It was 100F today, and I picked several long purple beans (Red Noodle or similar). I like them but I miss growing a variety of pole beans, especially Romano type. I'm wondering what else I can try in this climate. It's normally in the high 80s to mid 90s all summer, with heat waves going up to 107F. Cooler nights, in the 502-60s. Long season. No rain from May to Sept-October.


Here's what else I'm growing this year.
Rattlesnake (which is often recommended for hot summers)? Zero today. Maybe one bean each week.
Fortex Cross? same
Bush beans? a handful a couple times a week, but I don't enjoy picking them. (But I would try a Romano type).
Meeks Running has been producing a handful every week.

I'm thinking of trying some lima beans next year, but would really love to find a good Romano type that produces well here.

If you're also in a dry, hot climate, what beans have been the tastiest and most productive for you?

Lazy House Wife, Kentucky Wonder and Purple King are ones that do ok for me in SE Australia under similar conditions. How they fit into your different groups I do not know

Fusion Power, over at T'ville, has a bean that outproduces Rattlesnake in high heat. I don't remember its name.

My favorite bean, Supermarconi, might be just about the worst producer in hot conditions. It usually shuts down when temps are in the low to mid 80's.

With a long season, could you start beans later, so they flower when it starts to get cooler?

Tormato wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 4:37 pm Fusion Power, over at T'ville, has a bean that outproduces Rattlesnake in high heat. I don't remember its name.

My favorite bean, Supermarconi, might be just about the worst producer in hot conditions. It usually shuts down when temps are in the low to mid 80's.

With a long season, could you start beans later, so they flower when it starts to get cooler?

I will have to do some fusion power research -- thanks for the tip.

It is a long season, but the problem is that the heat waves (100F+) can happen anytime between April and October. Usually not more than a week long. But loooooooooooong stretches where it's in the 90s. I don't think beans like those kind of conditions. (We keep the air conditioning set to a cool 80F and it's on most of the summer. Before fire season it was possible to open the windows at night to cool down the house a bit more. But air quality has been "unhealthy" the past month or so.)

It seemed like the bush beans that survived took a very long time to start producing, I asked my neighbors at the community garden what kind of beans they grow. They said they don't even try to grow beans any more -- "we don't want to embarrass ourselves." Another neighbor has lush vines of Christmas Lima (but I haven't looked closely to see what kind of production they are getting).

I don't even try to grow beans in the summer here. The bush beans go in as early as I dare to plant in the spring and that would be when the soil temp is about 70 degrees. They won't germinate well in cool soil. Here planting would be anywhere from the last week of April through the first week of May and they're done sometime mid to late June.

Then I plant rather short DTM bush beans in September, heat permitting, when there's a window due to rain or whatever, when the soil temp isn't higher than 85. Those will make just before frost. Last year the frost got them halfway through production because really hot weather delayed the planting. This year it cooled off early and I was lucky to get them in and going mid August!

I quit growing pole beans as they take longer to produce than bush beans and the heat gets them. Rattlesnake never did well in the heat. Lazy Housewife produced a ton of foliage and few beans two years in a row in different growing situations so she's gone too. Other varieties will grow foliage but if production doesn't happen before it gets hot, there will be no beans. I wish you luck in your search.

How about starting some extra early, indoors? And then transplanting about 3 weeks later. Kwintus is about as early a pole bean as you can get. And, it's a tasty romano type.

Purple hull peas

Cole_Robbie wrote: ↑Wed Oct 07, 2020 12:10 am Purple hull peas

No, no, no, no.

Habitat-gardener is looking for a pole romano bean. If you've never tried them, you wouldn't understand.

Bingo beans. Territorial seed company. Romano pole type. Friend grows them here in sandy loam located inland (think hotter and drier) Texas. Not bulletproof in the heat, but they hang in there in pretty well. He lets some mature for shelling.