Thanks.....I love the look of that seed...I like a fat meaty bean....

Hey folks,

When able I will post more. Last week I had some communication with Gene, the source for this seed. He's concluded that we should be calling it Childers Cutshort, since it is a lot more vigorous than a half runner.

My garden trial of this and Ruth Bible pole bean went very well this summer. These two, together with our own Tennessee Cutshort performed wonderfully. All three are great beans!

Will post more later!

George
Tahlequah, OK

George, I can't wait any more so I had to post. Whats the verdict. Rodger

Oops! I was forgetting to post again! Sorry! I've been meaning to communicate with you, Rodger, and ask for your input. Here are my conclusions:
Ruth Bible, while similar, is a completely different bean. Its seed is smaller, on average, than that of the other two. Its pods tend to be more round and, on the average, contain one more seed per pod than the other two. Also, its pods get tougher when drying down, than the other two. I ended up with twice as much seed of Ruth Bible as I did of the other two; and this, for the same basic size planting, for seed. This bean was at least a week later, to produce snaps. But it had dry seed over a week earlier and continued production after the other two (tripods left for seed and not picked) were drying down completely, and not producing more pods. I harvested first dry seed of Ruth Bible at 79 days.

Tennessee and Childers Cutshorts are VERY similar. I suspect they come from the same original source. The only tangible difference I could find between them was that one vine of Childers had violet colored flowers and light striping on the pods when the dried down. The striping on the pods was so light, that later in the summer I couldn't locate any striped pods. I also noted that Childers Cutshort was a bit quicker on starting to climb the supports than the other two. I made my first picking of snaps, of both Childers Cutshort and Tennessee Cutshort at 61 days from seed. My notes indicate that I could probably have picked a week earlier. Tennessee and Childers Cutshorts produced dry seed at about the same time, probably 87 days. I had a glitch in my notes and can't be dogmatic about number of days this year. Tennessee Cutshort produced dry seed, last year, at 87 days.

I would treat Tennessee and Childers Cutshorts as different, but the honest truth is that, if I got them mixed up, I'd never know. Hence, though I'll grow Childers Cutshort, from time to time, in order to maintain seed, I won't plan on growing it out in as great of quantity as I did this summer. I'll focus more on our own family heirloom, Tennessee Cutshort. I would heartily recommend Childers Cutshort, however, to anyone interested in a great multipurpose pole bean.

We went through over 1 1/2 months of no rain and daily temps over 100 F. I did throw some buckets of water on Tennessee and Childers Cutshorts (the ones I planted just for eating; not the seed tripods, hoping to have a fall crop of snaps. At this point they are all setting on more pods. This "second crop" has shorter pods, and they are no where near as numerous as in the first flush. But they are feeding us.
All three are great beans. Ruth Bible, though it gets tough when drying down, is still a prolific, tasty bean and OUTSTANDING for shell and dry. The other two are slightly better, in my opinion, for snaps.

Rodger, what did you conclude?

George our results are very similar. I totally agree Ruth bible is a different bean. My Ruth Bible was two weeks later to bloom than the Childers and Tenn Cutshort but was first to set pods. The Childers and Tenn cutshort even thought they both bloomed the same day neither set pods till we had a good rain first part of June. So Ruth Bible is more reliable in Heat and drought. Ruth Bible also has some variability in pod size avg pod size is 4-5 inches but they are atleast 25% at 6inches and as you stated the pod shape especially on the longer pods is more rounded. The Childers and Tenn Cutshort were a uniform 4-5inches flater pod. All three in taste showed no difference mine all had white blooms and vines around ten plus feet based on 7ft poles and vines hung down about halfway. I did get more seed on the Ruth Bible but with drought and limited water all my plants were gone by end of July. On another note The Ruth Bible Tenn Cutshort and Childers Cutshort where the only common bean I had not under isolation cages. I did have 100ft between ruth bible and others and 75ft between Tenn and Childers Cutshort. I mention this because the only plants in the garden that the Japanese beetles attcked was the Ruth Bible. They didn't cause much damage and were gone in a couple of weeks, however I did think it intersting that I never saw any beetles on the other two. When the Mexican bean beetles arrived the three beans where already on the last leg but again it was the Ruth Bible that I first noticed the beetles but all three did get MBB and the Parasitic wasp did rid the garden once again of the MBB. did not check or notice any difference in toughness on the beans. With our severe drought the pods dried nicely to the shatter point on the vine and all three held their seed and had closed pods unlike some beans I have grown especially some Limas the pods tend to open releasing the seed when dry. George I will be talking on these three beans at the Appalchian Heirloom seed conservancy annual meeting first weekend in Octand if you have other more detailed information could you please e-mail me so we can compare notes . It is not too late to sign up if anyone is intersted in attending the meeting in Berea Kentucky at the home of Bill Best. Rodger

How I wish I could attend! But at our stage of life, and present circumstances, we have to talk and plan ahead if we are going to spend $16 on a cattle panel, let alone travel to a conference! Rodger, I'll look through my notes and send you anything else I can find. I do have some pretty detailed information on sources for Tennessee and Childers Cutshorts.

George
Know that the thread was about Half Runner but read,with hope,that you might mention the new Runner bean you have.

Jim,

I'll do that. But I don't have time to write today, and I'll probably start another thread on it :)