July 8
Most of the plants measured 31 inches tall on July 8, and I counted 11 fully developed trifoliolates. You can see beetle damage on some of the upper leaves, but healthy leaves continue to appear above them. I think the beetle activity has slowed significantly over the past week, so this crop shouldn't suffer any more because of that pest.
The big new this week is the appearance of pods! You can see some beginning to form at the juncture of the lateral branches in the middle of this image. I apologize that the central stalk of the plant is not is focus. Since we've had very hot weather and minimal rain, we'll watch these (and hopefully other) pods develop to try to determine whether these plants are suffering heat stress at this critical time in the formation of the crop.
I scanned back through your other bean related posts and did not see mention of what kind of beans these are? Our previous home was right in the midst of farmland... apple orchards for many years, then they were torn down and wheat, corn and green beans were grown there on various years. I loved it when they were growing beans because an hour or so before dinner I could send the kids out with a basket and our vegetable would be taken care of! We even used to eat something called Green Bean Stroganoff which sounds weird but was really good... hmm I'm gonna have to dig that recipe up and try it out again now that I'm reminded of it:)
ReplyDeleteThese are soybeans Diane, so I don't recommend your stroganoff recipe using these critters. I've never seen green beans grown commercially around our house, but I know they are usually grown closer to the river about 25 miles from here. Let me know if you still remember how to make Green Bean Stroganoff!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to hasten to add that we had the permission of the farmer to pick from the fields whenever we wanted... didn't want to give the impression that we were stealing from him! Eeek.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification Diane. I was too embarrassed to ask....
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