General question here....
I've always heard that when you cross pollinate things like squash, it isn't visible until the seeds from that crop are planted themselves.
Correct?
Reason I'm asking is that I just picked a bunch of bush beans that most certainly were NOT Dragon Tongue beans, yet showed some of the coloration on the outside of the bean as well as on the bean seeds as well.
I know they were not Dragon Tongue because they were planted about 3 weeks after the Dragon Tongue beans, are in a different bed (although located within 10 feet), and I used all of the DT beans when I planted them the first time.
It was just darn odd, I tell you, which prompts the question do bean crosses present themselves in the same generation?
Posts
January 27, 2015 - Family update
9 years ago
Yikes, not to my knowledge - they usually will bear off-crop from the seed produced during the cross pollination season, but maybe there are some that do?? That would be big news worth knowing! Is it definitely not a mosaic virus causing streaking and off coloration?
ReplyDeleteNot that I could tell, Erin. Everything was as beautiful as they come with no noticeable problems. The few beans just had faint and sparse striping and sure enough the beanie things inside (future seeds)had a nice purple tinge.
ReplyDeleteBeans are self pollinating but certain pollinators can cross them on occasion. Usually the seed will look different if this happens though. Perhaps you got a pack of seed with a few extras, where did the seed come from?
ReplyDeleteHow strange! Can't wait to hear what others have to say, very interesting!
ReplyDeleteIt was just a pack of bush beans I picked up at the store...possibly even last year.
ReplyDeleteeh, who knows. It was interesting, at least.
Oh you planted bush beans and they grew like DT... little slow tonight :-) If the DT & bush beans crossed then the cross should only show in the seeds this year.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was thinking....seems like some beans got in a little hanky panky in the seed supplier's fields.
ReplyDeleteI always have a plant or two, in my green bush beans, that get the purplish stripes. The Contenders, this year, had one plant like that, and all the rest were green. They taste the same, and turn green when they're cooked. I had a yellow crookneck squash last year that was green striped. It tasted just as good as the yellow one, and they were both from the same package of seeds.
ReplyDelete