[from Thinkific community]
2022-11-09T08:00:00Z
I have generally quite limited space in my garden (at least until I make more compost…) and I’m quickly finding out that, to save seed from some plants it can be quite time and labor intensive. Specifically talking of beans: I knew that I wanted to save seed from the bean varieties I have now (both bush and pole) so I stopped cropping them out with plenty of time before any frost would hit. I’ve stopped harvesting pods from the plants about a month and a half ago or so and many of the pods on my bush beans don’t even seem close to ready to pull off the plant for storage. I’m having a similar issue with my cucumbers. The fruits have now swollen up to an unedible size but they aren’t maturing to yellow/orange fruit and it’s been quite a long time. Is there any way to expedite these processes in order to free up space in the garden? It’s turning a 2 month bush bean crop into a 5 month seed crop.
2022-11-21T08:00:00Z
Ray S
I don’t know about speeding things up but beans can be harvested as soon as the pods soften. They’re ripe enough at this stage however I’ve noticed that when I do this they don’t develop full colour. Still perfectly edible and will germinate next season.
Shao
Thanks for the valuable insight
By “as the pods soften” do mean when they turn brown, but are not yet dry? Or even before?
Ray
Both Mark’s and Heidi’s bean saving protocol (below) of earliest and best, especially for dry beans, is valuable advice.
As to what ‘soften’ means it’s when the pod becomes flaccid - if you hold it at the stem end it flops. The fibre in the pod has begun to soften. (Note: this test does not work for a bean like Dragon Tongue which has virtually no pod fibre to begin with). Pod colour is usually changing, as if the colour is draining, but the pods are by no means dry. If I do harvest beans at this point I shell them and spread the beans out in a single layer to dry down. At this point they are fully hydrated and can easily rot if dumped all together.
Mark
I know that many think that allowing the first of something to mature takes away from the best possible overall harvest and I don’t argue that. It just makes sense that an annual plant has one goal, to make seeds, so if it accomplishes that it has to some degree, no reason to keep blooming and making more.
That said, I put a rule in place in my garden a long, long time ago. I don’t know if it helps as far as selection for quick maturity, but my rule is that seed is saved from the “first and the best”, not the season end leftovers. Also, with beans, if overall production is reduced by leaving the first to mature the effect is not especially obvious. For green beans, just a couple of early pods per plant left to mature has worked very well for me. Or in the case of harvest for dry beans, saving the first for seed.
With beans I also like to let them fully dry on the vine. Even though they are mature before that I think it makes for a more robust seed. We have a lot of moldy and virus type diseases which I measure by the amount of blemishes that show up best on a fully dry pod, I don’t care that much about the leaves. When a very clean pod shows up, especially if most others are blemished, I definitely keep it for seed.
In my garden saving the “first and the best” and the least blemished beans from the heirloom Kentucky Wonder for thirty years (without any crossing) has turned them into something very different from commercially available Ky Wonder.
My pods are longer, straighter and flatter. Seeds are larger, flatter and lighter color. I only selected for early maturity, productivity and non-blemished pods. Those other traits just sort of came along for the ride.
Emily
So far, I’ve only saved seeds for a half dozen species, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that letting the first grow to maturity doesn’t prevent the plant from creating more fruits (or seed pods) later. It might wait to set more fruits or seed pods until it’s finished maturing the first one, but it will get around to setting another flush as soon as it’s done with that.
I’ve seen that pattern with carrot umbels, squash fruits, melon fruits, watermelon fruits, and radish seed pods so far. It would make sense if it’s true for most species.
Last year, when I tried saving seeds from season end leftovers, none of them matured in time, so I think I’ll be letting the very first grow to maturity on every plant. Especially since I want to encourage plants that are early bloomers, not plants that are dawdlers.
Heidi
It was pointed out to me early on that if I waited to save seed from the season’s last fruits (ie. green beans after I was done harvesting the snap pods, cucumbers after I was done harvesting the nice early ones) that I was inadvertently selecting for late flowering and late fruit development.
Instead, I too delay just a bit of early harvest by letting the first fruits be the ones that I let go to seed. I also haven’t noticed a reduction in production, even in my bush beans. Also, plants are usually generous with seeds – Since I have a smallish garden, I don’t usually need to save seed every single year on every single variety…although it seems this will change some with growing more landraces and doing more active selection.
Wojciech
In my small garden I leave one nicest fruit from the earliest ones on a plant and I allow it to mature. In the meantime, I harvest all others. It is nicely visible on this zucchini that yielded many small fruits while the chosen one matures.
Debbie A
I’m so glad to know that you all allow early fruits to reach maturity for seed. It has always been a dilemma for me to decide when to stop harvesting, with the risk that the fruits that are left will not have enough time to mature. Thanks for sharing your experience. I wonder how many other misconceptions I need to correct!