A thought I just had; smaller seed companies that grow and clean their own seed might be finding (and discarding) lots of off-type bean seeds, some of which are probably crosses. Those seeds would be valuable to us if we could get them!
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Yeah, I like that idea! How do we contact them?
Beans and crosses! Reread the whole topic and it’s still a mystery. Awesome! Or am just a dummy?
My population changed color hard last year, and it was a cool year, but someone said my beans were fastest, so that’s reason enough for me to think they might have been crosses. But why keeps bugging me.
Until i remembered standing pondering over beans and these giant black woodbees came to pollinate. I thought they only ate wood, but they sent from One flower to the other. They’re gigantic and strong bees.
Could it be that has something to do with it? They reaaly stretch that flower open wider than ordinary bees can?? More mystery to solve!!
What a fascinating theory! I have no idea, but it’s a great speculation!
I’ve gotta say, I love the sound of any wild pollinators being highly attracted to a species in your garden. Especially if it’s one that’s often self-pollinating. Sounds like a great way to get more crosses, whatever the species may be!
That’s a great question. Do you have any photos of what they looked like before and after? Was it a consistent change among all of them or new colors showing up in some? Not that more information will necessiraly help with an answer, but it’s interesting!
No Julia, weirdly enough i didn’t think much of it at the time. I hope the bees which arrive this weekend won’t scare them off too much, because i surely will study those questions more. They went beige in differing teints , from a rather hard colored mix. And we had quite a cool summer, so that could explain everything, but nevertheless and however, bringing up the subject never hurts and we never know how a hare catches a cow! (dutch saying ruthlessly translated, in case you wonder)Maybe we’ll have wood bee hives in future for our breeding projects