I haven't grown them, but I have eaten them a number of times, stir fried in a wok with oil, sometimes with a bit of ground meat and spicily seasoned. In any Chinatown you will see them for sale, tied in bundles. They are a very popular Chinese vegetable.

Long beans are in the genus Vigna, same as cow peas, and not Phaseolus like regular string beans.

Jim

Thanks Jim. I am looking for some Red Noodles. They look really interesting to grow. I have the yard long ones,and the foot long ones. That red color really catchs the eye though. :) Arum

I have grown several varieties of yardlong bean, and try at least one new variety each year.

"Liana" is a black seeded yardlong with dark green pods. The vines are strong climbers, and need a tall trellis. It is the earliest by far, tolerates cooler temperatures, and has a very heavy yield. The pods are about 16"-18" long at their optimal (thin) stage. It has proven to be reliable here in Wisconsin, even in cool summers, and is my main yardlong crop.

"Red Noodle" has a later maturity (at least at my Northern location), requires more heat, is a reluctant climber (requires training), and does not have the best yield.

So why is it still one of my favorites? The color, for one thing; reddish-purple, and it loses little of its color when blanched or cooked lightly (as yardlongs should be). The color will turn bluish, but if a little vinegar is added, the color is restored to a burgundy red - and makes a beautiful sauce. I serve it alone as an attractive vegetable, with vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic powder as seasoning. It lends a beautiful color to Asian soups.

The pods are fairly short for a yardlong (generally 12"-15") when harvested at the proper stage, which is before the seeds begin to bulge in the pods (pencil size or smaller). But the quality more than compensates for the smaller size. The texture is very firm, and the flavor is rich, almost nutty. Unlike most yardlongs, it is palatable raw, and makes an interesting addition to salads when picked very small.

"Taiwan Black" is another black-seeded cultivar, with rampant vines and a heavy yield. This is probably the strongest climber of any of my yardlongs. The pods are pale green, somewhat wrinkled in appearance, and _very_ long - 24" or longer even when young! And you would need to pick them very young, at about 3/16" width, because they develop strings rapidly. During hot weather, the pods grow quickly, and require picking almost daily. The flavor is very delicate, milder than most yardlongs... but the pods are extremely sensitive to overcooking. If you are just starting out with yardlongs, this might not be the best choice... but the pods sure do earn bragging rights!

I usually start my yardlongs as transplants; but if limas & cowpeas do well in your area, you should be able to direct-seed yardlongs at the same time. The vines seem to prefer to climb natural support, although well-rusted construction remesh works too. For me, to get the tallest vines (I use a 6&1/2 foot trellis), 15-18" between plants seems to be the optimal spacing. If you use shorter support, plant them more closely (perhaps 4-6" apart) to stunt the runners. "Red Noodle" (if crowded) can be grown trailing, much like some of the more unruly cowpeas.

I've only grown Stickless Wonder, a bush variety with pods about 12" long. My favorite thing about yardlongs is that they love the heat and keep producing through most of the summer. I'd love to try others, but where my garden plot is located, if I built trellises for taller varieties, I'd shade out other crops.

Thanks for all the excellent comments! I do love me some beans! :) Arum

We grow a yard long called Georgia Long, which has putty red seed and pods reaching 24" long. I got my seed from Seed Savers Exchange members, Virgil and Hazel Johnson, in MO, back in 1984. It's an excellent bean with rampant vines. The pods stay tender till late.

I had this one cross with Black Crowder Cowpea, back in the mid 90's and still have seed for two lines, both of which climb well and make excellent snaps. However their pods are only about a foot long. One line has pods resembling that of Black Crowder, and the other has the "puffy" style pod of a yard long (when seed is maturing). The first line has crowded seed, and the other has the spaced out, longer seed. I need to grow these out sometime or I'm going to lose them.

In 1984 my wife Jerreth, and I gave seed of Georgia Long, to her grandparents in Salem, Illinois (southern part of the state). They grew it every year from 1985 until at least 1997. Grandma passed away in 1995 and GrandpaÂs health was so poor, that in 1997 he presented me with a bottle of seed and asked me to keep it going from him, as he couldnÂt garden any more. He had forgotten that we had given the variety to them originally. While growing this "bean," Grandpa planted about 20 feet on tripods and had so many that he absolutely couldnÂt eat them all. He would put out his surplus on a picnic table in the front lawn and a sign advertising free green beans!

George
Tahlequah, OK

Yes, I started growing them a few years ago and like their novelty appeal and I LOVE their taste. As my fellow Wisconsinite noted above, they have a nutty flavor that my family and I prefer to regular bush beans.

I also think the flowers are beautiful and we grow them for their eye appeal also. They grow so fast that I recall one incident when I was weeding the garden and noticed the first blossom on a yard-long bean. I worked for a few hours more, went to fetch someone to show them this beautiful flower, but by the time we reached the plant the blossom had dropped and there was a tiny podlet in its place!

Macmex, would you be willing to do a trade for either or both of your hybrid pea lines?

Tell you what. The seed is getting old, and I haven't been able to grow it out. I'll need you to pay me postage and I'll send you a generous sample. Then, perhaps, I can send you $ for postage and you can send ME some seed!

George