Ochre Spotted Broad bean

[jayb]

This was the pretty little bean from Silverleaf in the packet of mixed seeds from A4A seed circle.Sorry not the best pictures fro showing the colours

[Silverleaf]

Oh how interesting! I'll have to look and see if there are more like that...

[Silverleaf]

Also that's totally not the colour I thought you might mean.

[jayb]

I did wonder if the skin may have just got darker while the spots stayed ginger 'biscuity'?

[Silverleaf]

There's about 20 of that type left (haven't sowed any here yet). They vary in the amount of ginger and the size of the spots but they are all predominantly black.

I don't think I really paid much attention to the individual beans when I bagged them for the swap, other than making sure each bag had the same distribution of different types because I wanted everyone to have the same high diversity. Shows what you can miss, doesn't it?

I love that there are so many different colours and sizes, let's hope they produce well and taste good. I found that the smaller-seeded ones were much more resistant to blackfly than the bigger ones so that's a definite plus.

[Galina]

Yes I missed it too, thank you for showing us what you meant. I am glad to know it is in my pot 'somewhere' and will see what happens at harvest time. Guess the seed coat colours will be most prominent at harvest time?

Except that you wrote, Jayb, that they may have started out paler and the bits that are not spots could have darkened. Which means it may not have been obvious at harvest time.

[jayb]

Brilliant I'm glad you have some more and others have them too, I think they look so cute
Blackfly proof, now wouldn't that be something special

[jayb]

Except that you wrote, Jayb, that they may have started out paler and the bits that are not spots could have darkened. Which means it may not have been obvious at harvest time.

Just thinking aloud, seed coat colour can change a little as they age.

[Silverleaf]

Brilliant I'm glad you have some more and others have them too, I think they look so cute
Blackfly proof, now wouldn't that be something special

There was a clear difference in the amount of blackfly on the landrace beans last year compared with the others I sowed (Bunyard's Exhibition, I think). Definiteiy not immune, but they weren't really affected until weeks later and they never got as bad.

I guess they just don't taste as good to the blackflies?

[jayb]

Interesting, definitely something I'll keep an eye on. Taste, smell? I've wondered before why some beans remain free while others are hammered.
It was a horrid year for blackfly last year.

[Galina]

Mine were very badly affected too. I was really glad for the large, non sweet peas. I sprayed the plants with insecticidal soap a couple of times, but it made little difference. Worst year for blackfly ever. Pinching out tops just meant they attacked the whole plant instead. We got a couple of small bags for the freezer and a couple of meals but that was all.

[Silverleaf]

Interesting, definitely something I'll keep an eye on. Taste, smell? I've wondered before why some beans remain free while others are hammered.
It was a horrid year for blackfly last year.

Blackfly go for the growing tips of the plant, presumably because the bit that's growing fast is more tender, sweeter and tastier than the older part.

Perhaps the smaller-seeded beans just aren't as tasty because they mature a bit faster than the larger-seeded ones so they aren't growing fast when the blackfly get here?

[Silverleaf]

Mine were very badly affected too. I was really glad for the large, non sweet peas. I sprayed the plants with insecticidal soap a couple of times, but it made little difference. Worst year for blackfly ever. Pinching out tops just meant they attacked the whole plant instead. We got a couple of small bags for the freezer and a couple of meals but that was all.

I grew a 6' X 4' patch, about a hundred plants. Three or four plants were affected quite badly by blackfly and I ended up pulling them up because if there's a genetic component to blackfly resistance I wanted to limit their contribution to the landrace. Some only got bad at the end of the season.

All the badly-affected plants were large-seeded commercial types.

I collected seed from the first pod of every plant that didn't look bad, adding in extras from the plants that grew best, and ended up with about 400 seeds. We definitely ate a lot more than that!

[jayb]

Blackfly go for the growing tips of the plant, presumably because the bit that's growing fast is more tender, sweeter and tastier than the older part.

Perhaps the smaller-seeded beans just aren't as tasty because they mature a bit faster than the larger-seeded ones so they aren't growing fast when the blackfly get here?

I hadn't thought of the seed size being a factor, I'll keep an eye out in future. Often read that overwintered beans are less attractive to blackfly as their shoots are not quite so lush growing.