Chinese long bean "Fasolnik"

Green Chinese Long Bean (Yard long bean) - Vigna sinensis var. sesquipedalis (L.) Asch. et Schweinf.
Early maturing (50-55 days), high-yielding variety for growing on supports in open field and film greenhouses.
The plant is vigorous, curly, 2-3 m high. Beans 30-60 cm long are green, narrow, straight, without parchment layer.
Seeds are oval, small, brown. During the season, 4.5-5 kg ​​of tender beans can be harvested from each bush.
Variety value: originality of shape ("spaghetti"), long fruiting period, high content of protein and microelements, excellent taste of beans.
Sow in sunny places in light porous soil. They are planted near a support so that the plant can cling and grow higher.
Sprouted seeds with a high protein content are used for food, which can be boiled and preserved. The high fiber content helps to achieve a balance of insulin and cholesterol.
Normalizes digestion, kidney function. Indispensable in the diet for obesity and diabetes. It is used in cooking in a boiled, fried, canned, frozen, sprouted form.
1,0 g = 3-5 seeds.

Why is Chinese long bean good?
Many have probably heard about this amazing bean, but rarely does anyone grow it. What is this plant - Long bean (Vigna)?
Vigna is an asparagus bean with long, up to 1 m, beans. Bean shells (shoulder blades) are tender, fibrous. They are used for food at the stage of milky ripeness - when their length does not exceed 50 cm, in boiled, fried and canned form. According to the content of high-grade proteins, the blades of this bean exceed the fish and approach the meat.
Long beans are grown in three types:
* Japanese vigna is a curly asparagus bean. Bushes reach a height of 4-5 m. The length of the beans is 1.5 cm wide to 1 m, the grains are black.
* Chinese vigna - curly asparagus beans. The width of the beans is about 1 cm, the length is up to 1 m, the grains are brown.
* Bushy vigna - the plant first bushes, then winds. The length of the beans is up to 25 cm, the grains are dull, small, like peas. In this bean, the shoulder blades are not used for food.
Thus, unripe beans (shoulder blades) are used as food only in Japanese and Chinese long beans. However, in all three species of this plant, the shoulder blades are equally used in traditional medicine. Tea brewed from dry shoulder blades is useful in diabetes to maintain blood sugar levels, useful in diseases of the liver, kidneys, heart, pancreas, and anemia.
Of course, Chinese and Japanese long beans are of the greatest interest, especially since one plant of these species can produce up to 4 kg of green beans (pods). I must say that all three types of long bean in the seedling stage and almost before fruiting are completely identical in appearance. Each of them can be recognized only during the fruiting period. All of them have the same shape of leaves, stems and flowers. The stem is slightly thinner than a pencil, the leaf is trifoliate, as if it consists of three leaves. Flowers are blue-violet on long racemes, single, sometimes double, bloom early in the morning, and in the afternoon become yellowish-brown and close.
Growing each type of vigna has its own characteristics. “The most difficult” for the climatic conditions of Estonia is the Japanese long bean. This is a short day plant, i.e. suitable for cultivation in open ground only in the regions of the latitude of Rostov-on-Don, Khabarovsk and to the south. She is “used” to dark southern nights, therefore, in Estonian conditions, flowering and fruiting begin in August-September, which, you see, is a bit late. You have to experience a lot of inconvenience, as the plant sometimes does not have time to give fruit for seeds even in a greenhouse. The only way to grow Japanese vigna in our climate is to acclimatize the plant for a number of years with the obligatory pruning of shoots in order to obtain seeds from the first pods that have started, which is quite problematic. You can, of course, solve a similar problem by growing vignas in a heated greenhouse, but this is not economically efficient.
Vigna is a self-pollinating plant, but in order to protect it from cross-pollination, i.e. to maintain the purity of the variety, only one of its species will have to be planted annually. It is difficult to name the growing season of Japanese vigna for Estonia, since this plant is uncharacteristic for this climate. Under the conditions corresponding to each vigna, the plant fully matures and produces seeds in 100-120 days.
It is necessary to dwell on Chinese vigna in more detail. It is she who is the most acceptable unpretentious culture.
For those who love the earth, growing this wonder of nature can be a real pleasure. There is one, but very significant difference in the cultivation of vigna from the cultivation of ordinary vegetable beans. It is generally accepted that 50-60% of the beans provide themselves with nitrogen fertilizers due to the assimilation of free nitrogen from the air by the roots. After all, the root system of plants is poorly developed and is located mainly on the surface. This standard statement can greatly interfere with the cultivation of long beans, in particular Chinese long beans. The leaves will turn yellow, growth will be very slow, and the beans will ripen prematurely and remain small, ie. all the symptoms of a lack of nitrogen fertilizers are observed ...
Indeed, in order to grow such a “mass” as Chinese or Japanese vigna (after all, one plant with all side shoots and fruits weighs up to 5 kg during the period of active fruiting), the soil must be prepared very carefully. From autumn or spring, they dig it up onto a full bayonet of a shovel with the introduction of fresh manure, superphosphate (300-400 g per 10 sq. M). Potash fertilizers are best applied in the spring - about 250 g per 10 square meters. m. It is necessary to sow vigna seeds no earlier than mid-May, when the soil at a depth of 10 cm warms up by about 10 ° C. The planting method is the usual tape, three-line, with a distance between the lines of 25 cm, between the tapes - 45-50 cm, in the line - 8-10 cm. The seeding depth is 4-5 cm. But you can plant much denser. For example, in 7 lines per bed with a distance between lines of 15 cm and in lines of 10 cm. In this case, it is necessary to increase the nutrient content in the soil by about 2 times, compared with standard agricultural technology. Fertilizing and loosening the soil during the fruiting period are necessary. This allows you to significantly increase the yield per unit area.
Chinese cowpea (like Japanese and bush cowpea) is grown in a vertical culture, i.e. each plant needs support - twine, rope, etc. Bearing supports along the lines must be very strong, for example, made of wire, as they hold a huge green mass. Given the large windage of this mass, it is better to plant plants on the leeward side, but always in a sunny place. The height of the carrier wire is approximately three meters. Beginning farmers can be advised (as a reinsurance) to plant 1-2 plants in a greenhouse in order to get full-fledged seeds in case of a cold summer. If the greenhouse is low, you can trim the plants at the desired height. By the way, this will only speed up fruiting.
Chinese long bean harvesting on the shoulder blade begins 8-10 days after the formation of the ovaries, when the seeds reach the size of a wheat grain. At this time, the beans are juicy, the flaps are fleshy. The more you collect young blades from plants, the more actively they will build up new ones. Therefore, it is enough to leave a few plants for seeds, and for the rest, actively pick off the fruits and use them for food. If cowpeas are grown for grain, as well as for the purpose of obtaining dry blades for making teas and infusions, then the beans are left on the plant until they fully ripen and dry.
Vigna has a huge growth energy. The plant will bear fruit until the very frost, continuously increasing its green mass and giving more and more new fruits. In addition to the main stem, many side shoots develop on it, which also actively bear fruit. Due to the fact that the cowpea is sensitive to frost and responds well to heat, at first it is advisable to cover the seedlings with a film before the arrival of this summer. Chinese long bean can also be used for decorative purposes in vertical gardening of hedges, tunnels, arbors, balconies, and Japanese cowpea can be a powerful gardener in the house, besides it will give huge beans. You just should not forget that the plant is an annual and loves the sunny side, and you need to “lead” it along the ceiling. The pot with the plant should be in a warm place.

Eng.: Chinese long bean, Blackeyed pea, Yard bean. Bot. syn.: Vigna chinensis ssp. sesquipedalis, Dolichos sesquipedalis L., Vigna sinensis var. sesquipedalis (L.) Asch. et Schweinf.