Y'all need to give us more info as to what you want, Matthew.

Between us, AHSC members probably grow more than a hundred distinct varieties of Kentucky heirloom beans. Most of our many Kentucky varieties are great producers. But do you want beans that are better as snaps, shellies, or dry? What about size & shape. And taste---which is the criterium.

For what it's worth, I use Tobacco Worm as the standard against which all other pole beans are judged. Barnes Mountain Cornfield runs it a close second. And, while not an heirloom, Bill Best's NT Half-Runner is certainly numbered among the top picks.

What market are you working?

I was thinking about KY BLUE but y'all didn't seem to think much of it. Taste is important so is productivity. We'll be selling at the Campbell Co. markets. I really wasn't planning on growing any beans but the extension agent suggested it. So now I'm rethinking what I had planned to grow. Where would I find Tobacco Worm?

Best source for Tobacco Worm is Bill Best at the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center, in Berea, http://heirlooms.org. I usually sell them myself, but my stock is too low to supply a market grower's needs.

You might also consider joining AHSC (Appalachian Heirloom Seed Conservancy). Many of our members are quite willing to share seed. You'll have to think of it as a multi-year project, though. One year you grow primarily as a seed crop, and the next you produce your cash crop as well as seeds.

Of particular benefit for you, long term, would be our Fall Conference, where we have formal seed swaps; and the Market Growers Round Table Discussion, a freewheeling period in which market grower members discuss their unique needs and problems.

For information about AHSC send your snail-mail addy to KentuckySeeds@hotmail.com.

I don't know about your customers, matthew65, but the top seller at our local markets here in PA seem to be French filet beans. I grow "Emerite" beans with great success every year, and the vines grow and grow until frost.