Recalitrant Pole Bean/ Cherokee Striped Cornfield

11 years ago

Thought I'd start a separate post on this bean, as it easily merits it's own thread. I alluded to this bean in Larry's thread on the Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin.

Dawn wrote:
"George, What bean varieties are making you crazy? With me, it is Insuk's Wang Kong. I got flowers and beans the first year from seeds I got from you at the last spring fling we had at the park in OKC, but not the next year. I bought seeds of it from Remy's seed company this past winter and am going to try again. I will plant half my seeds in spring and save the other half to plant in summer for fall.

On the beans that aren't flowering for you, is there a chance they are day-length sensitive and our day-length is too short? "

Well, Insuk's Wang Kong definitely is not a big producer for me. But it's obvious that it simply can't set pods in our extreme heat. This other bean is different. I received seed for Cherokee Striped Cornfield from Tony West (a.k.a. Blueflint, on GW) back in 2008. He had received the seed from a Cherokee family in eastern Tennessee.

I planted it late that year and it produced gangbusters for me. We absolutely loved this bean! In 2009 I put in a large patch of it, but it didn't even flower until July. Actually, my memory tells me that it didn't produce well in 2009. But my written notes say that it did. In 2010 I planted a 16' cattle panel of Cherokee Striped Cornfield. Those beans only flowered a little at the very end of the season. I only harvested four pods from the entire panel! They grew rampantly. I had not fertilized.

Interestingly, it appears in 2008 this one crossed with our Fowler Bush Bean. In 2009 I planted a small patch of Fowler and one plant grew as a RAMPANT pole bean. The pods were pretty much like Fowler, just a little less tender. I sent some of this seed (it produced a lot of seed) to Jeff Fleming of Seed Savers Exchange, in Michigan. He grew some of it in 2011. He sent me back three samples of F2 seed. All three grew as pole beans. One had seed nearly identical to Fowler. This one was the earliest to produce, coming in at about 100 days in his cool damp climate. The next had purplish/brown seed and came in a bit later. The latest maturing was the third variation, which also tipped me off to the origin of the cross. It had seed pretty much like Cherokee Striped Cornfield, with beige and dark brown stripes. He sent me a sample of about six seeds each. I need to take a picture and record his observations. He did an excellent job. I should also try growing them out. The type with the Fowler type seed at harvest is noticeably larger than the true Fowler Bush Bean seed. The type which was purplish brown at harvest has now oxidized to look more like Fowler than the first. The third variation, with the Cherokee Striped Cornfield markings might be just a tad smaller than the true Cherokee Striped Cornfield seed.

This is an excellent example of crossing in beans and shows some of the possibilities for home plant breeding. Anyway, I should also try to grow Cherokee Striped Cornfield this year. I'm overwhelmed just thinking of all the varieties I have which are getting old and in need of growing out! By the way, when I can dig up our camera, I'll take pictures of the seeds of the F2 generation seed.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin

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Okiedawn OK Zone 7
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
George, All of this is so interesting.

I know that Insuk's Wang Kong doesn't set well in heat, but I keep trying to grow it anyhow. It would be worth growing just for its beauty, especially when in bloom. I do expect it will do better as a fall bean than a spring bean. I'm just hardheaded and want to grow what I want to grow, even if it won't produce well here. I'm planting Scarlet Runner Bean just for the flowers for the hummers. It never sets many pods for me either but it is gorgeous when in bloom.

It is interesting that your Fowler bush bean crossed with the RAMPANT bean. Wouldn't it be great if you could get Fowler's heat and drought-tolerance and high productivity in a rampant pole bean? If you could get a pole bean that would produce well all summer in our heat like Fowler bush bean does, that would be pretty awesome.

I can't help thinking that with Cherokee Striped Cornfield, it has to be the heat or that a shortening daylength triggers blooming or something. I find the heat here impedes pole bean production more than it used to, if that makes any sense. Is that climate change? In the early 2000s through at least 2007, I distinctly remember growing pole beans and harvesting from them in the hot summer months. They might shut down for a while it August, but not for long. You don't forget standing out there in the sweltering heat picking a multitude of beans from the bean teepees. Since 2007? I get some pole beans harvested early from spring blooms, then a huge lull in July and August where the flowers won't form beans, then if I can keep the plants alive through the long hot summer (or if I plant more in late July for fall beans), I'll be picking pole beans in October. I suppose this is one reason I have switched more and more to bush beans. They don't produce well in heat either, but since a lot of them produce earlier than many pole beans, they still produce a good harvest. I just can't help thinking that since 2007 we have had too much heat too early for the pole beans to have a chance to set many beans. The insane heat that used to arrive in July or August seems to arrive earlier....like in June. It seems to shut down the pole beans almost before they start.

Another thing I've noticed? Flat-podded pole beans of the romano bean type will set better for me in heat than regular more rounded snap beans or even cutshort types. Why is that? Is is something in their genetic heritage that allows them to set beans better in extreme heat? I wish I knew. Still, at least Rattlesnake will set beans almost all summer long so at least there's that.

This year I'm trying Tenderstar. (Back to that hardheadness of mine that makes me want to grow beans that don't want to grow here....) It is a commercial variety from Europe that is a cross of a French pole bean and a runner bean, and they list it as P. coccineus, so you know that means that growing it here may not work out well. I hope it flowers and sets beans well here, but I know there's a pretty good chance it won't. Still, in the photos of it, the pods look sort of semi-flat. Maybe they are more rounded than a typical Roman bean, but there is a lot of flatness to them so I am hoping that part of their heritage enables them to produce well here despite the heat.

I'm always overrun with pole beans in October. I just wish they'd produce as well in July and August as they do prior to that (if planted early enough) or after the heat drops in autumn.

The list of bean varieties I'm growing this year is huge. I hope I don't run out of room for them before I get them all planted.

Dawn
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Recalitrant Pole Bean/ Cherokee Striped Cornfield

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Okiedawn OK Zone 7

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