When to pick runner beans for seeds.

[noviceveggrower]

Hi,
I've left a few runner bean pods on my plant to try and get some for seeds next year. I've also found a couple of sneaky pods that I've missed as they've been well hidden.
I was wondering how do I know when to pick the beans to dry the seeds out?
One of the beans is very long and the seeds seems quite firm in it.
Thanks

[Jay-ell]

I'm doing the same. I'm going to leave the pods on the vines until they start to turn and dry naturally and the plants start to die back. That's assuming they're going to as at the moment they seem quite content to keep growing and flowering no matter how often I nip the tips off. Hope its soon as they're now invading and covering my dalek number 3 and dalek number 2 is going to be full soon. .

[arpoet]

I will leave mine until they get frosted. (a few more weeks I hope as they are still cropping)
I will then cut em off with some stems and hang them in bunches in the basement until they dry out completely, then take out the seeds and finish them off in the airing cupboard.

[Jay-ell]

Any thoughts on finishing them off in a dehydrator? I have one that goes down to 40°c - would this be too hot for them to remain viable?

[Zelenina]

I'm also hoping to save runner bean seeds for the first time. But I have some experience with French beans so I expect they work the same way. Ideally you leave them on the plant until the pods are dry and crispy, but if the weather's damp or cold, or if there's heavy dew at night, they can go mouldy instead of drying. I've found that if you pick them after the pod starts to go thin and leathery, they can then dry and mature successfully off the plant. If you pick them before that stage, the beans often shrivel up or go squishy. I wouldn't leave French beans until after a frost, but maybe runners are more hardy.

[Knight of Albion]

I've already done mine. Picked the pods and thoroughly sun dried them in the greenhouse. A few green pods are still out there, waiting to brown. All the rest have been de-seeded and said seeds are stored indoors, waiting for the spring to roll round again.

Runner bean seeds are the easiest to harvest, store and grow again from seed. No skill or trick to it, anyone can do it. The key thing is to keep them dry. If there's moisture, they'll mould and rot.

Store them in a paper bag or envelope is best. (Never in a plastic bag.)

[Zelenina]

Hi KoA. Mine are taking a long time to get to the stage where I think I could pick them and dry them successfully indoors. They were quite late in setting any beans because they didn't like the hot weather earlier in the summer. Am I right about waiting until the pods go leathery, or is that not necessary with runners?

[Jay-ell]

Just read on realseeds that they should turn yellow and start to dry out before picking

How To Save Your Own Seed at Home

[Alison]

Any thoughts on finishing them off in a dehydrator? I have one that goes down to 40°c - would this be too hot for them to remain viable?

Don't do it, leave them to dry naturally, it's still too hot I. The dehydrator.

Re saving runners, they're very easy to save but cross with other runners very easily so considering how commonly they are grown may well not come true to type. Luckily you're very u like
Y to get anything inedible so still worth saving but, unlike with French beans, you're very unlikely to get the pure breed.

[Kristen]

I only grow one variety of Runners, and its a decent-ish distance to my neighbours, so I reckon I'm probably OK with them ... although ... I also grow a couple of varieties of French and some Borlotti - is there any chance of them cross pollinating>

[Zelenina]

Any thoughts on finishing them off in a dehydrator? I have one that goes down to 40°c - would this be too hot for them to remain viable?

Carol Deppe says in her books Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties and The Resilient Gardener that she uses a dehydrator for drying big seeds like corn and beans and squash. I just checked and she says:

"For seed saving you need a reliable thermostat that goes down to 95°F."

That's 35°C which is the lowest setting on my dehydrator. 40°C is probably a bit too high, but you could try it with some non-precious seeds and then do a germination test.

I discovered that any pens that I kept near my computer went dry very quickly due to the fan and gentle warmth, so now I dry my seeds all around and on top of it. But I don’t know if that would get them dry enough for freezing. Maybe I'll test it some day.

[Zelenina]

I only grow one variety of Runners, and its a decent-ish distance to my neighbours, so I reckon I'm probably OK with them ... although ... I also grow a couple of varieties of French and some Borlotti - is there any chance of them cross pollinating>

It has been known to happen, but very rarely, because they are different species although in the same genus. So for general practical purposes no, they don't cross.

Some of the newer self-setting varieties of runners are derived from such a cross, but I don't know if it's done just by hand pollination, or if laboratory techniques are used. If you did happen to get any crossing you'd have something very interesting.

[Knight of Albion]

Hi KoA. Mine are taking a long time to get to the stage where I think I could pick them and dry them successfully indoors. They were quite late in setting any beans because they didn't like the hot weather earlier in the summer. Am I right about waiting until the pods go leathery, or is that not necessary with runners?

Leave the pods until they go brown, then take the seed. I wouldn't take seed from green pods as the seeds would still be developing.

[Bren In Pots]

I harvested my crispy Runners bean pods yesterday and those that were still green will be used in chillis. I've not bought any new Scarlet emperor seeds for 7year now and I've no idea if they've crossed but they do produce good tasty beans.

[Jay-ell]

I'm not too fussed about getting true to type seeds, more interested in saving seed to get plants more acclimatised to my location.

My plot is quite sheltered and isolated though, with trees and a high solid wall to the south, trees to the west, evergreen hedge to the north and a church on the eastern boundary.