2022/2023 variety questions and maybe answers

[Tormato]

from a different year, i dug out waladecks polish giant.

polish giant i see on internet says big pink beefsteak.
would waladecks be about the same? seeds are from 2014.


keith

Yipee! I get to correct the spelling on a variety that I sent out about a decade ago.

The name should be "Wladeck's", and nothing else added.

There is a "Polish Giant Beefsteak" variety, unknown if the same as Wladeck's, so I do not consider them the same, for now.

Both are listed, among 19,000+ varieties, here...

https://localfoodconnect.org.au/communi ... varieties/

[karstopography]

from a different year, i dug out waladecks polish giant.

polish giant i see on internet says big pink beefsteak.
would waladecks be about the same? seeds are from 2014.


keith

Yipee! I get to correct the spelling on a variety that I sent out about a decade ago.

The name should be "Wladeck's", and nothing else added.


There is a "Polish Giant Beefsteak" variety, unknown if the same as Wladeck's, so I do not consider them the same, for now.

Both are listed, among 19,000+ varieties, here...

https://localfoodconnect.org.au/communi ... varieties/

But, Girl Girl’s Weird Thing and Sart Roloise aren’t. Creamsicle Grape isn’t either.

[Tormato]

from a different year, i dug out waladecks polish giant.

polish giant i see on internet says big pink beefsteak.
would waladecks be about the same? seeds are from 2014.


keith

Yipee! I get to correct the spelling on a variety that I sent out about a decade ago.

The name should be "Wladeck's", and nothing else added.


There is a "Polish Giant Beefsteak" variety, unknown if the same as Wladeck's, so I do not consider them the same, for now.

Both are listed, among 19,000+ varieties, here...

https://localfoodconnect.org.au/communi ... varieties/

But, Girl Girl’s Weird Thing and Sart Roloise aren’t. Creamsicle Grape isn’t either.

The list likely hasn't been updated for several years.

[rxkeith]

only useful info i found was from old varieties.com

its one that was brought from poland after WWII by wladeck neitzgoda.
description says heavy loads of beef steak tomatoes of various sizes.
uses words like revelation, unsurpassed flavor and aroma. sounds good.
the seed bag did say waladeck. i double checked the spelling. if any of the seeds
germinate, and produce fruit, i look forward to being wowed.
always happy to brighten up your day there gary. only ten years behind on growing out
some of the seeds you sent. i'm catching up.


keith

[Tormato]

only useful info i found was from old varieties.com

its one that was brought from poland after WWII by wladeck neitzgoda.
description says heavy loads of beef steak tomatoes of various sizes.
uses words like revelation, unsurpassed flavor and aroma. sounds good.
the seed bag did say waladeck. i double checked the spelling. if any of the seeds
germinate, and produce fruit, i look forward to being wowed.
always happy to brighten up your day there gary. only ten years behind on growing out
some of the seeds you sent. i'm catching up.


keith

Back then, only a few packs came into the swap, and were indeed labeled Waladeck's Polish Giant. I repackaged more (pink labels) and sent them out with the same name.

If they germinate for you, then produce unsurpassed flavor and aroma, and people here read about it, you know what is going to happen...

[karstopography]

I did a search of this large Pink tomato, but very little information came up. Anyone grown this one and if so, what did you think about it?

I have La Vie en Rose on my potential list of Pink tomatoes to grow in 2025. It looks great on the SSC seed vendor’s site and I have the seeds thanks to the recent MMMM swap.

Being limited to growing just so many tomatoes, I want to know perhaps how far up the list of pinks La Vie en Rose should be placed.

[Moth1992]

So i havent found anything whatsoever on Iva's purple rust. Presumably its a purple tomato but other than that any clues?

[WoodSprite]

So i havent found anything whatsoever on Iva's purple rust. Presumably its a purple tomato but other than that any clues?

@Moth1992 - Do a search for that name here at TJ and you'll find information and photos from HL2601 (who shared it in MMMM). This is my summary of her information put in the format that I use for my tomato seed tracking:

Iva's Purple Rust (22/23 MMMM-HL2601) - Early/Mid. 10-16 oz. Black (purple/maroon w/ rusty green/gray shoulders). Beefsteak. Rich. Sweet overtones. Superb smooth texture. Meaty. Dark maroon flesh. "Great flavor along the lines of Daniel Burson & Big Cheef." "Just enough juice to make your mouth water." Stocky vines. RL. OP (Slovenia). (Iva Grasa selected it from a bee cross of Black Russian x unknown. Released in 2022.)

[WoodSprite]

Questions & comments about bean seeds that I received in 22/23 MMMM:

Alabama '22 - Is this the variety known as 'Alabama #1''? (The seeds I received are black.) From what I've read, there are different strains of Alabama #1 that are all called the same thing. But there are also other/different varieties with Alabama in the name so I'm not sure which one this is. (I decided to grow it this year, starting it later than normal. I'll be sowing them this evening. If no one knows, hopefully I can answer my own question. LOL!)

French Filet, Mottled '20 - Is this a generic description or actual variety name? I can't find information on it.

Red Fiolte '21 - Is this the correct spelling? I can't find any information on it.

Jumbo/Romano Bush '22 - Is this Jumbo Roma? Jumbo Bush Bean? Something else?

Lena's Bean '22 - From what I've Googled/read, this is a semi-pole bean and used as a dry/soup bean.

Piros Fehrer '21 - From Googling for information, it appears that it should be spelled 'Piros Feher' without the extra r.

Lazy Wife '20 - I grew this last year and they were not what I expected from descriptions of Lazy Wife (Lazy Housewife?). What I grew produced short, smooth pods with strings. I wonder if the seeds in the swap are actually 'Lazy Wife Greasy' (which I recently read about and it seems to match what I grew). Or maybe it was cross-pollinated? Whatever it was, it was good and productive. Just didn't like the strings.

Seychelles '21 - I sowed 6 of them last year and none germinated. They may be too old. You might want to do a germination test on remaining seeds.

Wyatt '20 - I grew these last year and harvested seeds from one plant (ate from the other plants). I grew them somewhat separated from other beans but there were pole beans somewhat near it. My original seeds were white. My harvested seeds are pale green. I don't know if they crossed or not. I'm growing some of the pale green seeds this year to see if it's the same or not. It's too early to tell for sure but they look bush (as they should) so far. My question is should the seeds be white at harvest? Or do they fade from light green to white over time? I was hoping to harvest more seeds this year but would rather eat the pods if green is not normal for seeds.

[Seven Bends]

Questions & comments about bean seeds that I received in 22/23 MMMM:
Wyatt '20 - I grew these last year and harvested seeds from one plant (ate from the other plants). I grew them somewhat separated from other beans but there were pole beans somewhat near it. My original seeds were white. My harvested seeds are pale green. I don't know if they crossed or not. I'm growing some of the pale green seeds this year to see if it's the same or not. It's too early to tell for sure but they look bush (as they should) so far. My question is should the seeds be white at harvest? Or do they fade from light green to white over time? I was hoping to harvest more seeds this year but would rather eat the pods if green is not normal for seeds.

I don't know the official answer, but I do know that the Wyatt bean seeds I received in the 2022-23 MMMM were pale green (I noticed because they were unusual and pretty). I grew plants from those seeds last summer and saved seeds from them, and those seeds also were pale green. They haven't become white in storage; they still were green when I planted them this spring. No bean pods yet this year to tell whether they have grown true.

[Tormato]

Questions & comments about bean seeds that I received in 22/23 MMMM:

Alabama '22 - Is this the variety known as 'Alabama #1''? (The seeds I received are black.) From what I've read, there are different strains of Alabama #1 that are all called the same thing. But there are also other/different varieties with Alabama in the name so I'm not sure which one this is. (I decided to grow it this year, starting it later than normal. I'll be sowing them this evening. If no one knows, hopefully I can answer my own question. LOL!)

French Filet, Mottled '20 - Is this a generic description or actual variety name? I can't find information on it.

Red Fiolte '21 - Is this the correct spelling? I can't find any information on it.

Jumbo/Romano Bush '22 - Is this Jumbo Roma? Jumbo Bush Bean? Something else?

Lena's Bean '22 - From what I've Googled/read, this is a semi-pole bean and used as a dry/soup bean.

Piros Fehrer '21 - From Googling for information, it appears that it should be spelled 'Piros Feher' without the extra r.

Lazy Wife '20 - I grew this last year and they were not what I expected from descriptions of Lazy Wife (Lazy Housewife?). What I grew produced short, smooth pods with strings. I wonder if the seeds in the swap are actually 'Lazy Wife Greasy' (which I recently read about and it seems to match what I grew). Or maybe it was cross-pollinated? Whatever it was, it was good and productive. Just didn't like the strings.

Seychelles '21 - I sowed 6 of them last year and none germinated. They may be too old. You might want to do a germination test on remaining seeds.

Wyatt '20 - I grew these last year and harvested seeds from one plant (ate from the other plants). I grew them somewhat separated from other beans but there were pole beans somewhat near it. My original seeds were white. My harvested seeds are pale green. I don't know if they crossed or not. I'm growing some of the pale green seeds this year to see if it's the same or not. It's too early to tell for sure but they look bush (as they should) so far. My question is should the seeds be white at harvest? Or do they fade from light green to white over time? I was hoping to harvest more seeds this year but would rather eat the pods if green is not normal for seeds.

I am under the assumption that Alabama is Alabama #1. Prior to receiving Alabama this past year, Alabama #1 is the only "Alabama" bean that I've handled. I'l see if I can locate the donor (later this year).

French Filet is the name. I added "mottled" (lower case "m") to distinguish from the white seeded variety of the exact same name. I label the other one "French Filet, white- seeded" (lower case "w").

Red Fiolte may be Red Fiolet, as there are other beans with Fiolet in the name. Sand Hill, the source, has a few misspelled things over the years.

Jumbo and Romano Bush are two names for the same variety. Unless it gets crossed, it is unmistakable as a very large "Romano" (flat podded) snap, on a huge, up to 4 1/2 feet, NON-TWINING bush. with large streaked seeds. I'm not going to say 4 1/2 feet tall, because the vines go every which way and loose.

I'll check on the spelling of Piros F.

Lazy Housewife gets its name derived from being a stringless (no work involved ) bean. There is a wide spread wrong variety out there, having elongated seeds, and lacking the great flavor of the genuine. The stringless may mean for fairly young pods. There are varieties (like Rattlesnake) that get strings with fairly mature pods.

I'm down to my last few seeds of Seychelles (commercial seeds, which I have more frequent issue with). They will all be sown, hoping for a harvest of fresh seeds.

Wyatt can produce both pale green and white seeds, like a few other "white" bush beans. Environmental conditions, I assume, causes the different in color.

I have no info on Lena's Bean, and I'm trialing it for the first time this year.

[WoodSprite]

Questions & comments about bean seeds that I received in 22/23 MMMM:
Wyatt '20 - I grew these last year and harvested seeds from one plant (ate from the other plants). I grew them somewhat separated from other beans but there were pole beans somewhat near it. My original seeds were white. My harvested seeds are pale green. I don't know if they crossed or not. I'm growing some of the pale green seeds this year to see if it's the same or not. It's too early to tell for sure but they look bush (as they should) so far. My question is should the seeds be white at harvest? Or do they fade from light green to white over time? I was hoping to harvest more seeds this year but would rather eat the pods if green is not normal for seeds.

I don't know the official answer, but I do know that the Wyatt bean seeds I received in the 2022-23 MMMM were pale green (I noticed because they were unusual and pretty). I grew plants from those seeds last summer and saved seeds from them, and those seeds also were pale green. They haven't become white in storage; they still were green when I planted them this spring. No bean pods yet this year to tell whether they have grown true.

Yay!!! Thanks! This gives me hope that what I have is still Wyatt and not crossed. I'm hoping to collect seeds and send to MMMM next time but only have 6 plants this year. (I didn't want to take up a lot of space if they didn't grow true.)

[WoodSprite]

Thanks for all of the information, Tormato!

Regarding Lazy Wife vs Lazy Housewife, what I received was labeled Lazy Wife but I assumed it was Lazy Housewife and someone just abbreviated the name. What I grew from it does not match descriptions and photos I found on line for Lazy Housewife (long, flat-ish to flat pods). What grew were short (~4") and very smooth (hairless) pods with strings even when young/small. Yesterday I decided to Google "Lazy Wife bean" and look at photos and read more descriptions. I found 'Lazy Wife' and 'Lazy Wife Greasy'. 'Lazy Wife Greasy' looks closer to what I grew but not sure it's exactly it. It does look closer than photos of Lazy Housewife. Maybe whoever shared them will see this and give more input.



For Lena's Bean, I found several websites that mention it. This is my summary in my notes but I haven't grown it yet.

Bean (Semi-Pole) - Lena's Bean (22/23 MMMM) - (Dry.) 85 d (dry). Twining bush or shorter pole. Extremely productive. Beans used in baking as per Heritage Harvest Seed website. Disease tolerant. Seeds: white. (Dried beans were distributed by Canadian government as cooking beans during the "Dirty Thirties" as part of a relief food package. Lena or her mother planted some of the beans and saved seeds for many years. Lena eventually shared seeds with her friend Anna, who grew them for many years. Anna (83 years old) shared seeds with Brian Porter who grew them. He saved seeds and shared with Heritage Harvest Seed to preserve & sell.)

By the way, I'm growing more pole and bush bean varieties from MMMM this year and look forward to comparing them and growing more in the future. I already have some varieties picked out for next year. I'm really looking forward to the Woods Mountain Crazy.

[WoodSprite]

Forgot to say that for Alabama, I see now that the other Google hits appear to be for a lima bean / butter bean that's called different things. Those seeds look completely different than the black seeds in the MMMM. So I, like you, assume Alabama is Alabama #1.

Fusion_power has some posts in other old forums about Alabama #1. He got and grew seeds from someone that had been growing it for 40 years and got and grew seeds from the seed bank. He reports they are now different but are both being called Alabama #1. He supplied both to Sandhill Preservation Center and they labeled them a little differently as per the two previous sources.

In any case, I look forward to growing it and seeing what I get.

[Tormato]

Forgot to say that for Alabama, I see now that the other Google hits appear to be for a lima bean / butter bean that's called different things. Those seeds look completely different than the black seeds in the MMMM. So I, like you, assume Alabama is Alabama #1.

Fusion_power has some posts in other old forums about Alabama #1. He got and grew seeds from someone that had been growing it for 40 years and got and grew seeds from the seed bank. He reports they are now different but are both being called Alabama #1. He supplied both to Sandhill Preservation Center and they labeled them a little differently as per the two previous sources.

In any case, I look forward to growing it and seeing what I get.

Did I send "Flamingo", a pole, flat-podded, wax (pink, turns to yellow when cooked) bean, your way? I'm still searching for my seeds.

I'm attempting a huge grow out of beans this year. But, the weather needs to cooperate.

[WoodSprite]

Did I send "Flamingo", a pole, flat-podded, wax (pink, turns to yellow when cooked) bean, your way? I'm still searching for my seeds.

I'm attempting a huge grow out of beans this year. But, the weather needs to cooperate.

Yes, you sent me 6 seeds of Flamingo. I can send them back to you if you want to grow them. I can send you others from the MMMM that I may not get to grow before they are too old.

[Tormato]

Did I send "Flamingo", a pole, flat-podded, wax (pink, turns to yellow when cooked) bean, your way? I'm still searching for my seeds.

I'm attempting a huge grow out of beans this year. But, the weather needs to cooperate.

Yes, you sent me 6 seeds of Flamingo. I can send them back to you if you want to grow them. I can send you others from the MMMM that I may not get to grow before they are too old.

Send them later, with your other seeds. It's too late for me to attempt to grow them now, as wax beans take a very long time to dry down.

[WoodSprite]

Did I send "Flamingo", a pole, flat-podded, wax (pink, turns to yellow when cooked) bean, your way? I'm still searching for my seeds.

I'm attempting a huge grow out of beans this year. But, the weather needs to cooperate.

Yes, you sent me 6 seeds of Flamingo. I can send them back to you if you want to grow them. I can send you others from the MMMM that I may not get to grow before they are too old.

Send them later, with your other seeds. It's too late for me to attempt to grow them now, as wax beans take a very long time to dry down.

OK. I made a note to myself to do that. Once you have more seeds then I'll get a few from you in the future to grow myself. (No room this year.) It sounds like an interesting and gorgeous variety. I read how you had discovered it from a bee cross.

If there aren't any others that you are specifically looking for and don't currently have, then I'll share my extras with local people so they can grow them. I already have the ones picked out that I plan to grow in the next few years and don't want the others to go to waste. Our freezer is too full and they'd get lost if I put them in there for longer storage.

Hmm. That makes me wonder: Did you by chance put your extra Flamingo seeds in your freezer and forgot about them?

[Tormato]

Did I send "Flamingo", a pole, flat-podded, wax (pink, turns to yellow when cooked) bean, your way? I'm still searching for my seeds.

I'm attempting a huge grow out of beans this year. But, the weather needs to cooperate.

Yes, you sent me 6 seeds of Flamingo. I can send them back to you if you want to grow them. I can send you others from the MMMM that I may not get to grow before they are too old.

Send them later, with your other seeds. It's too late for me to attempt to grow them now, as wax beans take a very long time to dry down.

OK. I made a note to myself to do that. Once you have more seeds then I'll get a few from you in the future to grow myself. (No room this year.) It sounds like an interesting and gorgeous variety. I read how you had discovered it from a bee cross.

If there aren't any others that you are specifically looking for and don't currently have, then I'll share my extras with local people so they can grow them. I already have the ones picked out that I plan to grow in the next few years and don't want the others to go to waste. Our freezer is too full and they'd get lost if I put them in there for longer storage.

Hmm. That makes me wonder: Did you by chance put your extra Flamingo seeds in your freezer and forgot about them?

Extra? What does that word mean? I never have enough extras, with Flamingo, once people see pictures of it.

Bean seeds need a certain moisture content (about 7%?, IIRC) for good freezing quality. If the moisture content is too high, which is possible here, the seeds can be ruined. It's almost impossible for me to have a moisture content too low. For beans and many other seeds, I'd like to have enough where I freeze some (very long term), refrigerate some (long term) and keep some at basement temp of about 70 degrees or less (short term, of about 3 years). I've never been there.

I rarely freeze beans. Just a couple of times, in hundreds of trades/purchases I found the "sawdust" from bean weevils inside the packaging. Those beans go to the freezer for at least 48 hours to kill any weevils. Any arriving beans get inspected, and go into sealed clear zip-type plastic bags, if not already in them. I inspect the beans about once a month for three or for months, to see if anything is going on. I haven't had weevils for about a decade.

Hopefully a successful season for me, and I can then update the Bean/Legume Master List at the MMMM sub-forum. From there we both decide on what beans we would like for the following seasons.

[WoodSprite]

If there aren't any others that you are specifically looking for and don't currently have, then I'll share my extras with local people so they can grow them. I already have the ones picked out that I plan to grow in the next few years and don't want the others to go to waste.

Extra? What does that word mean? I never have enough extras, with Flamingo, once people see pictures of it.

"Extras" as in varieties that I don't plan to grow because they don't sound as appealing to me as other varieties. After growing different varieties over the last few years I noticed that my husband and I both prefer non-yellow snaps and non-Romano types so I'm focusing on them for now. Once we get the wireworm out of our field (which is different than my main raised bed garden), I plan to grow the dry beans there and am looking forward to comparing them. The "extras" (varieties I don't plan to grow) will be shared with local people that will enjoy them.

For any type of seeds that I decide I'm not going to grow or not going to grow in the next few years, I share with local gardeners. It would be shame for them to go to waste when they can be appreciated by others.