pinching out runner bean tip?

[lottie dolly]

Back to pinching out runner beans...

My daughter planted a 'magic' bean in a little pot at school and brought it home (probably just before the Easter break) when just a seedling. It is now sitting on the kitchen window sill in a bigger pot climbing up a cane. It has gone past the cane and, if I find a longer cane, it won't be long before it touches the ceiling. Can I do anything to check its growth without harming it? I'm worried it will be totally out of hand before it's ready to plant out.

As far as I can work out the magic bean is a runner bean.

give it a magic nip on the stemas has been said on other posts,it't be fine,explain to the little one,about why,and you can both watch out for the new shoot coming and growing up,

[Two_Sheds]

how does pinching them out deter the blackfly..??

The old leaves are nowhere near as appetising to them

That's the essence of it
Aphids (black & greenfly) are sap suckers: they need the youngest, juiciest bits of the plant in order to access the sap. Take that food source away and ... no aphids (or fewer, anyway)

[GardeningMike]

Dear CKFE,
Yes, this is normally practice once the growing tips reach the top of their supports. Pinching out removes apical dominance and alllows the side shoots to develop. You will need to manually 'weave in' the side shoots that develop as they can wander.

The alternative is to make your runner bean supports taller. They will run out of steam, and stop growing vertically eventually - some varieties do this at a lower height than others. For fun, I had mine climbing up our drainpipes one year. The Painted Lady variety that I grew that year grew up 4 metres (12 feet) of vertical pipe height. Had I had the patience to uncoil these plants at the end of the season they would have bean significantly longer than 4 metres! The only snag is that I had to harvest the beans using a stepladder! So keeping your beans at a reachable height and pinching out the tips does have its advantages!

Kind regards
GardeningMike
(horticulturist)

[Two_Sheds]

I had to harvest the beans using a stepladder!

I keep meaning to grow mine UP the 6' canes, then ALONG a horizontal one (pergola style), but ~ by the time the beans are out I'm so busy with everything else there's no time to faff

[dominic10]

Last year due to work commitments my hubby couldn't get to our veg patch as often as we would have liked. He is a lot taller than me so as I is short I pinched out my runner beans well before the top of the wigwam. It worked out very well.

[alan639]

Runner Bean - To pinch or not

year my runner beans grew taller than the canes they were climbing up. Should I pinch them out when they reach to top of the canes or just leave them to wave about until they cling on to each other. Will pinching out encourage more shoots lower down.

[rpt]

Yes and yes.

I have a runner bean on the kitchen windowsill. It was in danger of reaching the ceiling so I pinched out the growing tip. It is now growing new shoots near the tip and lower down.

[zazen999]

Merged....

[Matt94]

going slighlty off topic - if you pinch french beans at the top, do they send out side shoots lower down?

[Two_Sheds]

yes they do

[Matt94]

thanks TS