Fava breeding

[Tim DH]

Also available here!

https://wildmountainseeds.com/product/diversify-fava-grex/

I'd not heard of Ianto Evans before. ...

Tim DH

[William Schlegel]

Also available here!

https://wildmountainseeds.com/product/diversify-fava-grex/

I'd not heard of Ianto Evans before. ...

Tim DH

I wouldn't say that is precisely the same as Ianto's return, but from the language used likely descendent. I am pretty sure that Wild Mountain Seeds like many of us also owes a debt of gratitude to Joseph Lofthouse for many of their offerings and even techniques.

Interestingly Siskiyou seeds made a similar pilgrimage to Ianto's a few years back leading to their Andean Mix and some of their other South American offerings. https://www.siskiyouseeds.com/products/fava-beans-andean-mix

To me the more interesting story is that for while the most part the Columbian exchange was pretty one sided indigenous South American farmers have been a primary steward of fava diversity originally from the old world for the last ~500 years.

The most diverse fava source I know of is in Canada but it looks to be sold out for 2022 https://prairiegardenseeds.ca/collections/beans/fava I've never ordered from them- they also have an amazing small grains collection.

[Diane Whitehead]

Yes,  Jim Ternier is not going to be selling vegetable seeds this year.

[William Schlegel]

That is ok. I wish I could go visit his operation or that of someplace like Sandhill. Don't know how some folks manage it all. Lots of moving parts.

[gmuller]

I'm working on a highly diverse fava grex, incorporating material from most of the named traditional varieties available in Aust (which i think are mostly British), but also of host of material from Europe, the Syrian agricultural research centre, South America, Africa, central Asia and China. Material sourced from the Australian grains gene bank, which has about 2000 accessions. I picked the landraces exhibiting disease or drought resistance, or that looked interesting to incorporate into my existing grex, last season and this coming season.
GM

[Steph S]

I've just been reading up on favas because I am going to trial them for the first time this year.
So this thread is a pretty awesome read from start to finish.

I've been hesitant to try favas in the past for a couple of reasons.  Main one is that the ants and aphids here at my site don't need any encouragement. 

Another reason, I had some gifted me from the farm one year, and they were very nice eating but it seemed like the space they occupied and the yield of pods and skins was so much more than the actual beans.  Rethinking that from a cover crop and compost pov, I understand they add a lot of N, and it might be better to think of the food as a bonus for the effort to recondition and build/rebuild some more soil for growing in.  It makes more sense than cramming them into an overfull garden, to let them be the pioneers.   

Reading about the diversity here makes the food part more exciting, for sure.  I have some Black Russian seeds and some Aquadulce.  Some for my mother's garden, where she can be the arbiter of taste, and some for the old vegetable garden here, to see if they pass the moose test.

[William Schlegel]

Only about four fava germinants so far this spring spread between four patches. They were planted during a dry spell in February. It has been a cold dry slow spring. The four that are up are still quite small but have been up awhile.

[William Schlegel]

Fava are finally getting ripe seeds. Not many plants this year due to seed predation and that dry February and March weather. However got two fingerprint plants one green and one tan. Also just found a brown spotted ringed with purple an obvious cross for my garden.

[Greenie DeS]

Very few of my favas set seed this year, most of them had flowers that just withered after blooming. They were planted late but I'm surprised this is the result, I was expecting lots of green pods that didn't have time to ripen.

[Steph S]

We're getting a few pods on the Black Russian - I have a couple of Aquadulce Smeralda which were late germinating and one that went in the ground earlier but hasn't set a thing.
I was expecting these to be really popular with the pollinators but TBH I haven't seen a one bee even give them the time of day.  Garden is full of bumblebee favorites, but this doesn't seem to be one of them.  It's possible ants have pollinated them, there are certainly ants around, but I haven't seen aphids on them either since they went outdoors. The patch I put at Mom's has a similar set of pods at the bottom of the plant but maybe not above?  Hard to tell.   She's eaten a few, and I encouraged her to eat them up and we'll see if they produce more when they're picked, as peas do.  Any thoughts?
I also have no clue yet about seed saving, that's the main purpose of my little patch, but I really am not sure how long to expect this to take.

I took a look at the listing of favas at Prairie Garden Seeds, very tempting.  If this works out at all I will probably grow again, although Mom's comment about low yield is what I thought about them all along - great big pods with scanty beans.   Hoping the soil benefits are notable, as that would certainly make it worth growing if there's vacant growing space where they can get by without a lot of attention.
As a side note, the Black Kabuli chick pea is looking great at Mom's but hasn't flowered yet.  Those are supposedly drought tolerant, I'm not sure about favas.

[Greenie DeS]

Black russian was my most reliable last year. I think it made up roughly 50% of my saved (and likely crossed) seeds.

Looking more closely I see a pattern of a couple older, big pods on some of the plants, then nothing, then a series of smaller pods from just recently. Perhaps in the sandy soil they weren't getting enough water to form new pods? The pods that do exist may correspond to higher water events.

[Steph S]

I just looked couple days ago and found a similar pattern, with big gap then a few little ones coming on.
Plants that flopped over produced multiple stalks and at least a few extra beans.
Some of the pods in my patch have an ugly funk on them - raised black spots like a black wart.  Other pods have taken on a bit of a brown sheen but not close to being "black" as expected for seed saving.   Then yesterday I saw a stalk turning yellow and one of its sibling stalks had hit the ground already, with two dry black pods in tow.  So I grabbed those but amounts to 5 seeds.
Is there any chance of drying down some dryish green-brown pods for seed?   I picked a bunch before a big rain yesterday, not sure, should I try to dry them?  Or just eat them as is.  I figured the rain and overall damp weather wouldn't get them closer to ripe, but the fungus thing more likely get em.

[Greenie DeS]

Last year I picked mine after the fall rains had started, when voles had got at most of them in a big wet tangle. I put them in a couple dairy crates -- the whole plants -- and put them on the bench over my indoor heater. Then after a month I shelled them. The seeds grew! At that point everything was black, the pods, the stems, the leaves. I would highly recommend experimentation in non-optimal conditions, it did pay off for me.

When something is less than fully ripe I do always try to pick it with the full plant and hang that for a bit, I figure it gives the equivalent of a couple extra days.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I often pick fava beans for seed when the pods turn slightly brown: Long before they dry down. I either shell them immediately by hand, and dry on a flat surface, or dry them in the pods for stomp-thrashing later on.

[Steph S]

Thank you both, that is very helpful to know.   I did think of pulling the whole plants but would be difficult to find a dry place for that.  Very humid here when not actually raining.   Had not thought of shelling them and drying the beans - this would be a great help.  But the pods I did pick already are brownish and rather dry, so as long as they seem to be moving in the dry direction I am reassured about the prospect of seed.  May try the direct shelling on some greener ones though, when space opens up in the dryer (now full of pea pods).