THATS 2 2/3 lb per ft. Thats a lot of beans. I didnt weigh mine but this year they just buried me. The cool weather made them tender, delicious and prolific.

You have a nice setup, and I have read & reread most of your posts. Looking at possible doing the same (only smaller!) up here.

Joe

Sorry to threadjack, but I'm curious about the weather you're growing the beans in. I keep reading that they're warm weather crops, but then I've also read that people have trouble with them in the hot weather, and that they do well in cool weather, so at this point, I'm thoroughly confused!

spaghetina- beans are not a "cool weather" crop like say peas. A cool july is different than a cool may. Most veggies stress under high heat. Our temps have been in the 70's and low 80's. well, untill this weekend then its going to hit 94 and 98 with just appalling humidity. ugh

I'm not surprised you are having a good yield from Contender. It is always a heavy bearer for me, and this year is no exception. I had to be gone for a week and my neighbor let them get too dry, now they are getting spider mites, and we still have beans to pick every 2 days. Try some Derby next year, they are heavy bearers also.

I planted Jade beans this year that produced just as heavy as Contender to begin with but kept going well beyond when the Contender and Top Crop were ready to be tilled under. I would guesstimate that the Jade produced 2-3 times what any of the other varieties in the garden produced this year. I planted 2, 25' rows of Jade and 1, 25' row of top crop for my first planting, of those 3 rows I canned 60 quarts of beans in addition to all those that we ate and gave away. Very good year for green beans.

jrslick - 2+ lbs per row foot is amazing!

I'm growing Triumph de Farcy filet beans (bush) and have 2 10' rows. I've picked 10 lbs of beans in the first picking and a half and I thought I was having a banner year!

jrslick wrote: "I picked 60 pounds off 160 row feet."

That's ALOT of beans and sound like a great harvest but it's not the 2+ pounds per row foot some are mentioning. It's 0.375 pounds per row foot which is 6 ounces per row foot. Three feet of row would give you a little over 1 pound of beans. Or did I miss something?

I sure would not want to freeze or can 60 pounds of beans all at once either! Hope they sold well for you and for a good price. I certainly don't envy you the 2 hours of bent over picking. If it takes me longer than 15 minutes to pick bush beans I figure I planted way too many :) Does that mean I'm getting old?

2 lbs per foot in not that big a deal.

While I disagree with compleat about 2 lbs/foot being a big deal (I think that's a LOT of beans, especially for one picking of bush beans), I agree with naturegirl, the math is off.

Pounds per foot = lbs/ft = 60/160 = .38
(my calculator rounds the #)
Sorry if restating the problem seems redundant in the line above but that's how I always remember which number is the divisor.

I planted some Contender this year and so far they are shaping up to be a repeat. The (raw) flavor is better than the Landreth planted next to them and the beans are quite big without the seeds getting large.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

rofl thats what I get for doing the math in my head at work. Had it backwards. Maybe jr can tutor me on his 1 day off in the summer lol

Yes that is .38 pounds per foot. Being the math teacher I am, that is a common mistake I see all the time!

Spaghetina: It is funny you ask about my weather. It has been strange! June was like July and July more like June. August has just been HOT!

I think I lucked out and just planted them at the right time. It was cool, night temps in the 50's and 60's and highs in the 80's for about 2-3 weeks.

Now it is 102 and a 30 mph south wind for 3 days! Everything is drying out. Pouring water to everything. I hope it rains tonight!

Jay

I just ripped out my first patch of bush beans. Started them 2009-04-24 (Our april here in germany was like a may - very warm, so I risked the late frosts. 0.5°C :-) - very close call. From mid may to mid july weather was very cold and very wet, so it took ages for my beans).

Type: Golden Teepee with a very few Berggold to fill the patch. Patch size 1.2 x 3.6 m (4 x 12 ft). Sown in 3 rows (and not tufts).

Yield: 12.8 kg (28.2 lbs). Divided by the 36 ft of rows that's almost exactly 3/4 lb per ft of row. Or 3 kg per m^2.
I read some pdf where they tested commercial varieties and got around 2.5 kg per m^2 as max yields. So >2 lbs on a ft of bush bean row is AMAZING - hats off!

Sad your wife wouldn't can them.. I figure why bother to grow them if your not going to eat them. The bad thing about beans is the snapping, I learned along time ago to not stand over a sink to do that, I now sit if front of the tv and sanp away!