I've grown Provider. It does pretty well here (Rogers County). I've also tried Blue Lake, Kentucky Wonder and Roma II. This year I'm just growing the Contender and the Roma II because they do the best for me and I have limited space. I figure I'll probably just grow the two of them next year as well since they seem to be our favorites.

I've grown Provider, Derby and Jade. Provider is just about as good as contender, but I still like Contender better. I don't remember what the given DTMs are for either of them, but Contender produces slightly earlier and slightly heavier. We also like them better. When I grew Derby and Jade, they were just average, run-of-the-mill green beans and nothing about them was special or stuck out in my mind. I might have planted them a second year, but it was only to use up the rest of the seed from the packet.

I'll grow up to 12-15 different bean varieties per year, but there's not much of anything that knocks Contender off the list.

Got it. Guess I shouldn't mess around with something that works. Contender does really good here. I have a row of Topcrop next to it. No comparison. I'll probably stick with Contender.

I have had real issues getting all of the seeds to germinate. Any ideas? Some come up really well, but I have a lot of holes in the row. Topcrop had better germinatin.

Is the seed fairly fresh? That would be my first consideration if I had seed that wasn't sprouting well.

Otherwise, the main factors affecting seed germination tends to be soil moisture and soil temperature.

I am sure you weren't trying to sow the seed when the soil was too cool, but maybe if you've tried to sow some lately the soil might be too warm?

I often refer back to Tom Clothier's seed germination data base when I feel like temperatures might be in the wrong range at a time when someone is having germination problems. I'll find it and link it below.

Getting bean seeds to germinate in the summer for a fall harvest can be tricky once the soil temperatures hit the low 80s. Sometimes when I am trying to get seed to sprout in July for fall beans, I drag 4 lawn chairs into the garden, place one at each corner of the bean bed, and use clothespins to affix an old bedsheet to the 4 chairs in order to temporarily shade the ground where I planted bean seed. I'd use the much more attractive shade cloth, but by that point in time, it usually is errected over the pepper plants to help keep them producing heavily and to help prevent sunscald.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tom Clothier's Vegetable Seed Database

I read a article yesterday that suggested using those silver mylar emergency blankets for sun shields in heat. I haven't seen one in awhile, but they used to be cheap. I am thinking about skirting the buckets I have tomatoes in to shield from the sun. Could also put it under cucurbits like reflective mulch.

Actually, it was the seed from Willhite. I have had trouble with all bean seeds from them. Wonder if I'm the only one. Bought some from a local feed store and it germinated much better.

Willhite's blue lake pole also had lousy germination.

The only bean seed I planted from Willhite this spring was Blue Lake FM1K, and it was last year's seed and it germinated OK (but not great) and the plants have grown just fine. They must be very tasty plants because the grasshoppers seem to prefer them to everything else in the garden except for borage and catnip, so I doubt they'll live long enough to produce anything unless the grasshoppers suddenly take off for greener pastures.