bean question

[Cornbelt]

  We've got this bean tree; vollyball post in center w/rebar in a tee pee shape. Planted big pole limas at ea rebar. Now its covered w/bean vines so thick light won't even come in. Been blossoming all along, but hardly any pods. Other beans, Ky Wonders, did well right next to it.
 
  So why no limas? Be lucky to be a pint of shelled limas, but had much more (about 10 qt. bucket full) of KY Wonder seeds.
 
 There must be something I'm missing.

[scratcherky]

  Beans are missing!!!

[keith44]

just a guess, but my first thought is too much nitrogen in relation to other nutrients.  Another thought is the arrangement of the vines on the "tree" blocking light and keeping the tempretures cooler so more plant energy was used for vine growth, like in early spring.  The blooms should have left small nodules that would have formed beans if this theory has any merit.
 
Once again I want to say that I am just guessing here.

[Cornbelt]

Had plenty of blossoms. And the KY Wonders were next to it on their own pole.
  Might try it again next yr w/fewer poles. Made a nice shady tee pee though.
  Couldn't be a healthier bunch of plants    ...except the beans are missing.
 
  Our main crop was sweet sorghum. It is healthy too. And blown flat on the ground.
  Sometimes things work, sometimes they just get interesting.

[blind ear]

Cornbelt, how do you use the sweet sorgum? thanks, ear

[Cornbelt]

It makes a good temporary "tar" for tar and feathering someone...  technique yet to be perfected.
 
 My specialty is sorghum and peanutbutter sandwiches.
 The wife's the real cook and she uses it for baking; bread, sour dough, baked beans, etc, anywhere one would use molassas. Makes good cookies and I also eat it on cornbread and beans.
 It breaks down more slowly than refined sugar. We also have a recipie for "coffee" using bran, cornmeal and sorghum all roasted together.
 Cattle like to pasture on it too, but all sorghums, including johnson grass sometimes develop prussic acid on the new growth after a frost, so sometimes its planted after soybeans, pastured or baled, then tilled under before frost.

[blind ear]

So you run it through a cain mill and juice it? How big a patch do you plant? Square feet, Acres? Sounded like a garden size patch and it looked like most standard uses of "sweet sorgum" would be too much trouble for that small of an ammount.
 
Just smear them good with syrup and tie them to a fire ant mound.
 
Thanks, ear

[Cornbelt]

Here's a shot of the cane mill. (if the picture works) We planted about half an acre and it about all got blown down and its a bear to cut then, but I cut it, strip it and pile it up for the next good weekend, then mill it and boil it down. Last wk end we got about 15 gals. Couple weekends before we got about the same.
  If it wasn't planted so thick, it might not have blown down and lodged so badly, then I could cut the leaves off while its standing and chop it later.
  Most of it will get bushoged, 'cause we're getting tired of it and have enough to last us a yr or two

[blind ear]

Wow, never thought of raising sugar. That opens all kinds of doors.
 
Thank you. ear

[bilmac]

Cornbelt, I don't think we have a long enough season at our altitude to get grain on sorghum, but do you think I might be able to get it big enough to squeeze?

I wonder if you have a long enough season to grow pole limas. We can't grow any limas at all here. It seems that pole beans take longer than bush beans, so maybe being both limas and pole beans they just don't have enough time where you live.

[Cornbelt]

I went out today and checked again. Bean blossums and a few pods, quite a few more than meets the eye the foilage is so thick, but lots of pods aren't mature, so if it doesn't come a kill frost, i'll be getting a few, but next yr I think i'll plant earlier and on an east and west trellis instead of a tee pee.
 
 As to the sorghum, if johnson grass will grow where you live, it might be possible to raise sorghum. If it doesn't head, the sugar content will be a lot less, but that's easy enough to tell by cutting off a piece and knawing on it.
  If processed too early, it may contain more starch than sugar, but malt will convert it. We do that just to make sure, and it only takes the seeds about a day to sprout so it can be had in a hurry.
  http://nssppa.org/
   http://msucares.com/crops/sorghum/index.html
  Here are a couple links that can tell a lot more than me, esprcially the Mississippi experiment station. Got some seed from there last year and had 14' stalks.
  Lot of varieties are a lot shorter and take a shorter growing period.
  I think I read somewhere they have varities that grow well in Minnesota which is pretty far north of here.
  As far as syrup to juice ratio, its about 6:1. Mayple syrup is 40:1, so we're doing sorghum. It's been interesting, and goes good with the beans

[blind ear]

Cornbelt, very interesting, thank you, ear

[Cornbelt]

  Here is a link to the DIY Lounge with more pictures.      ...and the great bean question is: Where are the beans?
                                                  (That's what's being et)
 
  http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,242787.0.html