From: songbird@anthive.com   
      
   derald@invalid.com wrote:   
   ...   
   > Just as other legumes, green beans are nitrogen "fixers" which simply   
   > means that—with a little help from some friends—beans can take   
   > atmospheric nitrogen (N2) from the air and convert it to ammonium (N4),   
   > a form useful to the plant.  Some legumes can be induced to support more   
   > of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria than needed, allowing some of them and   
   > of the nitrogen to remain in the soil.  There's more to it than I've   
   > stated but the process isn't complex or expensive.   
      
     some of the more modern beans have had this trait largely   
   reduced or eliminated as i'm finding in my own growing of   
   many varieties.  some do not have many or any nodules at all   
   on the roots and others have plenty.   
      
      
   ...   
   > 	It sometimes seems that everything that has a mouth likes bean   
   > plants.  Down here, major culprits are cutworms, grasshoppersand "root   
   > knot" nematodes.  Each of those may be controlled with "naturral"   
   > pesticides.   
      
     some of the bean plants here have been chewed off by   
   cutworms this season when i started out and i replanted   
   those.  i could not find the culprit but i did get   
   enough plants to sprout to get some seeds back which is   
   why i was growing those particular plants.   
      
     what was interesting to me this season was that the   
   north garden (which doesn't have a fence around it) did   
   pretty well even if some of the bean plants were chewed   
   off by deer, rabbits or groundhogs.   
      
     the other day i weighed just one type of bean i grew and   
   it totaled over 23lbs with 12lbs coming from that one   
   garden (i don't keep track of how many beans i pick fresh   
   from the gardens so we did pick and eat some fresh beans   
   and also several pounds of shellies).  for a very small   
   bean that is a large number of seeds.  they're good eating   
   so we'll keep growing them as they're more reliable than   
   the pinto beans i've grown in the past.   
      
      
     songbird   
      
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