Emmalea Ernest, Extension Fruit & Vegetable Specialist; emmalea@udel.edu
I have been testing round and flat podded bush snap bean varieties almost every year since 2017. Yearly trial reports are available on the Extension Variety Trial Webpage. However, I recently updated an analysis comparing variety performance in multiple years and trials. There are some varieties that have consistently performed well over time.
Snap beans that are planted on Delmarva in May and June often experience high temperatures during flowering and have low yields as a result. One goal of my trials is to identify varieties that produce high marketable yields despite heat stress. The most heat tolerant varieties I have trialed are PV 857 and Greenback. Additional varieties that have produced high marketable yields over multiple trials are Bridger, Byrd, Nyquist, Annihilator and Dominator. In 2024, one of my trials had a lot of stand loss due to pythium. The varieties with low levels of pythium, indicating tolerance, were Caprice, HM5101, Peary, Byrd and Greenback.
The best performing flat podded varieties in my trials have been Usambara, Solferina, and Velero. Generally, the flat podded varieties are not as heat tolerant as the round podded ones. Usambara does seem to have some heat tolerance.
In 2024 I tested eleven varieties of climbing snap beans. The best yielding varieties were Cobra (round podded) and Early Riser (flat podded). A summary of the results of that trial are in the table below.
