Pole beans, specifically the old Alabama #1 pole beans

I requested seed from USDA ARS-Grin seedbank for Alabama #1 pole beans several months ago and planted a 20 foot long section of row. Mature dry beans produced so far should total about a pint which I will send to Glenn Drowns at Sandhill Preservation. They should be available on his site early next spring.

What is different about these beans? The seedbank beans match old descriptions of Alabama #1. They tend to be long season producers meaning you can pick edible beans for 8 to 12 weeks. This is longer than many modern beans that produce for 5 or 6 weeks. They are heavy producers with an abundance of beans per plant. I often compare with Rattlesnake as it is very productive in my climate. The USDA Alabama #1 beans could easily go toe to toe with Rattlesnake for production. They are good flavored snap beans either cooked fresh or put up by canning for winter. They are a moderate fiber bean meaning they have a good crisp snap but no long fibers in the bean. The strings are medium size which makes them easily pulled off. A huge advantage is that they appear to be somewhat repellent to insect pests. Very few of the beans I harvested showed pest feeding. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give them a solid 8.5 for the combination of disease and pest tolerance in a good flavored productive snap bean.

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Hi Fusion_power,

My grandfather has been growing green beans in his garden for probably upwards of 50 years now and while he always referred to them as ā€œAlabama black beansā€ and said you couldnā€™t buy the seeds anywhere these days, some research has led me to believe what he grew may have been Alabama #1.

He recently passed and I am desperately trying to keep this variety alive both because my family loves them and because it meant so much to him that he was the only person he knew still growing them, but I have almost no gardening experience and am afraid Iā€™ll let these die out.

I recognize your username from other forums and believe youā€™re very knowledgeable about this variety. I was curious if you could tell me if it seems like these beans are what you know to be Alabama #1? (I have more photos if needed, but I believe Iā€™m limited to posting one image as a new user).

Also, because it seems that youā€™re interested in preserving this strain, Iā€™d be happy to send you any of my own beans if youā€™d like them for any reason.

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Iā€™d be glad to get some of your beans, but perhaps more useful would be to get some to Glenn Drowns at Sandhill Preservation. Also useful would be to offer them here on the forum with the intent of getting people to grow them. The more people growing a variety, the more likely it will stay around for the future.

The beans you have are similar to but not the same as the Alabama #1 pole beans Iā€™ve grown. This may just be a case of a variety that drifted genetically over a period of many years. In other words, yours may have started as Alabama #1 but are now a slightly different strain. The important thing is that they are good beans and worth preserving for the future.

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I grew Alabama #1 (seed from Sandhill) this year, along with 5 other varieties.
Alabama #1 was the ā€˜winnerā€™ in productivity, texture, and flavor. Will definitely plant it again next year.

Blue Marbut was a close second, but did not have the overall productivity of AL #1.
Black Greasy & White Greasy were OK, but I was not impressed with their productivity.
Sicitalian Black Swamp, which Iā€™ve grown for the past 2 years, is just not a favoriteā€¦ pods go mushy when cooked, and it was not especially productive here.
Virginia White, a Romano type, was a very early producer of LARGE meaty pods. If you like an Italian type bean, I can recommend it heartily. Itā€™s still producing a few pods, but leaves ā€˜burned offā€™ weeks agoā€¦ I can look down the row and tell exactly where it is growing.

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I know this is an old thread but I have recently aquired soma Alabama #1 (also called purple corn field beans) seed from someone. They had a family member that grew them forever, saving seed from year to year and last grew them in 1995, when they put saved seed in the freezer. 4 years ago a younger family member decided to try to grow them and succeeded. They have continued the tradition of saving seed and sold me some this year. I canā€™t wait to grow them! My research has turned up very little information on them besides this thread. Where could I learn more?

You have to have a memory like an elephant.

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 1;38, 2;44. 1938.

While not in that blurb, Auburn started with seed from a market gardener and did a bit of breeding work to make Alabama #1.

Sandhill Preservation has the original Alabama #1 beans https://www.sandhillpreservation.com/beans

Sandhill also has Blue Marbutt beans which are also Alabama #1 hidden under a family name. Blue Marbutt is identical to the original in all aspects save perhaps a tiny bit more blue/purple color. Under any name, they are excellent beans for fresh eating and canning.

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