This is one of the things I feel my bipolar weather is actually beneficial for.
The weather conditions and temp. swings we get will cause stuff to flower at weird times. It’s unpredictable, but it gives unexpected opportunities for random cross-pollination.
It also often results in stress for at least some species which I believe helps increase the chances of them accepting pollen from more distantly related sources.
I’ve had overlap between each of my different beans, depending on the year/season.
This year I had a lot of overlap in flowering of different sunflowers and sunchokes too.
I put 4 beans in each pot. I’m hoping that the crowded conditions will cause just enough stress to make them bloom a little earlier.
One more reason to use the common bean as the female parent. If I remember correctly the tepary flowers were seriously tiny, but I can rip apart the pollen donor. Can’t do that with the reciever.
True… Tepary bean flowers are even smaller. Tho I feel in a speed breeding lab with pots where you can conforatably sit, I think it won’t be so bad.
I hope to eventually do this & send seeds to other who can grow them out. I have good near sight vision but I still need practice.
Maybe, it depends on variety. Most of the Year Beans varieties (Hybrid between (P. vulgaris x P.coccineus = P. X dumosus*)) are day length sensitive.
I think it’s reasonably to assume some tepary beans might be day length sensitive & some might not be.
If yours flower very late, than they are probably short day, meaning flowering when days get shorter.
You can trigger short-day plants to flower anytime you wish by blocking out total sunlight for a day. This is practically harder for a vine/big plants but very practical for small plants you can place a tarp/bucket over. Goal is whole plant no light for a day.
hold off until spring? They survive winter in your climate?
I just noticed a very interesting coincidentally Phaseolus species with cotyledons that germinate above ground are annuals & those that have cotyledones germinate below ground are Tuber forming perennials.
Both Runner & American Wild Thicket Beans make Edible Perennial Tuberous roots but Common Beans, Tepary Beans & Lima Beans don’t.
This too much of a coinsidence right? Maybe tuberous species need to keep the cotyledon underground to help better feed the tuberous root system?
It would explain why P. vulgaris x P. coccineus hybrids have cotyledons at ground level no?
I would suspect that they put more energy into the root in the first place which becomes storage, vs the others needing to use the exposed cotyledons for energy because they do not depend on root reserves.
It makes sense, I wonder if this applies to other beans besides Phaseolus? Other Vigna species also have some with Hypogeal & Epigeal germination, some Vigna make big roots too (Like with Vigna vexillata vs Vigna unguiculata).
hmm… I wonder how Phaseolus polystachios would do? It also makes underground root tubers but is wayyy more cold hardy than runner beans.
I also wonder how early can bean flowers be triggered? I’m thinking maybe if you block out sunlight at seedling or at least 1 foot high stage might it work to trigger flowering sooner?
I know this works with Quinoa/Lambsquaters, Shiso, and other short-day plants.
When I did hydroponics beans, it only took a couple weeks to get the first blooms. Maybe a month? It was quick, possibility because of the stress of growing in water. I’m hoping the stress of being crowded might have the same effect. If not, I’ll find another way.
It does sometimes, if you got it to flower understress than why not try it again.
Some speedbreeders cut off water to help dry out barley/wheat seeds while still on the plant.
The hydroponics tests were with common beans, so we’ll see if that works. I don’t think teparies would take to hydroponics, but something to test another time.
If I get any seeds, I’ll let them mature at the regular rate.
Maybe blossoms? Nothing showing on the teparies yet, and only one of the common. Both were showing drought stress this morning. So the teparies went a month without water, in a small pot. Common about a week.
Interesting… what do you mean by already set? These look like flower buds still developing or do they actually self-pollinate even at this stage already?
Sorry, I’m not sure of the correct verbiage. Plants develop blossoms at a certain point in their development. If those blossoms were not already there, forcing flowering would not have put them there. The forcing works on new growth.
If the forcing worked, I would expect to see blossoms on the end of the branches as new growth comes out. Blossoms very easily might develop lower on the plant, but the plant has to build those structures.
I would never expect blossoms to develop on existing growth within 24 hours of bringing the plant out of the dark. These blossoms had to be there already, and just weren’t visible yet.
Ah I see… perhaps the effects don’t happen within 24 hours but that it starts the cycle for flower buds to develope? Idk how it works in beans but I do know 22 hour cycle works very effectivly on Lambsquaters, Quinoa, Shiso & many others.
I think you are right, but it may force the new growth to have flower buds on them? I’m pretty sure that how it works with most plants that are herbaceous in general.
May the interspecies hybrid swarm commence 
