Kwintus Bean experiences?

Hi all,

This is the first time I have grown Kwintus beans. I am growing them inside my hoop house. See link:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/502973/

I planted them twice outside the GH and they rotted in place. It was just too cool I guess to germinate right.

So I planted them inside the GH and they are growing tall. They are up to about 7 feet now. However not one blossom is visible yet. Anyone grown Kwintus before? Anyone growing them now? Seeing blossoms yet? Thanks. Rick

BTW - I have planted some different varieties outside and now have about 2 inches of growth for two kinds of Romano beans:
Pension http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7005-pension.aspx
and
Marvel of Venice http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5525-marvel-of-venice.aspx

The photo is the short row of Kwintus beans growing to the top of the GH.

I'm not familiar with the Kwintus, but I do love my flat beans. I've grown Super Marconi and Heldas and loved them both!

Hope you do, too!

Are you growing them this year? If so, how far along are they?

Rick, are they getting plenty of sunlight daily? The beans look kinda "skinny" as if they could use more light. (Sorry, not familiar w/Alaska except for hearing there are certain times when you have perpetual daylight; do you also have times of limited daylight?)

I also wonder how warm it gets and how warm it stays in your g-house. Cooler nite temps will come into play with your beans.

As for flowering, or not, that also is a daylight/temperature issue BUT I also wonder how old the plants are. Have they been in the ground long enough to begin flowering?

Shoe

My beans are really behind this year. I just could NOT get them to germinate and ended up planting three times. I have a feeling I soaked the original seeds too long and when they went in the goround we had a couple of days of rain that must've done them in. The second batch didn't geminate in almost 3 weeks, so I reseeded again, but in slightly different spots. I'm pretty sure both batches, or at leasr some from each of the last 2 batches came up, so it will be interesting to see what I end up with!

Yikes - I don't know why they are so dark, the flash went off...

I'm not sure what all's planted where at this point, so it will be interesting to see what I get.

I do not know how long they are supposed to be growing before flowering. This is the first time that I tried beans up here in Juneau. We have had a lot of cold weather. On cooler nights I run an extension cord and a space heater. We have had two days of sunshine in a row now. On sunny days I open up the GH and let the bees in. But we had about 10 days in a row of cool, rainy weather. If you have any extra sunshine, I can mail you a SASE and you can mail it back to me? I would love to have some more. Where is that global warming when you really need it?

Broccoli is doing fine. Just finished up a batch of dwarf choy and spinach. They did fine.

Some of my squashes are starting to flower and I have a few tomatoes now but they are green and small. The only ones to set so far are called "Patio".

I grew Kwintus last year and they were amazing- heavy producers, and even if they grew too big they were still tender and stringless. This year- a whole different story- I planted 3 times- weather was cold and wet- they rotted- I ran out of seeds, and Park's were out, so I got a substitute-Smerelda- sounds like similar, but I want my Kwintus next year. I have a handful I picked over the past week- hopefully our warm temps will get them going-

I sure wish your SASE would work, Rick! We have too much sunshine here and I'd love to get rid of some of it.

Reading maturity dates for Kwintus shows they can mature in as little as 43 days, another source says 55 to 90 days. Keep in mind, the early maturing will be under ideal conditions, full sun, complete warmth (both air temps as well as ground temp). I hope ya'll start getting some consistent days or sunshine and warmth.

As for " sunny days I open up the GH and let the bees in"... bean plants are self-pollinizing and won't rely on the bees to produce but I'd still open the doors or vents to allow good air exchange and to keep your greenhouse from getting too hot for your brassica plants.

Keep in touch. I hear those beans are pretty tasty.

Shoe

I always have a trade off when it gets cold and rainy. If I button up I risk getting mold on everything. One summer, it rained all day every day for a month. Nearly everything in the GH got a mold on it. It was a terrible year. This year, I am trying a space heater at night anyway on the colder nights. So far I have not seen the mold appear on anything. Tomatoes looking OK.

Great! I notice your g-house is single layer plastic, or it looks like it is. If so, you'd really see a big difference in loss of heat adding a second layer. And a fan running in there will keep the air circulating, it'll really cut down on mold and any potential disease problems.

Shoe, back out into the sauna, mowing, pulling weeds, wishing he was in Alaska

[quote="Horseshoe"]Great! I notice your g-house is single layer plastic, or it looks like it is. If so, you'd really see a big difference in loss of heat adding a second layer. And a fan running in there will keep the air circulating, it'll really cut down on mold and any potential disease problems.

For a second layer you mean a retrofit or scrap the old one and build from scratch again? Not sure how to retrofit. How much sunlight would we lose?

Rick

Nope, no need to retrofit or scrap what you have. But what you'd have to do is buy an inflation fan (about $40.00). Put another layer of plastic over the existing layer, install the inflation fan so it blows thru the inside layer and it will fill the space between the two layers.

If you are using greenhouse plastic you won't lose any sunlight at all but you sure will gain some heat and also retain heat cutting your electric bill down quite a bit.

Hope this helps.
Shoe

This is our second picking of Kwintus beans. Because of space, we have only planted 4 foot rows. I have one row in production now and one more just behind it. The beans in the second row are about 4 inches long and not quite ready. We will be eating them tonight. Some of the beans are really big.

You're gonna love them! Even the big ones are still tender and stringless. I am getting good harvests in spite of a problem with contaminated compost this year. The beans seem to be outgrowing it, but spider mites are bad. I mist every day especially the undersides of the leaves, and use pyrethrins, which isn't helping much.

Kwintus beans- are they a hybrid, or can I save seed that will be true? I have several that have been hiding, and are too big to pick. I thought I would just let them mature and dry. I love these beans!

As best I can tell from information on the internet, they are not hybrid. So it should be worth it saving the seeds.