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Post by brownrexx on Aug 11, 2018 8:29:27 GMT -5
Are you interested in growing dry beans but are not quite sure how to do it? I am not an expert but I do grow quite a few dry beans. About 4 years ago I saw a thread on iDig called "Show me your Dry Beans" and I was fascinated with all of the beautiful colors and shapes that people were growing. I decided to give it a try and have been growing them ever since. My goal the first year I grew them was to have as many pretty colors as I could so that I could make some pretty bags of mixed beans for soup and give them as Christmas gifts to my foodie friends. Here is what I grew and the bags that I made up with them. DSC00504 by Brownrexx, on Flickr DSC00621 by Brownrexx, on Flickr Since then I discovered that most beans turn brown when cooked so now I grow for growth habits, size of beans and flavor. There are hundreds of varieties of dry beans so first you should decide if you want to grow pole beans, bush beans, semi determinate beans or a few other types. You will plant the beans when the soil is warm and then just let them grow all season. Eventually the plants will start to turn brown and the pods will become brown and dry. I pick them when the pods feel crispy. Some people prefer to pull the entire plant and hang it upside down in a garage or shed but I pick the beans right in the garden as they look dry. There are always some that are still green so I allow them to finish maturing on the plant. I store my dry pods in a large grocery paper bag until I feel like shelling them later. This is the beautiful part. There is no rush or pressure to get them shelled. They are already dry after all. I have never seen a bean weevil but some areas have them so just to be safe I put my shelled beans in the freezer in sealed containers for 4 days to kill an possible (microscopic) eggs. After that I store them in my pantry and they are good for years although I try to use them within a year or two. Some dry beans in stores can be up to 10 years old! If you have never grown beans for drying, I encourage you to try them. They are easy to grow and harvest and home grown beans are so much better tasting and healthier than canned beans. There are lots of recipes posted here on the Forum.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Aug 11, 2018 9:16:54 GMT -5
Love this!
The closest I've come to dried beans is Scarlet Runner beans. When I let the pods dry completely on the vine, I lose a lot of beans because the pods shatter or break open and the beans end up in the dirt. So I tend to pick them when the pods are in the process of drying, but not totally so yet. So then I pick this pile of bean pods and lay them out in a couple of cardboard boxes. I learned I have to stir them up every once in a while after having some of them get moldy on me.
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 11, 2018 9:23:21 GMT -5
ladymarmalade , I sometimes lay my bean pods out on cookie sheets to make sure that they are dry. The beans from Scarlet Runner's are a lot bigger than the ones that I grow so they would contain more moisture. If you look at the first picture that I attached, you will see Scarlet Runner beans in the upper right. I have never had a mold problem except for one time when I packaged some beans that must not have been totally dry and they got moldy in the storage container. After harvesting, I just put my dry bean pods in my guest bedroom with the door shut and let them sit for a couple of weeks before shelling to make sure that they are totally dry. I discovered early on not to try keeping them on the dining room table or any other place in the main house for final drying because apparently they make GREAT cat toys! Here is my harvest from 2017. This year I am growing Rio Zape, Domingo Rojo, Pinquito, Yellow Eye, New Mexico Bolita and an un-named variety that is half red and half white and was sent to me by our own hairymooseknuckles. DSC02073 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 11, 2018 12:19:14 GMT -5
I wish that I could grow beans to dry, considering how many I cook with, but I just don't have the space.
I remember seeing a chart years ago with the approximate yield per acre of dried beans, and was amazed at how much more some of the small ones, like lentils, produced. I figured that this is why they became the main legumes grown in India.
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 11, 2018 14:49:25 GMT -5
pepperhead212 , check out my "bean tower" that I bought from Gardener's Supply a couple of years ago. You could grow enough pole bean plants on one of these to give you 2 lbs of beans and they don't take up much room. It is about 2 feet square at the bottom.
20180730_145929 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by bestofour on Aug 11, 2018 22:39:34 GMT -5
This is great. I need to get some different types of dry beans at the farmers market and taste them. I know I don’t like red or black beans but I do like pintos, lentils, and black eyed peas which may be a pea rather than a bean.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 12, 2018 1:15:53 GMT -5
I guess that's the equivalent of 8' of trellis, brownrexx, though it seems they would be very backed together. I can barely find them on the flat trellis, but then, if they are being left to dry, I wouldn't have to be checking them every day!
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 12, 2018 7:39:21 GMT -5
though it seems they would be very backed together. I can barely find them on the flat trellis, but then, if they are being left to dry, I wouldn't have to be checking them every day! You're right, I can only see the beans that are hanging on the outside but there are LOTS more that I can't even see. The good thing about growing pole beans for drying is that the plants will start to die and lose their leaves before you pick the beans. The leaves start falling off and then Voila! There are the beans!
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Post by farmerjack41 on Aug 12, 2018 9:26:18 GMT -5
Brownrexx. When you get done with the bean harvest, can snap a picture of your bean tower? Might be something to easily duplicate.
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Post by bestofour on Aug 12, 2018 13:50:49 GMT -5
So this isn’t like growing green bean where I pick daily?
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Aug 12, 2018 14:13:04 GMT -5
So this isn’t like growing green bean where I pick daily? No. When you eat the hull, the bean hasn't formed yet. You will leave the hull on the vine till it dries. Or if you are expecting rain, you can pick if it's starting to get limp as long as the bean has formed you can set it aside to dry. Then you shell & eat. lets see if I can give you a good example: Have you ever grown cowpeas? you leave the hull on the vine till the pea has formed (Shelly stage) You also pick a few immature pods as snaps. Then for dry stage you leave till Pod is more or less dry the snaps would be like green beans. just to confuse you more. Peas & beans have multi-stage. snaps, Shelly, dried. i like all three stages.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Aug 12, 2018 14:57:14 GMT -5
The only dry beans that I've grown were Vermont Cranberry and Black Turtle. I think that I would need more land in order to grow them regularly. The Vermont Cranberry made a very good shelly bean though, I much preferred it to limas. May be someday again.
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 12, 2018 17:45:20 GMT -5
So this isn’t like growing green bean where I pick daily? No, you pretty much pick them all at once unless there are lots of dry pods and the plant is still growing and flowering. If my plants have lots of pods that have not turned brown yet, I sometimes pick the brown ones and let the other keep developing. Some varieties that I have grown turn brown and lose most of their leaves when the bean pods are ready to pick. I will take some pictures as the dry bean season nears its end.
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 13, 2018 15:12:44 GMT -5
My Domingo Rojo plants have started to turn yellow and die and as you can see the bean pods are no longer green. They are not nearly ready to pick yet as they are still very moist but you can see that they are starting to change color and become more visible as the plants become less green and are starting to drop their leaves. When the pods are ready they will be totally dark tan and feel papery and hard. You can see my Pinquito bean plants in the background. They are still bright green and just put out their first flower today. 20180813_143747 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by Gianna on Aug 13, 2018 18:33:17 GMT -5
I don't grow dry beans, but have tried. Sort of. Years ago I tried to grow the black beans that you buy at the grocery. The plants grew OK, but the beans themselves were smaller and full of fiber. Not worth it. Most likely, they were water stressed.
In the years since, I've acquired a number of different bean seeds for growing, but have never done it. I think they are very, very pretty, but most of them turning 'cooked bean' color made it seem less worth-while. Maybe next year.
A few years ago, I planted a number of different snap beans to try. Ended up with my old reliable as favorite.
Right now the only beans I have growing are bush Romano. Too windy here for vines. At the moment I have 4 large pots of Romano that went unharvested and are now drying. I'll use those as fresh seed for next year's crops. I haven't bought new Romano seed for 25? years. I employ no selection process - if it sets a seed, I'll plant it. They do just fine. In years past I've collected enough Romano seeds to cook. Not bad, but nothing special.
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Post by bestofour on Aug 13, 2018 21:12:17 GMT -5
I've never grown dried beans. I planted the limas I got as a door prize but they vined all over the place and I ended up pulling them up because I wasn't prepared for that. My used to be inlaws grow limas but I remember shelling them when the pods were green. I think they said they had to be pulled so they would flower again. Did I make that up?
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 14, 2018 7:59:25 GMT -5
No bestofour, you did not make that up. Lima beans are picked before they have matured to the dry bean stage and they are eaten when they are nice and tender. If you let them go until the beans are hard and dry the plants will stop flowering because they have "gone to seed". All plants do this which is why you keep your veggies picked so that the plants keep producing. Sorry to hear about your vining limas. I am growing the bush type and they have tons of flowers right now and a lot of small pods. Lima beans are like peas, you have to judge by looking at the outside and feeling the pods to see when it is the right time to pick them. The pods are also somewhat hard to open but we really like small tender lima beans mixed with our fresh corn and sauteed in butter and then having herbs added. We don't grow a lot of limas, just 2 short rows but it's a nice treat for something different to eat and you wouldn't believe how the big bumble bees like those little flowers.
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Post by paquebot on Aug 14, 2018 13:51:26 GMT -5
Won't hear of me growing many dry beans for awhile. I have at least 10 gallon jars full plus probably that many half-gallos. Those are all mixed beans, Then probably at least 5 gallons total of individual varieties. Our problem is that we don't eat as much of them as we should.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by horsea on Aug 14, 2018 14:01:16 GMT -5
After that I store them in my pantry and they are good for years although I try to use them within a year or two. I find that dry beans that are freshly harvested (i.e., less than 6 months ago) cook faster and taste nicer. Way, way better than beans that have been sitting around for years.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2018 16:12:07 GMT -5
I saved some old "aluminum" screens and frames from a riend's re modeling project and use them to dry or cure things from garlic bulbs to beans. Handy and 1 less thing in the dump, plus stacking them together when not in use saves space, too.
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 16, 2018 17:35:15 GMT -5
Today I noticed that quite a few pods on my Domingo Rojo bean plants had become brown and crispy feeling so I picked them. This is only about 1/4 of the pods on the plants. You can see that other pods still look greenish and they feel moist. I left the rest on the plants until they become crispy. 20180816_163939 by Brownrexx, on Flickr After picking the pods I just lay them loosely in a shallow box indoors to become good and dry. There is no need to shell them right away. They can stay in their pods until I feel like shelling them. It could be a month or more until I get around to it. 20180816_171034 by Brownrexx, on Flickr Here is what the beans look like. They are a smallish red bean that is used in Caribbean red beans and rice. 20180816_182239 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by octave1 on Aug 16, 2018 19:28:02 GMT -5
Lovely beans.
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Post by bestofour on Aug 16, 2018 19:54:52 GMT -5
This is great. Thank you. I’m going to try growing beans next year. Hope this thread will still be here.
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 21, 2018 7:56:07 GMT -5
Brownrexx. When you get done with the bean harvest, can snap a picture of your bean tower? Might be something to easily duplicate.
Here's a pic of an empty bean tower. I had used this one for my cucumbers and I just pulled the plants yesterday.
In the lower right of the pic you can see how the Domingo Rojo bean plants look as the plants start dying and the pods are drying on the plant. I like to pick the pods as they are ready and I have already done 2 pickings. They are a good producer.
20180820_132506 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by farmerjack41 on Aug 21, 2018 9:55:16 GMT -5
Thanks for the photo. Looks taller than I imagined it would be. Like the size of the opening.
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 21, 2018 9:58:58 GMT -5
farmerjack41 , I put in some metal stakes for extra support this year because when they get heavy with the bean vines, I have had them topple over in the wind.
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Post by farmerjack41 on Aug 21, 2018 10:02:07 GMT -5
I see that. I have had to add the stakes to my homemade tomato cages also. They are probably only a couple feet tall, but will tip over easy.
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Post by aftermidnight on Aug 21, 2018 10:08:49 GMT -5
Great thread, I grow mostly pole beans because of lack of space. I grow some on netting some on poles. My pole of choice is a 10' length of conduit topped with a cork, nail hammered in. You can hang as many strings of jute as you want from this, the most I have hung 10, the least 4. Poles are easy to store and the corks I keep in a container. Hubby being a wood turner made a couple of fancy tops but I didn't think he'd appreciate having to make 30 plus so I came up with the cork idea.
Hubby did turn the corks down a bit so they would fit in the conduit.
Here's a pole with 8 strings of Mr. Tung's beans.
If you have a variety that is late and you are worried about being able to collect seed, with this collar screwed on the top you can put an umbrella over it, the big one. The underside has a thumbscrew to hold this on the pole.
And there you go....
If in a windy area you would need to do something to anchor the umbrella down or it'll go flying. I popped it on when the fall rains hit, kept the vines and beans dry, still had good air circulation.
Annette
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 23, 2018 19:17:37 GMT -5
Here are the Domingo Rojo beans from post #20 after we shelled them. They are such pretty beans and there are probably 3 times as many as we shelled still on the plants drying. 20180823_195622 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 26, 2018 18:23:32 GMT -5
Today I noticed that my Yellow Eye beans had some dry and crispy pods so I picked them. The plants are not completely dead yet and there are tons of green and slightly brown but still pliable pods still on the plants. I only pick the brown pods that are hard and crispy.
I have never grown these before so I shelled them right away just to see what they looked like. Aren't they pretty?
20180826_190255 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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