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  • From: "Nan & Stewart" <stewart AT watervalley.net>
  • To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: speckled butterbeans in miss.
  • Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 14:32:28 -0500

Hi del and alll....yes, i myself am growing butterbeans and, funny you should ask...i just received the precious gift of some speckled butter beans (pole, or running variety) seeds saved for decades by a local family (here in north mississippi)  it is only a handful, but i will grow these in an area where they won't cross pollinate,etc. and send you some at the end of the season...
 
meanwhile, the other butterbeans that we like to grow here and how we grow are (for those mississippi customers of yours):  
       
Spacing:  rows 24-36 inches  apart, placing beans 2 inches apart in rows and thinning to 4-6 inches.
 
          (this is conventional spacing, i have not yet grown butterbeans
            in my double dug, more intensive beds but the southern intensive      gardening guidelines say, 6 x 6 inches to 8 x 8 inches)
Note to new growers:  inoculate with Rhizobium (or general legume garden mix available from various catalogs) for better harvest.  It will also reduce your need for supplemental nitrogen, so it is a nice initial crop on less than great soil for organic growers....first year i dug in whatever i didn't harvest, as a green manure...that is, whatever was left after the goats broke in the garden and ate up alot....but it is a good forage...too)
 
Note; some types are more viney than others, and more difficult to incorporate into you soil if using as a green manure and doing it with tiller or by hand (as I was...we don't own a tractor)...maybe not an issue on larger acreage with larger machines.
 
Major pest may be the stink bug (both kinds)...key for control is start early with hand removal or organic sprays...sunflowers are known trap crops...alas for my sunflowers....Dont plant until soil temp is 70 - 85 degree F
 
Henderson Bush (65 days)                Dixie Lee (65 )
 
Jackson Wonder (65) days                Elite (75 days)
 
Mississippi Silver (65)                       Purple Hull Pinkeye (80)
 
Whippoorwill (75)                            Thorogreen (68)
 
Butterpeas White, Bridgeton, and Cangreen are others.
 
If you want pole butterbeans try:
 
Christmas Pole

 
If you don't already live in mississippi where you can get alot of these at farm supply stores, you can order many of these varieties from good ole R.H. Shumway (1-800-663-9771  or website: www:rhshumay.com  or, if you want to support heirloom seeds/seed saving, use the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange catalog   po box 170, earlysville, va 22936 or call 804-973-4703   costs $2.00)
 
hope this helps
nan at dancing goats farm, ms
 
Do you know anything about spacing, etc.?  Varieties?
 
By the way everyone, these are great for drought or hot conditions.  They were the only bean that actually made during last summers hot and dry conditions.  Well, the okra did well too.  Oh, and butterbeans freeze well and are delicious.
 
 
Del Williams
Farmer in the Del
Clifton, IL 60927
 


  • speckled butterbeans in miss., Nan & Stewart, 06/01/2000

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