Sourcing bush-type Jack Beans (Canavalia) & disease-resistant tepary beans

I am having trouble finding a source of bush-type Jack Bean. We are having great results with Jack Bean perennial intercropping with taller vegetables like Okra but I think a bush-type would be easier to manage and keep slashed down for shorter vegetables.

Also considering perennial peanut as a perennial permanent weed-suppressing nitrogen-fixing intercrop with vegetables (slash back and plant into permanent ground cover slashed just above ground) and have ordered some seed (which later will propagate through rhizomes) unless someone near me can share some rhizomes. I am in South Sudan.

Also looking at tepary beans and wondering what might be the most disease-resistant varieties for the rainy season (tolerate both wet and dry)? And also considering the most drought tolerant for early first rains intercropping planting before sorghum is planted so we can get an early crop to prevent the “hunger season” and also relay cropping it into sorghum or maize at the end fo the season and have finish on the last rains and residual moisture.

1 Like

pleases contact ECHO Asia Seedbank, I think we have some bush-type Jack Bean seed.
https://www.echocommunity.org/en/regions/Asia…

3 Likes

The bushy bean is probably better for that purpose, but it still gets pretty tall. I seen it chest level, so there may be challenges with intercropping with very short veggies. Either way, I think you benefit from experimenting with it.

Hi Dan, We have 7 varieties of tepary beans available for qualified workers. They are all drought tolerant, actually drought-evading because they have a short life cycle. Tepary beans do not tolerate wet weather or humidity very well so are most productive with just enough soil moisture to mature the crop and dry weather as beans mature and dry. I would choose a few out our our selection (or from other sources) and do a comparison, saving seeds from what seems best suited. You can read the descriptions here – https://members.echocommunity.org/store/ListProducts.aspx?catid=&ftr=tepary&p=0