Pole limas - 10-20 lbs per plant?
anney
14 years ago
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jimster
14 years agofarmerdilla
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Sieva (Carolina) lima's
Comments (28)Rodger, I've got to make it down there one of these years! Both to swap seed, and to see in person some of the people I've met on GW. It should make for pleasant conversation - as in the _spoken_ word! My source for the Hopi Pole said to continuously select for the darker seeds, or it would eventually revert to the orange. I'm assuming orange with red speckles is the dominant form. The flavor is quite good, but rather hard to describe. They cook up tender, and keep much of their dark coloration. The flavor is not especially sweet, but very rich, with an elusive flavor I can't quite pin down (kind of like they were cooked in green-bean water). Smooth-textured, and very pleasant. Rodger, you have so much more "latitude" (pun intended) in your lima selection. While I have had real success with only Sieva & some bush baby limas direct-seeded, all is not lost... started in pots, many smaller limas will mature for me, at least enough to save seed. I actually threw a 30-foot tarp over "Hopi" twice as frost threatened... with good results....See MoreIs it time for limas yet?
Comments (9)I'm in Zone 7 here in the Atlanta area as well. I planted my Big Mama pole limas around the first of May. It has been cooler than normal here as well, but after about 2 weeks, I got 100% germination. I also used the Burpee Bean Booster to help with nitrogen producing bacteria in the soil, but I don't think that affects germination. I'm still a newbie gardener, but thought you might appreciate hearing from someone in a similar zone. My limas are all up, the first set of leaves has quadrupled in size and they are all pushing up the tendrils with the first of the true leaves. They are about 8" high, I think. I'm very excited with their rapid growth in comparison to my squashes which have been quite sluggish - due to the cooler weather I think....See MoreA few Lima questions
Comments (5)The first question on pollination. Beans/limas are self fertile and require no external pollination. Common beans do not pollinate well in extreme heat or high night time temps or stress. Limas and southern peas on the other hand pollinate very well in the high heat and high night temps but can still abort blossoms if stressed due to drought lack of nutrients or over crowding. The pole limas need a lot of room and do not compete well when crowded. Common pole beans will have the same issues were as southern peas and bush type bean/limas are not as affected by this. John Coykendal of Knoxville Tenn who is the farm manager for Blackberry farms and probably the best resource for limas( he is known as the Butter Bean man and has a collection of over a 100 varieties of limas). He suggest never planting pole limas closer than 3ft apart and no more than 2 plants in a hole. If you look at your vines you will see the lima starts out with one main leader then in between each leaf node another vine comes out, very quickely there is a mass of vines. if plants are too close ie more than 2 plant every 3ft apart there is way too much vine and competetion and the plants become stressed and abort blooms. If I had a 5ft long trelless I would plant two hills with 2 plant each evenly spaced on the trelliss and no more. I plant 2rows 2ft apart with hills of 2 beans per hill every 3ft alternating from one row to the next ie one hill on left row go down three feet plant one hill on right row etc. This gives me about 125ft of beans and I produce 2crops here in SC when planted first of May. First crop is late July secound crop is in September and some years maybe a third crop late Oct early Nov. I will get 2-4 bushels on first crop and6-8 bushels on secound crop. a bushel of limas will produce about one gallon of seed when well filled out. So to break this down 40 hills average 10 bushels or about 4 hills per bushel. There is 4 pecks per bushel and 4qts fresh shelled beans per bushel so about 2 hills will give 2 pecks of pods or a 2qt of seed. A meal for a family of 4 is a qt of beans. So probably two meals in a season. The pods will take about 3-4weeks to ripen so need to keep an I on them. The best way is like you have done let the sun shine thru and determine seed size then gage fullness by feeling the pod. It takes practice and I have picked limas my whole life and I still gage each plant while picking by opening a pod to verify fullness as I am picking. A good rule of thumb is when the first pods start to turn yellow the majority are ready to pick. Lastly be patient the pods will fill out it takes time but be vigilant they will ripen when they are ready and not when you are so when see the first yellow pod it is time to pick. On fertilzer too much nitrogen gives too much vine and no pods. On water use it if you have it.Rodger...See More2/20/16: To your mom, best products & life's tips & plants & recipes
Comments (45)There's a side-effect of Brewer's yeast: selenium-overdose, so cut back when you see the below signs of selenium-overdose, like garlic-breadth, below is from Livestrong.com: Hair, Nail, Teeth and Skin Changes Common early symptoms of selenium toxicity and poisoning involve the hair and nail beds of the hands and feet. Excessive selenium causes brittle hair, hair loss, deformed nails, brittle nails, sloughing off of nails, tooth discoloration, tooth decay and mottled or discolored skin. Jess: If you take Solgar probiotic and Brewer's Yeast together, the Brewer's Yeast has Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is a relative of Saccharomyces boulardii yeast (Florastor probiotics). Any yeast/fungus will wipe out BOTH beneficial bacteria and bad bacteria. Antibiotic penicillin is made from a yeast, or fungus. I once asked the biggest company in probiotics (Hyperbiotics) why don't they put Saccharomyces boulardii into their 15-bacteria-strains. They say that yeast will contaminate and wipe out the 15 good bacteria-strains. I STOP TAKING BREWER'S YEAST today for that reason, and for the research I did in the thread, "To your Mom", where I learned that Brewer's yeast kills both the bad bacteria like E. Coli, Salmonella, plus the good bacteria. Also I took only 1/2 tablespoon per day, but its high selenium made my fingernail chipped, plus I lost more hair. My hair is very thick, but it's annoying to see hair in the family's dinner. Nothing is wrong with Solgar, never see a bad review for that probiotics, and both I and my kid are taking Solgar-multidophilus for the past 2 weeks, zero gas nor tummy upset, UNTIL I took Brewer's yeast for the past 4 days. Then I got tummy-ache. Lots of people complain of tummy ache with Brewer's yeast on Amazon reviews. Four days of Brewer's yeast is like being on antibiotics again, since it wiped out the good bacteria that helped me to digest milk & cheese. So I have to take L. Acidophilus again just to digest dairy. I see brewer's yeast being useful only few days per week to supply B-vitamins & chromium .. then take a probiotics (good-bacteria like Solgar) at least 10 hours apart from brewer's yeast. That's what I did with antibiotics (which is a yeast/fungus): take it at breakfast & then at 4 pm, and wait for 7 hours before I took probiotics (good bacteria) before bed-time, to help digest my dinner. At the end when antibiotics Doxycycline tortured me with gas & upset tummy, I had to take probiotics (good bacteria) with antibiotics but I spaced them apart, with at least 7 hours gap. Here's from U. of Maryland Medical center: http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/brewers-yeast Side effects from brewer's yeast: gas. People who have frequent yeast infections or who are allergic to yeast should avoid brewer's yeast. From WebMD: People who are allergic or sensitive to yeast might experience itching and swelling. Crohn’s disease: Brewer's yeast can make Crohn's disease worse. Don’t use brewer’s yeast if you have Crohn’s disease....See Moreanney
14 years agofarmerdilla
14 years agojimster
14 years agozeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
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