Climbing beans

[roitelet]

This year I grew some Borlotti beans from saved seed but one of them was different.

The Borlottis were dwarf but one of them climbed and the pods were different. Green with blackish streaks and the beans inside were black. They were more like French beans than the flatter Borlottis.

Anyone got any ideas what they are? Are they worth growing again?

[Chippy Minton]

Could be a hybrid if you saved the seed from last year and there were other beans around? Also if the variety you grew was an F1 it could be reverting? Or this year it could be the weather

[roitelet]

They weren't F1s and the only other beans I grew were climbing French. Interesting!!

[happyhumph]

Was it tasty? If so, try it, you never know....

[roitelet]

I was growing them for dried beans so haven't tried them. Might just grow them on next year.

[Jay-ell]

Borlotti beans are the same species as french beans so will cross with them occasionally. Although they are self pollinating they can still be polinated by other beans - I'm not sure what the safe distance is for seed saving but they could have been polinated by plants in your plot, next door or from down the street.

[roitelet]

It is strange that there is only one plant out of about seventy. Anyway there aren't many beans so I will grow them on next year and see what happens. Who knows maybe a new variety!!!!!

[Jay-ell]

That shows only one of the beans you planted had the genes - you may have eaten more. If could be that only one pod was cross polinated.

Have a read of Gregory Mendel and his pioneering work on genetic using peas.

If you sow the beans from this one, some will be tall and some will be short. Some may have black beans, some not, etc. You have to kull out the ones you don't want to eventually get a stable inbred variety.

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/...l-and-his-peas