Author Topic: Mucuna Pruriens  (Read 1886 times)

Pokeweed

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Mucuna Pruriens
« on: October 29, 2019, 07:47:02 AM »
Hi Folks, I have a velvet bean that is loaded with beans and a cold snap coming. Will the vine tolerate a few degrees of frost? Will the seed be damaged? Thanks, Dan

pineislander

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Re: Mucuna Pruriens
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2019, 08:44:06 PM »
Let us know how they turned out. I have about 1/4 acre with ripening pods but seldom if ever get frost here.

Pokeweed

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Re: Mucuna Pruriens
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2019, 08:31:00 AM »
The weather stated above freezing. The pods are fine and ready to harvest. I'm using this as a nitrogen fixer between my grape vines and have been very happy with the results. D

pineislander

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Re: Mucuna Pruriens
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2019, 08:05:14 AM »
What color are the seeds of your velvet beans? Where did you source them? The ones I have I found too vigorous climbers which tend to climb and smother things. Unless trimmed back i found they could overcome other things.
I got some commercial seeds the bag said origin was South Africa, the seeds were mottled to black.
How many months did they take to flower and set seed?

Pokeweed

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Re: Mucuna Pruriens
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2019, 08:26:20 AM »
I believe they were mottled. I planted them early May, they grew a bit and made a few pods, but about August they really took off and made a lot of pods. I have not harvested any yet. Looks like we have a real frost coming this week and I won't be there to pick them until afterward. I got them from Grower Jim. D

pineislander

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Re: Mucuna Pruriens
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2019, 05:26:20 PM »
I believe they were mottled. I planted them early May, they grew a bit and made a few pods, but about August they really took off and made a lot of pods. I have not harvested any yet. Looks like we have a real frost coming this week and I won't be there to pick them until afterward. I got them from Grower Jim. D
I see the type Grower Jim is selling look very similar to mine.
https://growerjim.blogspot.com/2014/11/velvet-bean-mucuna-pruriens-var-utilis.html
I am wondering how the white seeded varieties grow.
I shelled out 50 lbs last winter, the pods are very hard. I let them field dry as much as possible then on some days with very low humidity I put them in the back of my black pickup truck bed and let them bake in the sun for a few days. A very few pods began to naturally split explosively. As the pods cracked open they would twist and throw seeds. The tougher ones I could pinch a pod between my thumb and index fingers then smack them against the metal till they release.
Mine have grown from January till November pods are still green. I think they are daylength sensitive flowering as days shorten in fall. They were plenty mature enough all summer but would not flower. 

Kada

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Re: Mucuna Pruriens
« Reply #6 on: November 14, 2019, 07:31:57 AM »
Interesting you grow them between you grape vines!

I have had the same problem as pineislander in the past in that they climb very well and smother things.  Gorqn them in many different zituations but always required cutting back every couple weeks.  My variety is unknown (from usa seed) but all black.  The shells are like link above but seed was very solid and dark.  Painfully itchy to shell....prehaps not dry enough here for them to pop open on their own?

Great plant and love growing it for a geeen manure but once established they full vertical very fast and bind up my weeding machine easily so not awesome to maintain.  When i keep them in check vigorously they dont seem to grow well.  If this species could be in bush bean form i would be totally in love!

Intereating reaearch in areas of brain disorders such as parkinsons.  Which is why i started growing it for a family member.  The chemicals involved in pill form have limitations with parkinsons but the raw bean for a few people seem to have different results.  Worth paying attention to.

Some vietnamese farmers here pickle/ferment them to eat.  Quite nice.  But their variety doesnt have the same itchy hairs so wondering if they are a variety of pruriens or a different species.  Plants look quite similar.

pineislander

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Re: Mucuna Pruriens
« Reply #7 on: November 14, 2019, 06:38:20 PM »
The Mucuna I have are almost itch free.

Kada, try looking into Jack Beans (Canavalia ensiformis). The white seeded variety has done well for me lasting up to six months but generally setting seed as daylength shortens in fall months. They tend to form a bush and seldom climb. Very good multipurpose legume crop fixing nitrogen, medium strata ground cover, very easy germination of the large seeds. This grows to about 1 meter but I usually push it over when young to help it spread out and branch.
Here is a video in Spanish showing it interplanted with plantain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN3vDQa69Vw