900 acres of Blue Lake Bush Beans.

[MichaelC]

Loving this thread, thank you Gary!

[Taiji]

I'm thinking about how many green beans I get from 2 little 6 foot rows. I usually plant stringless green pods. Many multiple pickings, so much I blanch and freeze some every year, and eat them all winter. It boggles the mind how many thousands of bushels 900 acres must give! By the way, unfortunately, I checked my schedule and it seems I have some previous pressing engagements that will prevent me from helping out with the 900 acre harvest come pickin' time! Sorry!

I guess you only get one "picking" with something like that? Once you go through with the harvesting equipment, there's no more harvesting, right? Or do farm workers actually go out and pick by hand?! In that case, you could get many pickings.

[Gary350]

I guess you only get one "picking" with something like that? Once you go through with the harvesting equipment, there's no more harvesting, right? Or do farm workers actually go out and pick by hand?! In that case, you could get many pickings.

I don't know for sure but I think your probably right. One thing I learned from my garden is, 65% of the total yearly green bean harvest comes from the first harvest. 25% comes from the second harvest and 10% comes from the 3rd harvest. You only loose 35% if the crop is gone after the first harvest.

[Gary350]

Beans are looking good.

[Gary350]

Green bean harvest.



These are the picking machines.



Big truck load of green beans.

[Taiji]

Wow! That should pay off the $74,000 loan! Since the beans are harvested so soon, will your cousin now plant something else for this season?

[Gary350]

Wow! That should pay off the $74,000 loan! Since the beans are harvested so soon, will your cousin now plant something else for this season?

Its not too late to plant another crop of Blue Lake bush beans. Some farmers plant winter wheat about Oct but I don't know what my cousin will do. Just have to wait and see it would be silly not to plant something, this is July 5th there is still several months of nice weather.

[Gary350]

Second Crop of Blue Lake Bush beans. Another 900 acres will be ready to harvest in a few weeks. I wonder how many cans of green beans they get from 900 acres.

[Francesco Delvillani]

Amazing...a sea of beans !!! how to do the harvest? it's difficult to separate the plant from the beans using a tractor?

[Gary350]

Amazing...a sea of beans !!! how to do the harvest? it's difficult to separate the plant from the beans using a tractor?

The company that is buying the beans has their own harvest machines. They bring about 10 harvesters on tractor trailer trucks and harvest about 250 acres each day as the beans were planted about 250 acres each day. Beans are picked then when the large buckets are full they are dumped into large trailers then taken to the factory to be processed.

Beans are a 65 day crop, it is easy to get 2 bean crops per season I do that in my home garden. I learned from 45 years of gardening 70% of the crop comes from the first harvest, 20% from the second harvest, 10% from the third harvest. I always pull up my beans after the first harvest, if I need more beans I plant again. 2 crops gives me 70% each time that is 70% + 70% = 140% or 40% more than 1 crop of beans.

[Gary350]

More green beans. This is the last of the beans.

[n8young]

Those green beans themselves look like junk. All spotty with something. Is that just dirt on the beans?