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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #75005
Title: CHARACTERISTICS OF SELECTED HEIRLOOM POLE BEAN CULTIVARS

Author
item MULLINS, C - TN AGRIC EXPT STATION
item STRAW, R - TN AGRIC EXPT STATION
item Stavely, J

Submitted to: Bean Improvement Cooperative Annual Report
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/20/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Numerous cultivars of indeterminate (pole), edible podded snap beans have been grown in home gardens and for commercial, fresh market sales in the Southern Appalachian mountain region for many years. The area planted with these cultivars is declining due to the intense labor requirements for staking and hand picking. Reported here, for the first time, are characteristics of some popular pole cultivars that were field tested together at the Plateau Experiment Station in Crossville, Tennessee. Cultivars Blue Ribbon, Caseknife, Fall, Greasy, Lazy Wife, Turkey, and White Hastings were grown, evaluated for reaction to the rust disease, and had their pods harvested, measured and evaluated for this report. Caseknife had the largest pods, Blue Ribbon and White Hastings had the only nearly round pods, while others had nearly flat pods. Caseknife, Blue Ribbon, and Turkey were very susceptible to rust, but the others will be susceptible in some areas. Publication of the characteristics of these cultivars will be beneficial to breeders seeking parental sources for certain characteristics as well as to gardeners and farmers who may wish to grow them.

Technical Abstract: Length, width, and thickness of pods, pod shape, seed color, rust susceptibility, and other pertinent characteristics are reported for seven heirloom cultivars of indeterminate (pole) snap beans, Phaseolus vulgaris. Greatest average pod length, 17.7 cm, and width, 1.9 cm occurred in cultivar Caseknife. Only cultivars Blue Ribbon and White Hastings have round pods. Cultivars Blue Ribbon, Caseknife, and Turkey have brown to gray-brown seeds, but Greasy, Lazy Wife, and Hastings have white seeds. Blue Ribbon, Caseknife, and Turkey were highly susceptible to rust at Crossville, Tennessee in 1995. But all seven cultivars are susceptible to some races of the bean rust fungal pathogen.