I'll have to check with Jim Myers. I have one line from him that is fairly good.

"I'd love to try and grow a few before my time is up LOL."

My sentiments exactly... and the key word is "available". Supposedly, several lines were developed, but their release has been held up by legal issues. They are as tightly controlled as GMOs, and those who have grown them are not allowed to share seed. I question whether even "day neutral" Nuna beans might succeed in my climate, but it sure would be nice to try.

zeedman, the beans I have grown have various issues. Three of the four lines I was sent were seriously unadapted to my climate. One line is reasonably well adapted but has several flaws. The plants tend to attach to the ground at a single point with roots radiating outward into the soil. This leaves the bush plants susceptible to blow over in a strong wind. I hill the plants up kind of like corn to prevent this. The beans decay easily if allowed to touch the ground. Production is mediocre at best with about a pound of dry seed from 35 feet of row.

Hmmm, that was weird, I hit submit and my response disappeared into thin air. Try one more time it went something like this...

It looks like these are a real challenge to grow, still I would like to give it a try someday. I had some success with that old bean seed I was given from Ecuador, they turned out to be pole beans. Some must have been day length sensitive as they didn't flower until quite late but I did manage a few dry seed from them too. My best guess as they were used as a dry bean as the young pods were quite fibrous. They did produce some colorful seed tho. It was a fun project.

"zeedman, the beans I have grown have various issues. Three of the four lines I was sent were seriously unadapted to my climate."

Which makes me wonder all the more whether they would succeed here. Some of the beans that do really well for me have done poorly in the South, and vice versa... who knows, the Nunas may like my cool Wisconsin summers. The OSU Nuna cultivars were developed at a latitude fairly close to mine, so chances are that the biggest remaining hurdle might be the DTM vs. the length of my growing season. I've tried to contact Jim Myers regarding the possibility of doing a trial here, but received no reply. Fusion, do you see any hope on the horizon for these being released to the public?

Annette, please google Jim Myers OSU and find his phone and email address. Send him an email requesting some of his Nuna beans. This is very limited, he will let a few folks get seed to grow. He is expecting you to contact him.

Thanks Darrel, I sent him an email, now I'm sitting here with fingers crossed :).

Annette

Dar, I sent "you" an email, did you get it?

Annette

Annette, I sent these a few days ago. Please let me know when you receive them.

Will do, most things take 10 days to two weeks, these are bush beans? Already planting beans here, we're having a decent spring for a change.

Annette

Dar, your package arrived in the mail today, will plant this afternoon. In my excitement I forgot to say thank you so much, you just made my day :).

Annette

Dar, are these pole or bush varieties? I'm ready to plant them out two plants to a tub and I need to know if they need something to climb on. The numbered ones are doing great, beautiful strong healthy plants, the third I'm having trouble with, only had one germinate so far, very weak but I'm nursing it along encased in a copper mesh fortress on a heat mat LOL. I keep trying a few more different ways but so far just the one.

Annette

The two that germinated are bush. I don't know for sure about the commercial line.

Dar, could they be a twining bush? The two plants in one tub are 42" up a bamboo pole and the two plants in the other tub are 33" up their pole. The commercial variety, finally I got 3 to germinate, very weak growth but they are growing, right now they're in 4" pots when the roots have filled the pots I'll put those in a tub too and give them something to climb on just in case :).

Annette, they are typical of a bush variety crossed to a pole Nuna. They make short runners about 3 feet long that terminate in flower clusters. This is still bush growth habit, but it is a bit unruly compared to most bush varieties.

My nuna bean plants are suffering severely from the hot dry weather. I don't know yet how they will turn out, but if we don't get some rain, I will be lucky to get my seed back.

Dar we were looking at the weather map on TV the other night, a good part of the States is much, much, hotter then the usual, I pray you all get some rain. Our June has given us a few unusually hot days but right now we are back to cooler days and rain, our typical June weather. Last summer we had days that were hotter than anything in recorded history, in over 100 years.

Not knowing what to expect when I planted the Nunas you sent me I only planted 2 of the numbered varieties you sent and I have to admit it took a lot of tries to get any of the commercial variety to germinate, perseverance paid off I finally have 3 plants in a 5 gallon tub, I can add a bamboo pole for them to climb on if needed. All are planted in tubs so they could be moved to the greenhouse if needed to finish off. By the way the leaves on the commercial variety are much smaller then the other two. Once I see how they develop and grow here I'll not be such a mother hen about the whole deal :), Right now the tubs are encased in copper mesh, this is if not the slug, it certainly is the snail capital of the world. I could give Floral a run for the money on who has the most LOL.

Annette

Update, the two tubs with two plants each in of the numbered varieties have flowers forming, the plants in one tub have climbed to 56 inches, the plants in the other tub 48 inches both have terminal flower buds now. They definitely need something to climb on in my climate. The seed for these two varieties were started April 30th.

The tub with the commercial variety has 3 plants in it, they have smaller leaves and are growing at a slower rate, I finally got 3 seeds to germinate, the seed was started May 12th. No sign of them wanting to climb yet but the plants still look healthy. So far so good, it looks like I can grow these here :).

Annette

Darrel, the commercial variety is definitely a bush bean, the last few days the plants have really perked up and are starting to flower. The two numbered varieties have beans forming so it looks like I'll get dried seed from all three of these varieties.

How are yours doing you mentioned high heat was doing a number on them, I won't have that much seed from my token growing but will send some back if needed.

So far we are having a much cooler summer than last year, enough rain that I don't have to drag the hose around :), if this keeps up the few tomato plants I planted won't be producing until much later than last year.

Annette

I'll have seed from all that I planted, but they are much smaller than the seed I sent. This is typical of a cooler climate adapted bean brought into the hot humid southeast.

I also planted Giant Red Tarka which Luther sent as seed in 2014. Only 2 seed germinated out of about 100 planted. I will have plenty of seed for next year. I was kind of hoping Giant Red Tarka would be crossed with the Nuna lines given that it is much better adapted to my climate.

Harvested the first Nuna popping beans from C049957 on the 11th. more to come as the pods dry down. As you can see some of the seed is bigger than others, but not too bad seeing I'm growing them in a tub.

C049956 is producing the same amount of pods but it looks like they are about a week behind this one.

The 3 plant tub of the commercial bush variety is still flowering and producing pods but none of them are at the drying down stage yet. I'll post more pics when I have them.

Annette

Glad to read of your success, Annette. Those seeds are not as round as I would have expected... the nunas that were sent to me in two trades (and which proved to be short-day sensitive) were much wider in relation to their length. Perhaps breeding nunas with Northern-adapted cultivars gave them more of a kidney shape. I hope you harvest enough to report on their popping ability.

As promised, a picture of the other numbered variety C049956, two pictures one taken with a flash, not a great pic but is more true to the color of these numbered varieties.

When handling, the seed coat itself feels quite hard and silky to the touch.

Annette

A picture some of the seed collected from the commercial variety, I had a devil of a time getting any to germinate but finally ended up with three plants, I wonder if these ones had been treated so they wouldn't germinate.

Planted out a couple of weeks after the other two varieties I'm harvesting the seed now, just have a few more pods to go and I can pull the plants. I think even if this one had been planted at the same time as the other two they might take a bit longer to mature seed. This one is a true bush bean. I did notice a couple of the dried seed had already split while still in the pod but the majority look good.

Now, I'm debating trying to pop a couple or keep them all for seed. Darrel can I try popping so soon after harvest or should I wait awhile?

Annette