I have 4 poles of White Willow Leaf. The plants are lush and beautiful and in bloom. No beans yet at this latitude but it will happen fast when it does.

White Willow Leaf is pretty enough to grow as an ornamental. I wish I knew where I put my camera. Doh!

Jim

I planted 50 seeds of Sieva lima (pole, 60-75 days, from SSE) on 5/28 (no inoculant). Germination was very good, but the first leaves looked miserable with many holes. I thought they would never succeed, but then they took off up the ladder and voilà developed beautifully. Now w/good healthy foliage (hope it lasts), plus many small, one-inch long, thin beans, plus many more flowers. Looks like a heavy yielder with I-don't-know-how-many beans per flower stem plus more flowers developing (terminology needed here).

I hand water but worry how the ice-cold well water might affect them. But what's the alternative..... Came back from a short 10-day trip and everything was bone dry, and nothing set flowers without water. So there, ice water or drought.

Rambling on..... Excuse: my first limas, and they look wonderful, and I love limas....

I always grow two limas, in very widely separated plots (6 miles apart) so that I can save pure seed. Both this year are heirlooms from the Seed Savers Exchange. They are small crops, grown for seed increase; eventually (once I am done with my collecting phase) I'll have enough seed to begin large-scale plantings.

The first is a bush variety, "Cave Dweller Black". The plants are very wispy for a lima... but then, the summer is still young. They have set quite a few pods so far. The seed is solid black (deep red), about the size & thickness of "Sieva".

The second is a pole type, "1880's Butterbean". It hasn't bushed out as much as other pole limas that I have grown, but then, all of my pole beans are behind in development this year. Regardless of its development, it has set a good number of pods so far. The seeds are similar in size to "Sieva" but fatter, mostly maroon, with a white patch on one end near the hilum.

Rodger has inspired me, with his success at producing lima seed within isolation tents.... I may try more than two varieties per year (starting next year) using his techniques.

Fusion, I have grown the white-seeded "Sieva" (a.k.a. Carolina) several times. It is vigorous, early, cold-tolerant - and very high yielding. It is the only lima so far that I can direct-sow with a good chance of success (I start most early in pots). So it comes as no surprise, I suppose, that the red variant of the variety is equally productive. I wonder, is there a difference in flavor?

Sand Hill carries seed for "Carolina Red", so I hope to grow it in the future.

"SandHill carries Carolina Red"

I sent seed to Glenn. I hope to provide him with at least 3 gallons of seed this year. 1.5 gallons of seed are in trays drying right now.

Fusion

Small world, ain't it? Hehehehehe.

Jim

"The second is a pole type, "1880's Butterbean". It hasn't bushed out as much as other pole limas that I have grown, but then, all of my pole beans are behind in development this year."

Zeedman, when you say that pole limas tend to "bush out", do you mean put out a lot of lateral runners, or just put out a lot of leaves? I've never grown limas of any kind until this year so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I have only three total Christmas Pole lima plants, and they've completely taken over one end of the garden. They grew up and out and all around. They've latched onto a tomato cage about two feet away and seem intent on continuing horizontally as well as vertically.

"...do you mean put out a lot of lateral runners, or just put out a lot of leaves?"

Yes, all of the above. ;-)

Both of the limas I mentioned above were initially less rampant than others I've grown, although they took off in late Summer. Of course, with limas, "less" is a relative term, since they are all extremely vigorous. The "1880's Butterbean", after the slow start, eventually filled out nicely. One plant was killed by voles, leaving a 4-foot gap between plants... by the end of the summer, the two neighboring plants had spread into the space, and the gap was hardly visible.

Believe it or not, I space most pole limas 24" apart along a 6-foot trellis... and by the end of the season, the vines have filled the trellis in so densely that I can hardly see through them, even at ground level! One year in San Diego, I even spaced "K.o.G." 36" apart, and they still filled in all but the very bottom of the trellis. If the soil is fertile, you don't need many plants to get a good harvest.

Last year, the "1880's Butterbean" supplied me with about 30-40 pints of shellies, and several pounds of dried beans, from about a dozen plants.

I grew "Christmas" in the 90's (when I still lived in California) along with "K.o.G". For me, "Christmas" was less rampant, with far fewer & shorter lateral runners than "K.o.G.". The majority of the growth was vertical.

By the way, the slow-start phenomenon that I mentioned last year extended to all of my pole beans - snaps, limas, yardlongs, and winged beans. It calls into question all my 2007 observations on yield & vigor. Even my sweet corn was less vigorous than usual. I never could figure out whether it was cooler temps, the below-normal rainfall (I irrigate) or some other cause. I suspect that the low rainfall allowed my pH to creep up, since my area has limestone bedrock. I'm curious to see how some of the same bean varieties will perform for me this year.

Just wondering... did others have similar experiences with pole beans last year?

"Believe it or not, I space most pole limas 24" apart along a 6-foot trellis... and by the end of the season, the vines have filled the trellis in so densely that I can hardly see through them, even at ground level!"
Wow. Ok, I will definitely keep that in mind for next time! My three plants are about about a foot apart from each other. They would have been closer if something hadn't happened to the other seeds I planted. The planting guide for my area says Limas can be planted again in September, and I'll have more space then.

"Just wondering... did others have similar experiences with pole beans last year?"

I think mine were a little slow last year, but I think it's because I have to plant so early while we're still having cool spells and not as much sunlight.

Wide spacing surprises me too. I planted on the same close spacing I use for all beans. Come to think of it though, my pole limas were a rampant, dense, tangled mess by the time they ready to harvest. I'll try wider spacing next time.

Mine set pods late (see post above), later than expected actually. But this wasn't too surprising because limas are notorious for being late here. I wouldn't expect it to be different next time.

Jim

Wide spacing is required to get a good crop from pole lima beans down here. I plant 18 inches between hills with 2 or 3 seed per hill. By the time they reach the top of the trellis, they have matted side to side and end to end.

I'm growing J. Potts Lima this year. It is a cream and brown bicolor sieva type. So far, it does not appear to be as vigorous as Carolina Red.

Carolina Red was phenomenal last year. I got a total of about 6 gallons of dried seed and 10 gallons of green mature beans to eat and still had gallons of beans on the plants that went to waste. I found that I could pick the mature dried pods into a 5 gallon bucket, then trample them with my foot in the bucket and the seed would pop out. I could then throw the empty husks out of the bucket. It was the easiest time I've ever had shelling beans. The only requirement is that the pods must be completely dry. I DID use a clean shoe just in case anybody wonders.

DarJones