Sand Hill Preservation Center

The ALABAMA #1 that I grow and listed by Sand Hill, was bred by Auurn U.
It is purple streaked, not fully a purple pod
Charlie

Seeds of Diversity has Alabama #1 Purple Pod listed as...
Apparently extinct.
Not currently propagated by Seeds of Diversity's seed-savers.
Not known to have been sold commercially in North America for over 20 years.
Not maintained by the Canadian gene bank.
Not maintained by the U.S. gene bank.
So Alabama #1 Purple Pod and Alabama #1 are two different beans :(. Hopefully some seed saver has a few squirrel away. Are they listed in the Seed Savers Exchange by any chance?

Annette

Annette, I am the O.S. of the Alabama #1 that Sandhill sells. I got the seed from a local seed saver who was very adamant that they came from a professor at Auburn about 40 years ago. That is the good news. The bad news is that there are obvious signs they have been crossed with something else over the years. There are speckled and striped pods among the purple pods. I made an effort to separate out the original seed but was not entirely successful at eliminating the off types.

Alabama #1 is in ARS-GRIN and I have a request in for seed. I want to see how their stock compares with the beans I grow and that Glenn sells. By this time next year, I should have some good answers. So there is only 1 bean in question not 2.

"Alabama 1 - Breeder: Alabama Polytechnic Inst., Auburn. Vendor: Asgrow. Parentage: locally adapted farm garden stocks. Characteristics: pole bean with slender, smooth, deep root system; large yielder, almost round pods, between 7-8" in length. Resistance: hot weather, root knot; partially resistant to rust. Similar: Ideal Market. Adaptation: southern United States. Southern Seedsman 1938.'

This post was edited by fusion_power on Fri, Mar 21, 14 at 13:26

Thanks Dar, Seeds Of Diversity have them listed as two different cultivars, another one on the brink ?
SofD has 'Selma Star' listed as apparently extinct too but it ain't so :). Thanks to some help from Russ Crow it will soon be back in circulation at least in my neck of the woods.

Annette

Thanks everybody!
The one I am trying to find is the one that is supposedly extinct. It seems reasonable to assume that the original developer may have had several strains but why they would all be called Alabama no. 1 instead of sequential numbers is beyond my understanding. So hopefully I can get some of the true purple pod or maybe fusionpowers strain is a degenerate version as far as color or could have crossed with another type and maybe selective seed saving will work wonders.

SSE offered in the 1997 yearbook ALABAMA #1 PURPLE POD bean#3079
You may want to check with SSE to see if they still have in inventory
ALABAMA #1 has purple streaks in pods,black seeded,from Dr.Sam Jones of Auburn in 1963
There is also a ALABAMA #1 listed in the 1994 year book with green pods BN #1571
ALABAMA#2 BN 763 with green pods is listed in the 94 year book as is ALABAMA #1 BLACK small black seed,3 per pod
Charlie

This came up in Alabama #1
It looks more like Violet podded stringless,however it has black seed

JB White, I have the Alabama No#1 purple pod bean you are looking for, they have been grown by four generations of my family. I will send you some if you still want them.

Clifton, Can you post a bit more about the history of your beans and where you grow them?

Thanks,

What a great family heirloom! So glad you are keeping it going!