds]

Has anyone grown out a cross successfully before?

I got some lovely blackish ones out of Tiger Eye a few years ago, so I replanted them the next year hoping to have lots of Black Tigers ... sadly, none ... they all turned out as the normal Tiger Eye (brown with black stripes)

[Dusty Rhodes]

Sooo..

I seem to have a cross in 1 bean, from a pod where the rest were alright (looks wise). I've kept this pod separate, as well as the rest of the pods from this batch I've picked (as I'm growing these beans solely for seed to re-plant next year + for the seed circle).

It's a Blue & White x Hewitt Cross (No one around me grows fruit and veg, and I'm growing these two varieties in separate gardens)- the markings are of Hewitt, but purple in colour, which looks quite funky.

Has anyone grown out a cross successfully before? How many generations are you looking at for a stable strain?

Quite tempted to plant this sole bean to give it a go.. looks like it's pretty but for all I know it might taste horrible

I have even thought of growing it as a house plant over winter to see if I can get it to flower in a south facing dining room.

Sometimes the correct looking beans carry the genetics of the errant cross and it will show up in the next generation(growout)

Bumblebees can rip open a french bean flower and have at it, so crosses can't always be avoided. Bagging blossoms could help to keep bees out.

I would suggest going at least to F3 for a higher degree of stabilization, but F6 really guarantees it's truly stabilized. Obviously, the more generations in the growout, the more stabilized it will be.

[chris]

I got some lovely blackish ones out of Tiger Eye a few years ago, so I replanted them the next year hoping to have lots of Black Tigers ... sadly, none ... they all turned out as the normal Tiger Eye (brown with black stripes)

Ahh! I think that might be the beans I have, that I found in a pocket of some shorts stuffed in a box out of the way when we started work on the house

Sometimes the correct looking beans carry the genetics of the errant cross and it will show up in the next generation(growout)

Bumblebees can rip open a french bean flower and have at it, so crosses can't always be avoided. Bagging blossoms could help to keep bees out.

I would suggest going at least to F3 for a higher degree of stabilization, but F6 really guarantees it's truly stabilized. Obviously, the more generations in the growout, the more stabilized it will be.

Thanks Dusty, I'm going to grow these in isolation to see how they turn out - I'll report back in er... 1, 3 and 6 years time