# Growing Pinto or Cranberry Beans



## mickeyyarber1 (Dec 27, 2010)

Hello all, I'm new here so please bear with me.

I'm interested in growing some bulk beans this season like Pinto or Cranberry. I've done a little reading up on it, but was wondering if anyone out here has any extra tidbits or advice for this. Any successes or failures?

Also, does anyone know of a reliable source to purchase beans from to start with?

Thanks,
Mickey


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

The only advise I can give is a weather fact, when the beans are drying on the plant in the garden it will rain. Better to pull up the whole plant and bring it indoors to dry than to leave it in the garden and lose the crop.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> Also, does anyone know of a reliable source to purchase beans from to start with?


You can plant beans from the grocery store


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

This may sound weird, but I just used dried beans I've bought at the grocery store. Never had any trouble with them growing.


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Bearfootfarm said:


> You can plant beans from the grocery store


That's where I got mine and they done very good. Except that I ended up loosing them all anyway. After they had dried on the vine I picked them all, hulled them out, and after letting them dry for a couple more days I bottled them up and put them up for next summers seed. However, come next spring when I opened the bottle, I found out that there was still too much moisture in the seeds and they had all sprouted, rotted, and turned moldy. I threw them all away. 

But mine grew very well. I was experimenting with the 3 sister planting. Plant field corn, followed by dry beans and winter squash. Everything was going well till the raccoons and possums found the corn.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

You'll find pinto beans in stores but ain't seen cranberry beans yet. You can almost be guaranteed that the pintos sold in bulk are bush so they can be planted as normal beans. With the cranberry, you'd have to be careful which you have. "True Red Cranberry" is a pole while "Vermont Cranberry" is a bush.

Planting advice for pintos and bush cranberry bean is minimum 8" spacing in double staggered rows 8" apart. Pole type of cranberry won't go much beyond 6'. 

Fairly reasonable place to order dry beans from is Vermont Bean Seed Company, www.vermontbean.com as they have a decent selection. Or, you might wait to see what I may have to offer in a few weeks. Won't be any pintos but should be something interesting from the 60 or so varieties grown this year. 

Martin


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Paquebot said:


> You'll find pinto beans in stores but ain't seen cranberry beans yet. You can almost be guaranteed that the pintos sold in bulk are bush so they can be planted as normal beans. With the cranberry, you'd have to be careful which you have. "True Red Cranberry" is a pole while "Vermont Cranberry" is a bush.
> 
> Planting advice for pintos and bush cranberry bean is minimum 8" spacing in double staggered rows 8" apart. Pole type of cranberry won't go much beyond 6'.
> 
> ...


Thread highjack,
Martin, I was hoping you would be offering some seeds this year. I love the ones I got from you last year.


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## dk_40207 (Jun 23, 2005)

You should check out this website http://www.heirlooms.org/index.html They grow and sell heirloom beans from Southern Appalachia. Worth a look to see all the different varieties they have. 

Derek


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

I plant great northern, red beans and black beans right from the grocery bag. 
Don't plant to dry, but pick when they are large enough to shell and eat fresh or can. Fresh northern beans or to die for. You can also pick some while tender and snap like green beans. Combo of both will knock your socks off!
The small red beans produce like crazy!


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## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

I have grown all types of shell beans to sell dried or fresh. Cranberry beans are popular here with the Italian and Eastern European crowds. I usually plant bush cranberry or Dwarf Taylor. One 200 foot row yields me 3-5 bushels of beans in the pod. I pick and sell the pods as soon as they color up by the 2 quart basket for $4 each. Buy your seed from a reputable company. Vermont Bean and Seed is a great company but prices have gotten very high lately. I buy from Harris, or Johnny's quite often. For inexpensive seed of dubious origins buy from Holme's Seeds. The seed is often mixed with other varieties and is slow to germinate but it is cheap. I bought lots of seed from Holmes last year cause I was poor and there were yellow beans mixed in my Dwarf Taylor but I survived  Dwarf Taylor are a high yielding variety . French Horticultural are semi bush, I have had 6 foot runners on them though, but the color is much better than with Taylor.

Try some other varieties of beans too . I make soup mixes from a row each of red kidney, black valentine , taylor, painted pony, red mexican , and navy beans. Just make sure they are very dry before making the mixed and no bugs 
Linda


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## zackm (Jan 3, 2011)

I'm currently growing cranberry beans in a hydroponic system. I originally took dried beans from a bag in the kitchen and grew them in a cup before placing them into the system. After five weeks, I have two plants with flowers (out of 15) although some others have a bit of nutrient burn. By the way, this is the first time I have ever planted anything.


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## oth47 (Jan 11, 2008)

If you plant beans from the grocery,do a sprout test first..sometimes you find some that won't sprout.Don't know the reason.


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## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

irradiated to kill bugs?


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## sammyd (Mar 11, 2007)

We do kidney beans sometimes and just pull the whole plant and hang for a month or so before we thresh, have left them till the next spring but they have a tendency to drop beans on the floor and make the garage messy........


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## rhelynn (Aug 25, 2011)

About storing beans in a jar - we do dry the beans out as much as possible then put them in the jars with handfuls of cheap rice and shake them once every few days. That gets rid of a lot of the moisture problem.


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## VT Chicklit (Mar 22, 2009)

I am currently growing Vermont Cranberry beans. In the past, I have finished drying my beans once they were removed from their dried pod on top of my refridgerator in a low 
(3") sided box. I periodically shake and move the beans in the box to keep them drying evenly. I also do bnot put too many in the box. By Christmas the beans are ready to be jarred and stored.


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