Runner beans

[GardeningMike]

Earliest Harvests?

We are all talking about early sowings, but early sowing don't always mean early harvests for runner beans. I would love to hear from anyone here who can recall roughly when their first harvests were for a given sowing time.

So, all you runner-bean-lovers, when do get your first harvests from your April or March sown beans and what variety are you using? I am really interested to carry out a survey on this...

Where I live, unless I purchase a beehive I don't get any harvestable runner bean pods before July as the wild bees are in insufficient numbers for pollination, despite copious flowers from late May onwards.

[teakdesk]

I have reduced slugs/snail attack significantly in last 2 years by using serrated copper tape around bean poles or stems of plants. If interested I can e-mail details (see Kitchen Garden article mentioned in #9). You could use sawn off bits of copper pipe around bases of bean poles or plants in contact with soil.

Humm... now that is an idea!! I've heard of using copper (with both good and bad reports) but normally as attempts to protect a larger plant; I wonder if I can get 22mm pipe over the newly emerging shoots ? I'll have a think.

I'd be grateful for any PMed details -

Many thanks

[Victoria26]

B&Q sell rolls of copper tape for use on stems and pots. Its adhesive and looks like sellotape and it was a fiver. I've got some today and will be putting it around my planters tommorrow.

[GardeningMike]

Copper Tape - precautionary note

Copper tape is self-adhesive (sticky) on one side. If putting it around a bamboo stick entwined by a runner bean stem you will need to ensure the sticky bit doesn't come into contact with the plant stem otherwise you might damage your bean plant. To prevent contact put a roll of paper between the sticky tape and the bean plant/bamboo stick combo.

If growing beans by a fence/wall remember that "bridges" for molluscs will occur where leaves touch the fence/wall. I suggest you therefore make sure you have some copper tape protection below your growing tip. Otherwise it can be heartbreaking to find eaten out tips when you look first thing in the morning - sometimes they seem to just go for these - they appear to be a delicacy for molluscs.

I found the serrated copper tape for snails (with spiky bits facing outwards) more effective than the straight-edged copper tape when not in contact with the soil probably because there isn't any galvanic (electrical) effect when not touching soil and the effect here is a physical spike (ouch!) rather than a mini electric shock. That said, the serrated edged stuff is about 3 x dearer than the straight edge but with a pair of sharp scissors you can cut the serrations yourself with the cheaper straight-edged tape if you have the time & inclination.

I haven't tried the copper pipe idea I suggested, but for soil contact around base of sticks, plant stems might work. You might get away with some very narrow diameter piping (10-15 mm) - slide it on before the primary leaf pair unfold, i.e. just as the epicotyl hook is unfolding. If you try this please let me know of your success...

[Two_Sheds]

I don't get any harvestable runner bean pods before July as the wild bees are in insufficient numbers for pollination, despite copious flowers from late May onwards.

Apparently, bees prefer the nectar from other sources, and will only feed from beans when other sources run out.

Runner bean nectar is not very rich in sugars, and bee numbers visiting runner beans often increases after July, when more attractive mid-summer nectar sources, such as brambles, lime trees and clovers, have finished flowering.
Royal Horticultural Society - Gardening Advice: Runner Beans

[GardeningMike]

Thanks for this Two Sheds! Useful info.

[windowsillqueen]

Oh ok - my inexperience is kicking in now - you've all lost me with the cross polination and beehive talk.

I've just planted a couple of runners on a warm windowsill in loo roll tubes. I'd like to put them in pots with some different types of beans and grow them up trellis. Am I not going to get any beans unless I start buying beehives or something??!!!

Also, the wall in question is not the sunniest wall - will they be OK or should I put them on a sunnier wall I had hoped to use for something else? The one in question gets sun all morning but after mid day the sun is on the other side of the house.....

Thanks for all you expert advice in advance!!!!

[GardeningMike]

bees, pollination and early harvests

Am I not going to get any beans unless I start buying beehives or something

Of course you will get beans but probably not to harvest till July, despite an early sowing, as the wild bees, mainly bumblebees where I am, only seem to start visiting the runner bean flowers towards the end of June. I'm sure you don't need a hive at all.

I did buy a bumblebee colony one year with the aim of an early crop of beans. The bees were nicely active from late May onwards but the joke (true though) is that whenever they came out of the hive, they did their nectar forays in the opposite direction to where my runner beans were, despite the hive being only 4 metres away.

Commercial growers, put their hives in their polytunnels and they use honey bees which are better pollinators (apparently) of runner bean. Also if the hive is in the middle of a tunnel I guess the bees don't have much choice but to visit the bean flowers even if they aren't as sweet and tasty as other flowers.

[Two_Sheds]

Commercial growers, put their hives in their polytunnels and they use honey bees which are better pollinators (apparently) of runner bean.

It's because old fatty bumblebee can't always get inside the little bean flower, so being lazy (or smart) he whips round the back and bites a hole in the rear of the flower to get the nectar, bypassing the pollen.
Honey bees are small enough to crawl inside the flower, and therefore cause pollination by crawling over the pollen on the way in.

Same thing happens to broad beans.

If you want bees, you really should be supplying pollen all year round ... in late winter that means leaving some weed flowers for them to feed on ... dandelions are especially good, or Poached Eggs (limnanthes)

[GardeningMike]

Self-fertile runner beans

Apparently the variety Red Rum is self-fertile, so don't need bees for podset so might be a good one to try for an early harvest. It is the only variety I know that is claimed to be self-fertile and this was confirmed to me personally by a runner bean breeder (director of Tozer Seeds) a couple of years ago. Red Rum is also more tolerant of hot weather conditions and its yields are up there at the top with the varieties Celebration (salmon coloured flowers) and St George (red/white bi-coloured flowers).

This contains a reference about self fertile nature of Red Rum:
BBC - Gardening - Plants - Plant Finder - Phaseolus coccineus 'Red Rum'

[GardeningMike]

Bumblebees and pollination

It's because old fatty bumblebee can't always get inside the little bean flower, so being lazy (or smart) he whips round the back and bites a hole in the rear of the flower to get the nectar, bypassing the pollen

Bumblebees - there are two types re. mouthparts, i.e. short-tongued ones and long-tongued ones.

Only the short-tongued ones are the biters that don't pollinate but there are usually enough long-tongued ones around to do the pollinating job properly. The short-tongued ones bite the hole to get at the nectar because their tongues aren't long enough to reach the nectar in the normal way.

[hillyannie]

I have reduced slugs/snail attack significantly in last 2 years by using serrated copper tape around bean poles or stems of plants. If interested I can e-mail details (see Kitchen Garden article mentioned in #9). You could use sawn off bits of copper pipe around bases of bean poles or plants in contact with soil. Apparently snails/slugs hate the copper due to a galvanic effect (flow of electric charge) between the copper/soil/mollusc body.

Going out after dark with a torch on damp evenings and hunting the blighters and then despatching them very effective in reducing numbers - if you do that regularly you can make a big dent into the mollusc population (assuming you've got a small garden/backyard!)

Hope this helps

hello Gardening Mike
I am new to gowing runner beans and I am in the West of Scotland (Oban).. I tried them a few years ago and had great success with the germination and flowering. However, I only ended up with 1 runner bean and very tasty it was too. I would have liked a lot more of them. Where did I go wrong?

[hillyannie]

It's because old fatty bumblebee can't always get inside the little bean flower, so being lazy (or smart) he whips round the back and bites a hole in the rear of the flower to get the nectar, bypassing the pollen.
Honey bees are small enough to crawl inside the flower, and therefore cause pollination by crawling over the pollen on the way in.

Same thing happens to broad beans.

If you want bees, you really should be supplying pollen all year round ... in late winter that means leaving some weed flowers for them to feed on ... dandelions are especially good, or Poached Eggs (limnanthes)

I have been told that fine spraying with water will pollinate the beans. Is this true as we have no bees or even bumble bees in quantity here because I think of lving at the dge of the ocean.

[IgglePiggle]

I have been told that fine spraying with water will pollinate the beans. Is this true as we have no bees or even bumble bees in quantity here because I think of lving at the dge of the ocean.

Have you thought about planting stuff to make the bee's come to you? You might be surprised how many are really about

[Two_Sheds]

I have been told that fine spraying with water will pollinate the beans. Is this true

You spray the flowers with water to puff them up (they can get too limp and floppy if it's really dry, so bees can't get inside them).
You do need bees to pollinate for a decent crop. Try enticing them to your plot with some flowers all year round.