Primo is a promising cultivar that has been available for a few years. Romano type cultivars are very flat and broad compared to other bean types and are more similar in shape to the cultivar Tennessee Green Pod than any other named cultivar. Pod color is pale green with a more yellow appearance not found in pods of most other green bean cultivars. The bush Romano type cultivars were developed from pole bean parentage and have a sprawling growth habit. Reducing nitrogen fertilizer did not reduce plant lodging of bush type cultivars in previous trials.
Lodging leads to pods touching the soil, resulting in tip rot under humid conditions.
Machine harvest usually is more difficult as plant lodging increases. The Roma II cultivar was included in machine harvested cultivar, herbicide, tillage, and intercropping studies in 1996 and 1997. The pods were evaluated for their marketing potential. The pods were graded over a small shaker grading table, boxed, and about 50 bushels were prepared for local markets. The loss included trash, small pods, broken pods, and a few pods that had insect damage from corn earworms.