Hi, has anyone found a way to get the following seeds recommended by Roland Bunch shipped to the US:
- Promiscuous soybeans
- Bambara groundnuts
- 60 day cowpea
- Lojy-be cowpea
Thanks!
Great question Mike! I’d also love to know if anyone has access to these seeds.
We have Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) here at the Global Seed Bank which we got from the ECHO East Africa Seed Bank in Arusha, Tanzania. We just have the trial packets but if you find a supplier you can import bulk seed with a general plant import permit.
We do not have the other 3 items
The ‘Reddish Brown’ cowpea that we have from Central African Republic flowers at 50-55 days and it has great coverage and but is a vigorous climber later in the season. I’ll attach some photos.
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Reddish Brown cowpea planted same time as maize. 30cm apart in 75cm rows.
43 days
50 days
55 days
79 days
Photo credit: Holly Sobetski
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Hi again! I edited my post above as the Reddish Brown does climb later in the season, so it is not a good intercropping option unless it is sown well after the corn is established. We are looking to acquire some new varieties of cowpea and hope to do a trial sometime in the next year to find an early maturing, bushy cowpea variety suited for the tropics. Stay tuned…
I don’t know about the availability of these varieties, but rareseeds.com (Baker Creek seed company) has offered a 6 week pink eye purple hulled cowpea before if you need a cowpea that can be harvested quickly. They are also a good resource for finding various hard to find plants.