I just received my Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook and I'm wanting to order a pinto pole bean. There are several to choose from and of course I don't know anything about any of them or if there are any differences at all. Can someone give me some feedback on the following Pinto beans and let me know if any are better than others? Bear in mind that until this year I didn't even know that more than one variety of pinto beans existed!

Pinto Blue
Pinto Ga Ga Hut
Pinto Hopi Black
Pinto Pioneer
Pinto Seneca Allegany
Pinto Topaz

I'm afraid I've got no experience with any of those particular types, but if you are trying to choose one good strategy is to try to find a variety that comes from a climate similar to your own.

Short season versus long season, hot summer versus mild summer, dry versus humid--you get the point.

When I lived in Wisconsin I found myself buying a lot of things from seed suppliers in Maine, for example.

Thanks for the help.

Couple of questions: When a plant finishes early - for example one of these pinto says 80 days - how does that affect the yield? Do plants that finish early have lower yields generally?

Also, as far as you know, do all of the Pinto beans taste pretty much the same? I'm used to eating store bought stuff so I'm hoping to grow something that tastes familiar to me.

That's a good question. I think you're probably right--that a slower yielding plant may give you more yield, if the plant is bigger when it starts producing.

And yes, as far as I know almost all beans taste pretty much the same. They have different colors, and garbanzos taste different than pinto beans, but I can't imagine a lot of flavor difference.

As long as you keep picking them, pole beans keep coming usually, which is why a pole bean might not give much more than bush. Pole beans tend to work great for green beans, since they just keep coming all year (down here, my black eyed peas turn into pole beans and last for about 18 months!)

Not sure, but I wouldn't bet the farm on too many dried bean pole beans.

This is true for most annuals, keep picking, they keep flowering, let them go to seed, and they die off.

Fred Morgan wrote:As long as you keep picking them, pole beans keep coming usually, which is why a pole bean might not give much more than bush. Pole beans tend to work great for green beans, since they just keep coming all year (down here, my black eyed peas turn into pole beans and last for about 18 months!)

Not sure, but I wouldn't bet the farm on too many dried bean pole beans.

This is true for most annuals, keep picking, they keep flowering, let them go to seed, and they die off.

I also have some rattlesnake pole beans that will be in the mix too, but I do love me some pinto beans