Advice needed please

[Two_Sheds]

I never thought of runner beans being perennial. I wonder why it's not more common to save the roots

They're perennial in their own country: South America. It's usually too cold here for them, and they die at the first frost, although RustyLady did once get one to come back, from under a thick mulch of old leaves

I like butter beans but cannot grow them

I had no luck with Gigantes (sp?), they all rotted.

I do really well with the white runners (Moonlight, White Lady) left to produce seed, and eaten as butter beans, and also with Spagna

[zazen999]

That all sounds very interesting but a little too complicated for my brain I'm afraid.

For your information I like butter beans but cannot grow them where I garden in Lincolnshire so I was looking around for an alternative and came across a runner bean called Gigantes which is as large as a broad bean and you eat the bean only and not the pod and because it is a runner bean it means I can also grow broad beans without any risk of cross pollination.

The trouble is I like to eat the pods of runner beans as well so I am going to have to grow the Gigantes pure strain next to some standard runner beans and harvest them both.
I would have liked to save the seeds from the Gigantes for further sowings as they are a pure strain but it doesn't look like they will stay true with an F1 neighbour.
I'll try saving the roots of the Gigantes and experiment. Thanks for your reply.

Then grow the Gigandes first, and sow the non F1s a bit later or grow them at either ends of the plot and cover the Gigandes with some enviromesh at the start, until the first couple of feet of flowers have fallen off, then harvest the seeds from these only. Or sow all the Gigandes, eat the pods from some plants and leave others to go to seed.

[Kirk]

*ahem* (biology hat on)
F1 means 'first generation' (first after some event- in this case, after a cross), so if you bred from two F1 plants, that would properly be called F2- second generation.

F2 plants may look really nothing like their F1 parents, and will likely be extremely varied. Some may look more like their grandparents, or something weird and unpredictable- only a very few may be fairly well like the F1 generation.

Aren't we saying the same thing ?
As in F1 crossed with F1 does not equal F1.

Defining how similar the F2 would be depends on the number of characteristics that is hope to be maintained. My thoughts at the time were on getting just one to be the same.