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Oregon Blue Lake pole beans #752315

Asked May 26, 2021, 2:50 PM EDT

In 1996 I made an accidental cross between navy bean (bush habit) mothers, and Oregon blue lake (vine habit) fathers that produced a bush habit green/dryshell bean that produced up to 4 ounces of dry bean seed per bush (averaging 6 beans per pod, up to 9 per!). Being "stringless" they can be field dried, as they don't split and cast seed. I failed to plant for several years and have lost the variant (2 years max on seed viability). Blue Lake beans seem to be very short of the 20 to 30 foot vines I got from OBL's. Where can I find those champions to cross with great northern (this time)?

Clackamas County Oregon

Expert Response

Hello,

I've reached out to OSU vegetable breeder and here is their response:

Is OBL a local seed company?

I am surprised by the short viability time of the bean seed. Two years would be what expect if the seeds are stored under high humidity and temperatures. If kept cool and dry, I would expect up to 10 years and >50 years is stored in the freezer.

Concerning the Blue Lake parent, I’ve never seen anything of common bean with a 20’ vine – perhaps 15’ max with some tropical varieties. There are several cultivars of the Pole Blue Lake such as FM1 or S7. Most seed sources leave out this information and just call them Pole Blue Lake, so one is not sure what they are getting. The old cultivars varied in plant growth habit, and these different types may have had differences in vine length.

I don’t have a particular recommendation on where to get seed but Seed Savers Exchange (https://exchange.seedsavers.org/) has several PBL cultivars including the two I mentioned above. One does need to be a SSE member to be able to request seed through this service. Looks like that there is a lot of FM1K seed currently on the market through several nontraditional vendors. The “K” indicates that this is particular strain of FM1. Key to getting a good cultivar is buying from someone who has done a good job of maintaining it. This can be hard to determine but one can check customer comments and sometimes get a handle on this.

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I hope this information helps.

Weston Miller Replied June 01, 2021, 5:22 PM EDT

Weston;
 
   Thank you for your reply!  The cross bred variety I discovered in 1996 was accidental, where I had planted store bought navy beans, and planted them as seed, along side a stringless vine habit green bean variety called Oregon Blue Lake, that I had purchased from the Silverton Wilco cooperative in 1995.
 
   I recently did a search on google, and there were NO hits on the OBL variatal at all, world wide (only Blue Lake, an omage to an Oregon recreation destination lake where I met my first long term girlfriend Nancy, at a spiritual "fair" with canoe rentals in the early 1970's, Kirillian photography and tarot card readings extra! :).  I was only 18, she was 36, but that's superfluous information! :D  And yes, I was a long hair, with a glass blowing business with three employees that I had trained (along with myself).  I had to call them water pipes, NOT bongs to be legal!
 
   Fast forward to being married (and "settled down") at 36 (1993), with my wife Rosalie of 47 years.  We had a chicken coup with a septic system drain field directly under my raised garden bed using recycled creasote soaked rail road tie walls, with a spray down dry packed cement trough under the chicken's night time perch, so that might explain the extra long vines (chicken poop septic system effluent works wonders for vegetables apparently).
 
   I did send seed to your college back in the day, in the late 1990's (with golly words and praises), but never heard back (beyond a thank you, we'll get back to you).
 
   ANYhoo,  I'm getting too old to be planting and weeding a garden now, I've moved on to saving the world from global warming with "impossible" inventions (see my ETSE = EndoThermic Steam Engine musings on my Facebook timeline, link below), and thanks for playing with me Weston Miller! :D
 
David E. Cowlishaw
6617 S Monte Cristo Rd
Woodburn OR 97071
 
 
Cc: Cousin Sherri (named successor trustee)
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2021 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: Oregon Blue Lake pole beans (#0022246)

The Question Asker Replied June 05, 2021, 4:20 AM EDT

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