Greetings and welcome to today's bean update. Sometimes you think you know something and then bam, you were completely wrong. That's what happened with Wang's black bean. I was 100% sure that it was a bush bean but then it just started getting bigger and bigger.
It's safe to say now that it's a pole bean, just like Wang's red bean. When they both bloom I will scan them with my Plantsnap app, which will hopefully be able to tell what type of bean it is. Most bean flowers look the same to me but one time I tried it on a plant I knew what a kidney bean and the app got it right! If I try to scan the leaves I won't get an accurate reading, which is why I'm waiting for it to flower.
On a side note, all my beans are infested with spider mites. I don't know where they come from but if I slack on my watering duties, they appear. Especially now that some are nearing the end of their life cycles and are drying out, the mites are multiplying. All I can do is rub them off with my fingers.
We have a new addition to the bean family! This is a pigeon pea, a subtropical perennial that is the staple source of protein in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent! It was hard to grow. People online say, "Just stick 'em in they ground and they'll grow!" This has not been the case for me. Just about every one I tried to germinate went moldy and died. Some would sprout but then succumb to the mold that presumably feeds on the outer skin of the bean. If you remember, this was the same problem I had with the cranberry beans. So I planted it the same way, just by putting the sprouted seed on the very surface of the soil.
As you can see, the cotyledons stay put as the rest of the plant grows, unlike most (but not all) beans. Another bean that does this is the scarlet runner bean.
If this little guy survives, it'll grow into a small tree that can live for up to 5 years. I need to take extra special care of it because after summer is over, you won't be able to find them in stores, which is where I got the dry beans. They might still sell canned varieties but those are of no use to me, unless I'm going to make the Puerto Rican classic arroz con gandules.
Hopefully I'll be able to get the bean to flower and produce more.
Wish me luck!
Until next time.